Basic is a military mystery that offers multi-layered deception as its dramatic raison d'etre, but with plenty of machismo attitude as befitting a semi-effective thriller from Die Hard director John McTiernan. John Travolta stars as an ex-Army Ranger-turned-DEA agent, recruited by an Army investigator (Connie Nielsen) to solve the fratricide of a reviled Sergeant (Samuel L Jackson) who was allegedly killed while commanding a Special Forces training mission in the hurricane-swept rainforests of Panama. Two survivors (Giovanni Ribisi in a showboat role and Brian Van Holt) recall the ill-fated mission as the truth unfolds, Rashomon-style, in a series of repetitive flashbacks. Tricky enough to hold one's attention as it grows increasingly irrelevant, Basic is so enamoured of its bogus ingenuity that its ultimate twist is a letdown. A second viewing might prove rewarding, if only to confirm that it all holds together. --Jeff Shannon

With more than a decade of cinema in Basic Instinct's wake it's fascinating to look back at just how influential Paul Verhoeven's "erotic thriller" has been. The director's endless fight with censorship and unwillingness to kowtow to social mores meant his movies became notorious for graphically depicting sex and violence while pushing contemporary boundaries of taste. This whodunit about a bisexual femme fatale (Sharon Stone in a career-best performance) caused an enormous furore on its release; but after years of generally inferior imitations there's not much in it that seems quite so shocking now. It's perhaps best appreciated in retrospect more for its Hitchcockian style than the steamy sex.

On the DVD: one of the most welcome elements of the disc is an acknowledgement of the film's own influences--from Hitchcock's Vertigo to Verhoeven's own The Fourth Man. The print is far superior to the previous release, looking magnificent in 1:78.1. Jerry Goldsmith's Oscar-nominated score sounds terrific in either 5.1 or DTS, as does Verhoeven's thick accent on the first commentary track alongside then Director of Photography Jan De Bont (Speed), who together reminisce on locations and manipulating their actors' performances. A second commentary from feminist critic Camille Paglia is a brave way of putting paid to the gay/feminist community uproar. There are some standard inclusions (trailer, production notes, photo gallery etc) but far more interesting are two mini-documentaries; "Cleaning Up Basic Instinct" shows how and why the TV version was so dull, while "Blonde Poison" focuses on the film's making and marketing. Finally, there are three storyboard comparisons and nine minutes of screen tests for Stone and Tripplehorn. This is the definitive release of an oft-cited modern classic. --Paul Tonks