Instinct (1999) Anthony Hopkins, Cuba Gooding Jr., Donald Sutherland, Maura Tierney, George Dzundza, John Ashton, Paul Bates, Ian Ingram, Thomas Q. Morris. Music by Danny Elfman. Screenplay by Gerald Di Pego, inspired by "Ishmael" by Daniel Quinn. Directed by Jon Turteltaub. 125 minutes. Rated R, 3 stars (out of five stars)
Review by Ed Johnson-Ott, NUVO Newsweekly www.nuvo-online.com Archive reviews at http://us.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Edward+Johnson-ott To receive reviews by e-mail at no charge, send subscription requests
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I felt strongly conflicted while watching "Instinct." Part of me wanted to just surrender and enjoy the film, relishing the strong acting and philosophical message. But every time I gave in, something would happen to remind me that, beneath the surface, this was just another mainstream Hollywood movie. "Instinct" is extremely derivative, needlessly manipulative and even a bit superficial, but I'm still giving the film a qualified recommendation because, as annoying as the bad parts are, the good parts are really, really good.
Cuba Gooding Jr. plays Theo Caulder, an upwardly mobile psychiatrist given the juicy assignment of assessing Dr. Ethan Powell (Anthony Hopkins), a renown anthropologist and primatologist who left for Africa to study gorillas and returned a madman. Seems that the doctor, whose relations with his family were distant at best, developed a much better rapport with the great apes. Powell disappeared into the jungle, only to emerge much later in chains, accused of attacking a group of men and murdering two of them.
Housed in the psychiatric wing of a maximum security prison after being shipped back to the States, Powell is to be evaluated for competency. Young Caulder sees a career boost, and a possible best- seller, in his new patient, but as he tenuously builds a relationship with the damaged man, he discovers something far more significant.
One of the best things about "Instinct" is the casting, along with most of the performances. In the wake of his Academy Award-winning turn in "Jerry Maguire" and wildly jubilant acceptance speech at the Oscar ceremonies, Cuba Gooding Jr. has done the over-enthusiastic rah- rah bit to death, culminating in a series of soft drink commercials where he comes off like a coked-up personal trainer gone berserk. Thankfully, Gooding is controlled, thoughtful and quite engaging here (although in one scene, where he leads a group of prisoners in a defiant chant, I half expected him to start thrusting cans of Pepsi at the convicts). Gooding makes the transition from silky opportunist to shaken human being very effectively, and he works beautifully with Anthony Hopkins.
As usual, Hopkins is superb, taking a role earlier slated for Sean Connery and putting his own definitive stamp on the character. Manacled and slightly hunched over, he silently peers out from his long white hair like a leopard behind wild reeds. Hopkins doesn't just play the deranged anthropologist, he inhabits him. From the film's moving (and incredibly realistic) scenes of Powell communing with a family of gorillas, to a stunning extended sequence where he gives Caulder a harrowing lesson on the illusion of control, Hopkins' work is flawless.
Alas, the script is not. Gooding and Hopkins are so strong that it takes awhile to notice that the production is a somewhat sluggish pastiche of other movies, from "Gorillas in the Mist" to "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," with a healthy dose of "Equus" to boot. The film even includes the "standing in the rain with arms outstretched as a metaphor for freedom" overhead crane shot from "The Shawshank Redemption," "Pleasantville" and God knows how many other flicks. While the image was once evocative, it now needs to be put out to pasture once and for all.
Hopefully there's also room in that pasture for lovable loonies, another irritating movie cliché. Mental illness isn't adorable, as everyone (except screenwriters) already knows, but "Instinct" offers a pair of convicts who, despite being criminally insane, are more insufferably cute than all four "Teletubbies" combined.
While "Instinct" embraces too many trite plot devices, it successfully navigates past a few. Even though "NewsRadio's" Maura Tierney, playing Powell's estranged daughter, achieves a nice chemistry with Gooding, their relationship remains platonic, sparing us a needless romantic subplot.
Unfortunately, the filmmakers don't resist the temptation to wrap up their story with a stupid Hollywood ending. I won't disclose the details, but as you leave the theater, consider the logistics of the final image and ask yourself how it could have occurred. The answer is simple: it couldn't. While you're at it, reflect on how the resolution seems to negate the one thing for which Powell gives Caulder thanks. Better yet, do yourself a favor and don't stay for the ending. I'm serious. Late in the film, when Gooding finishes his speech about "the game," get up and walk out. Then, on the way home, make up your own ending. I guarantee that whatever you come up with will be more plausible that what the writers concocted.
Despite the clichés, despite the languid pacing, despite seeing great character actors cast as stereotypes, and even despite the ending, I'm still glad I saw "Instinct." The film delivers a message that, however obvious, bears repeating. And it provides a fine showcase for the considerable talents of Cuba Gooding Jr. and Anthony Hopkins. To watch actors as electric as those two, it's worth sitting through the rough stuff.
© 1999 Ed Johnson-Ott
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