INSTINCT (1999)
Rating: 2 stars (out of 4.0) ******************************** Key to rating system: 2.0 stars - Debatable 2.5 stars - Some people may like it 3.0 stars - I liked it 3.5 stars - I am biased in favor of the movie 4.0 stars - I felt the movie's impact personally or it stood out ********************************* A Movie Review by David Sunga
Directed by: Jon Turteltaub
Written by: Gerald Di Pego, based on the novel "Ishmael" by Daniel Quinn
Starring: Cuba Gooding Jr., Anthony Hopkins, Donald Sutherland, Maura Tierney
Synopsis: Theo Caulder (Cuba Gooding Jr.) is a young psychiatrist who has been given an interesting case to study: An anthropologist named Ethan Powell (Anthony Hopkins) who has lost his humanity living in the Rwandan wilderness among mountain gorillas has been caught, deported, and sent to an American prison psychiatric ward after killing two rangers. Caulder makes regular therapy visits to converse with Powell and to try to figure out his mentality. Is Powell a brutal killer, an ape man, or a downtrodden naturalist with a legitimate complaint against society?
Opinion: INSTINCT plays like a mystery. Mountain gorillas are gentle herbivores who only attack in self defense, so what could possibly cause an eminent scientist with the mentality and friendship of herbivores to go out and attack rangers? Psychiatrist Theo Caulder takes the whole movie to find out the reason when the answer is obvious.
INSTINCT isn't very convincing. As Powell Anthony Hopkins seems too educated and studious to have ape-like episodes of superhuman strength and brutish behavior. It makes the character seem more like a split personality than a scientist with a secret reason. That a keen mind such as Powell's would relish an alternate identity as a primitive, grass-eating forest creature instead of using his wits and tool-making abilities in the jungle is barely credible. Similarly unconvincing is the bond between Theo Caulder and Ethan Powell. Their psychiatric relationship is a clinical, teacher/student thing. But as Caulder Cuba Gooding Jr. seems overly emotional, as if the two protagonists had shared more happy moments than they actually had.
The film's major theme is the innocence of nature versus the corruption of humanity. This is a noble goal, but INSTINCT hits you over the head with it. As Powell Anthony Hopkins even draws a colored map of ancient Earth and diagrams man's historic exploitation of nature. Much more compelling is the side plot involving Maura Tierney as Powell's neglected daughter, trying to understand why her father had abandoned the family. To me, a more intriguing INSTINCT would be a complex movie about a daughter trying to rediscover the lost father she never knew.
Reviewed by David Sunga June 7, 1999
Copyright © 1999 by David Sunga This review and others like it can be found at THE CRITIC ZOO: http://www.criticzoo.com email: zookeeper@criticzoo.com
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