Oliver Stone’s odd appreciation for one of the worst sequels ever made: “Quite watchable”
Oliver Stone knows a thing or two about controversy. He regularly makes headlines with some of his more outspoken views about the world, including his support for Russian President Vladimir Putin and comments made about the Holocaust. He clearly marches to the beat of his own drum, unafraid of what the general population thinks of him. This doesn’t make his views any easier to swallow, but it might go some way to explaining them.
On a lighter note, Stone’s output as a director is equally eye-catching. Whilst a lot of films are regarded as masterpieces – Platoon, Wall Street, The Doors, etc – a few have caught considerable flak over the years. There’s Natural Born Killers, the highly controversial crime film that supposedly led to a number of real life murders, including the Columbine High School killings. JFK, Stone’s account of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, has been accused of promoting baseless conspiracy theories about the event, directly fuelling the age of misinformation we find ourselves in today.
On an even lighter note, Stone also has some wacky ideas about other people’s movies. He expressed a completely insane movie opinion in a post made to his official Facebook page in 2025. “Fears of wars and pessimism about Mr. Trump’s course have driven me back to the movies for solace,” the post begins, before the Oscar winner outlined some recent viewings that had tickled his pickle. Alongside Joseph Kosinski’s recent release, F1, and Robert Altman’s The Player, Stone also expressed his admiration for Michael Douglas in the movie Basic Instinct.
“Here, he showcases Sharon Stone,” her unrelated namesake said of the classic erotic thriller. “Who, like Demi Moore, is a sexy star and pulls it off again in the sequel, Basic Instinct 2 (2006), fourteen years later.” After describing the second film, he dropped the bombshell that, “despite its terrible reviews, [it] is quite watchable and of real psychological interest with its twist ending.”
Basic Instinct 2 does not star Douglas, nor was it directed by Paul Verhoeven. Stone is the only cast member who returns, playing the character that made her a household name. Michael Caton-Jones takes the reins this time around, piloting a story that moves the action from San Francisco to London. Stone’s Catherine Tramell is picked up by the police once again and assigned psychiatrist Dr. Michael Glass (David Morrissey) to keep an eye on her. Unsurprisingly, Tramell is able to seduce Glass. Who’d have seen that coming…
As the Facebook post alluded to, reviews for Basic Instinct 2 were not good. In fact, that’s putting it lightly. It sits on a score of just 6% on Rotten Tomatoes, with the site’s consensus saying that it “borders on so-bad-it’s-good”. Some high-profile critics shared Stone’s opinion that it wasn’t that bad, however. Mark Kermode admitted he was fond of it in his review, though he also mourned the fact that David Cronenberg could have directed it but didn’t. Even Roger Ebert, who blasted the project as a whole, had kind words to say about Stone’s performance.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, of course, but it makes perfect sense that someone like Stone would have a view as contrarian as this. If you haven’t seen Basic Instinct 2, then maybe you should, just to make up your own mind. Although, most people would say it’s not worth it. You have been warned.
