Basic Instinct - 4K Ultra HD SteelBook (includes Blu-ray)

I remember first seeing Basic Instinct in the cinema when I was 17 (shhh! I looked old enough to get away with it!) when it was first released. The film was the 'scandale du jour' because of its graphic sex scenes between Michael Douglas's Nick Curran and Sharon Stone's Catherine Trammell and some rough sex between Curran and Curran's girlfriend, Beth,wonderfully enigmatically played by Jeanne Tripplehorn.I wasn't all that bothered with the film at the time: I was too young to have watched much Hitchcock and hadn't read much in the way of pulp crime novels, in spite of a nascent love of the genre. Even a couple of years later that had changed and I realised that in many ways Basic Instinct is the Star Wars of neo-noir pulp crime movies. Like Indiana Jones and Star Wars, Basic Instinct takes an established genre and celebrates it and builds on it. There's no postmodern deconstructionist self awareness on display; just a love of the the genre.The story is fairly simple one the surface: a cop with a history of booze and white powder addiction investigates a violent murder that took place 'in flagrante delicto' and gets involved with the main suspect. However there are so many levels to the film. The suspect, played to perfection by Sharon Stone, knows far too much about Curran and Curran's whole belief in the substance of what's real around him begins to crumble as he suspects he's being manipulated by multiple different forces. This could be a ruthless cat-and-mouse game between cop and serial killer, this could be the second half of Vertigo and Sharon Stone's infamously white-clad seductress could be a manifestation of a comatose Curran's drug addiction.Regardless, the film, thirty years on, away from the controversy of the time, has aged like a fine wine. It's like the works of James M Cain, Mickey Spillane, Gil Brewer, David Goodis, Donald E Westlake and Ed McBain all got put in a cocktail shaker and created a truly potent brew! Director Paul Verhoeven and screenwriter Joe Ezsterhas would make a few more films each, before coming a cropper with the spectacular failure of the cult classic sleaze drama Showgirls. Many of Verhoeven's Hollywood films have become timeless cult classics, notably Robocop, Total Recall, Basic Instinct and Starship Troopers. 83-year-old Verhoeven's latest film, the French movie Benedetta, is being released on Blu-ray shortly and he's lost none of his love of stirring up controversy. Joe Ezsterhas, who wrote classics such as Jagged Edge, Music Box and cult potboilers such as Sliver (starring Sharon Stone) and Jade eventually stepped away from Hollywood. His memoir, Hollywood Animal, is a classic.As for this 2021 Blu-ray release, this 4K restoration is a marvel. There has been some controversy about the grading, which is substantially different from how the film has looked down the years. On home video and in the cinema, it always has a somewhat cold, blue tint. The restoration is much more lushly saturated (some complain it's the dreaded 'teal and orange') and I absolutely adore it. It gives Jan de Bont's gorgeous cinematography a real boost. The colouring suits the 4K restoration to perfection. The sound is spot-on, beautfully balancing dialogue and Jerry Goldsmith's wonderful Hermannesque score. The nightclub scene shakes the room.This is a wonderful release. It's a worthy upgrade. The original Blu-ray was very poor quality, arriving in the early days of the format and no DVD or VHS can do this justice. If you haven't seen the film before the 2021 Blu-ray or 4K Blu-ray are the way to go. If you've seen the film a hundred times or a thousand times, you'll still want to upgrade to this release. Just buy it. You won't regret it!

Perfect value for money and orginal unused factory sealed

repackaged version of the classic film good value for money £5 classy cinematography and editing for a 92 classic.

Love this movie box office 👌

Movie is very good. New 4k restoration of the picture is exellent.

Stunning 4k conversation! Get the pause button ready !

