Michael Caton-Jones is worth following for his work with actors, especially young performers, and his preference for practical action. We are less persuaded when he relies on polished surroundings: Basic Instinct 2 has plenty of those and little tension.
Fi1m perspective
London looks smart, cold and largely indifferent to its inhabitants in Basic Instinct 2 (2006). Michael Caton-Jones gives Catherine Tramell surroundings that suit her composure, but lets the same chill settle over her exchanges with Michael Glass. We were bored by their conversations because the attraction never convinced us and the next manipulation seldom seemed worth waiting for. It is a poor thriller, though a director with his record of encouraging young actors deserves to be judged beyond it.
Scandal (1989) took him into features and led to Hollywood work, including Memphis Belle (1990). His ability with young performers has a clear example in This Boy's Life (1993), which gave Leonardo DiCaprio his first lead role opposite Robert De Niro. Rob Roy (1995) shows the practical side of his filmmaking in its pared-back sword fight and attention to period detail. The later Our Ladies (2019), drawn from an Alan Warner novel, returned him to Scottish material. These are different sorts of films, and there is something to welcome in a director willing to change the job rather than repeat it.
Cinematographer Gyula Pados gives Basic Instinct 2 its glossy London finish, and production designer Norman Garwood keeps the surroundings imposing. Both contributions work on their own terms: this is a carefully presented city, and Catherine seems at home in its coolness. Yet Caton-Jones leaves us admiring the setting when we ought to be watching the people. An erotic thriller needs enough attraction or mischief to persuade us to accept preposterous plotting. He finds too little of either.
His habit of treating actors as collaborators remains the better reason to follow him. Stone supplies occasional amusement in Basic Instinct 2, but has to do too much alone; Caton-Jones gives the conversations time without making them dangerous. That is a problem of direction as much as performance: an encounter needs two people whose interest in each other we can believe. His work with the ensemble of Memphis Belle (1990) offers a better example of his ability to get actors working together. For an introduction, we would choose DiCaprio opposite De Niro in This Boy's Life.
Biography
Michael Caton-Jones is a Scottish film and television director. Born Michael Jones on 15 October 1957 in Broxburn, West Lothian, he trained at the National Film and Television School after working as a stagehand in London's West End.
He made his feature debut with Scandal (1989) and went on to direct Memphis Belle (1990), Doc Hollywood (1991), This Boy's Life (1993), Rob Roy (1995) and The Jackal (1997). Later credits include City by the Sea (2002), Shooting Dogs (2005), Basic Instinct 2 (2006) and Our Ladies (2019). He has also directed television, including two episodes of Spooks (2010) and the miniseries World Without End (2012).
Caton-Jones cast Leonardo DiCaprio in his first film role in This Boy's Life; DiCaprio thanked him during his 2016 Oscar acceptance speech.
