"Who's got my card!?  Who's got the Ace of Diamonds??"

INSTINCT (R)

Reviewed June 8, 1999 - Check out the Instinct Website.

It's Gorillas in the Mist meets One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest meets The Shawshank Redemption.  I hate to say it, but that's what Instinct is more or less about.  In this John Turteltaub-directed film, Anthony Hopkins plays brilliant anthropologist Dr. Ethan Powell, a man who had mysteriously disappeared for two years in Rwanda, only to be found living amongst a group of mountain gorillas he was studying.  Not speaking a word since his reappearance, and charged with the brutal murder of two Rwandan officials, Powell was now being held in a maximum-security psychiatric prison awaiting evaluation.  His evaluator?  Young resident Dr. Theo Caulder (Cuba Gooding, Jr.), an eager and ambitious doctor just itching for a great case to launch his career.  Can Caulder get the silent Powell to talk?  Can he unlock the mystery behind this formerly brilliant but now wild and animalistic man?

In what is more or less a two-man show throughout the film, Powell and Caulder alternate as teacher and student, challenging and revealing and enlightening each other as Powell slowly reveals his story.  Who is really in control and who is not?  Who is really imprisoned and who is not?  Recalling the very different reality that he found amongst the gorillas in Africa, Powell teaches Caulder a thing or two about freedom and life.  In turn, Caulder reminds Powell about the realities of the world he seems so ready to leave behind, a world which includes a loving daughter (Maura Tierney) who wants to connect with her father once again.

Okay, so this isn't exactly groundbreaking stuff, and Instinct does suffer a bit from the ho-hum "seen it, done that" effect which plagues these types of films.  Those of you looking for new and highly original elements in your movie experience can look elsewhere.  Having said that, however, I will also say that Instinct is also a surprisingly satisfying entertainment experience, bolstered primarily by the astonishing work of Anthony Hopkins.  Watching this man communicate so expressively with just a look, a twitch, or even the changing rhythm of his breath...this alone is almost worth the price of admission, and this kind of role (a la Hannibal Lecter) allows Hopkins to really flex his very capable acting muscles.  Commendably, Cuba Gooding, Jr. also holds his own as the young Dr. Caulder, showing just barely enough restraint to keep up with the more mature Hopkins.  Whether interacting with each other, with the oppressive prison guards, or with Powell's erratic prison inmates in the film, both Gooding and Hopkins stand out very nicely, keeping Instinct a very watchable (if somewhat unoriginal) story.  For some, this film will no doubt feel very derivative, and at times it is a bit emotionally manipulative (it seems as if almost every character has a teary-eyed moment in the end), but all in all it's not too bad...just another excuse to happily gawk at Hopkins' work for a couple of hours... : )

Responses from cyberspace--thanks for writing!

Klobb gives this movie  stars: "Like Patch Adams with monkeys. Instinct does have a message, and to be fair it delivers the message well. But like a baker who just can't stop pouring sugar into the cake mix, you hit a point where the whole thing just tastes too sickly sweet to bother finishing it. Wasted premise." (6/24/99)