A former rock star, Johnny Boz, is brutally killed during sex, and the case is assigned to Detective Nick Curran of the SFPD. During the investigation, Nick meets Catherine Tramell, a crime novelist who was Boz's girlfriend when he died. Catherine proves to be a very clever and manipulative woman, and though Nick is more or less convinced that she murdered Boz, he is unable to find any evidence. Later, when Nilsen, Nick's rival in the police, is killed, Nick suspects Catherine's involvement in it. He then starts to play a dangerous lust-filled mind game with Catherine to nail her, but as their relationship progresses, the body count rises, and contradicting evidence forces Nick to start questioning his own suspicions about Catherine's guilt.San Francisco police detective Nic Curran is assigned to investigate the brutal murder of former rock star Johnny Box. An ex-rock star who was slain while engaged in sex with a mystery woman. While investigating the crime, Curran's path crossed that of Catherine Tramell a crime novelist who Box was dating before his death. Curran suspects her of being the murderer, but she proves to be a very clever and manipulative individual and he is unable to pin any evidence on her. When Nilsen, a rival Detective in the SFPID is found murdered, Curran suspects Tramell of being responsible. What follows is a game of cat and mouse with Tramell seemingly playing a sexually hedonistic mind game with Curran, as they embark on a torrid affair. However, as the body count increases, new evidence begins to force the Detective to reevaluate his suspicions about Tramell's guilt.After scoring big at the box office with his sci-fi action flicks Robocop and Total Recall. Dutch director Paul Verhoeven returned to the film noir crime genre he had previously embarked on in his native Denmark with The 4th Man. An erotic thriller that is undoubtedly steamy as it is sexually provocative, it caused a stir upon its initial release. Not least because of its now famous interrogation scene, where a Sharon Stone uncrosses her legs, and the interrogating officers see more than they bargained for. It was also what would be the star-making role for Stone, who had previously worked with Verhoeven on Total Recall in the supporting role of Arnold Schwarzenegger's duplicitous pseudo-wife. Basic Instinct would mark her first major leading role, seeing her cast alongside Michael Douglas, which would find him in another sexually charged thriller having starred in the similarly sexually charged thriller, the Oscar-winning Fatal Attraction.Needless to say, Verhoeven himself is no stranger to controversy and hasn't been scared to push the envelope with his equally contentious medieval drama Flesh and Blood having raised a few eyebrows. But for all the hoopla surrounding the film, when it's all said and done, his inclination for being a sexual provocateur can't disguise the fact that Basic Instinct is ultimately a middling neo-noir thriller. With a plot where it feels screen-writer Eszterhas is merely going through the motions with its plot. As if he's painting by numbers. All the cliches that abound are there from Douglas's gritty hard-nosed detective to Stone's sultry and flirtatious femme-fatale. A woman so sexually voracious she puts the term eat in man-eater, although sexual leanings don't end with just men. She has a female lover Roxy Hardy played by Gina Gershon. A young woman who murdered her two little brothers at the age of 16, and therefore, raising an eyebrow as to the fact that Tramell consorts with a murderess. A plot angle that raised the ire of gay activists at the time due to its perceived negative depiction of female sexuality. Although frankly, this was the least of the movie's concerns.As a director, Verhoeven is indeed a consummate professional bringing a flashy stylistic sheen into the mix, and his aptitude for creating a steamy, intense, and moody atmosphere is palpable. But it suffers from a generic story, that attempts to throw in some potential red herrings which include Curran's psychiatrist lover, Dr. Bethh (Jeanne Tripplehorn) who eventually falls under his radar as a suspect. It feels a bit contrived.The cast gives it all and Stone really gives it her all. Alluring as she is charismatic. With the magnetism of a sexual cougar, she positively ignites every scene that she is in. But even she, nor Douglas, who try as they might can't save the audience from lapsing into feelings of indifference. Leaving the audience with no real surprise, as we're left with one so-so twist after another until it ends on something of an underwhelming and supposedly "surprise" climax. Diverting as it is, it's a far cry from the best that Verhoeven can be capable of and a case, of that we should have gotten more than what he delivers.

This 4K is terrible with yet again horrible revisionist colouring that pushes a green teal look. And not to mention the fact that it is so dark as well.A total waste of time

Der Film hat eine gute Qualität. Es stört mich nur, das die Versandbestätigung fehlt und in der Liste nicht als angekommen gef7hrt ist.