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Instinct
Touchstone Pictures
Starring Anthony Hopkins, Cuba Gooding

There are some films where I may not find the film as a whole enjoyable, but at the same time, there are elements that certainly do work and the picture as a whole, although not flawless, is certainly to the level of "fixable". "Instinct" is certainly one of those pictures, in my opinion, a film marketed as a "thriller", but is more of a drama that serves as a showcase for two of today's best actors.

Anthony Hopkins stars as Ethan Powell, a primatologist that studied Gorillas in the wilds of Africa for a few years until he dissapeared, becoming more and more a part of the "family" of apes that he was studying. The film starts off on the wrong foot by introducing us to Powell in "the present", after he has committed murder in the wilds and has been sentenced to jail. The opening scene, where he escapes, and a lot of the opening parts of the film, feel slow and awkward as if not only did I not quite know where this was going, I didn't particularly care to take the journey, either.

The film doesn't pick up in a satisfactory manner, either, when resident psychologist Theo Caulder(Cuba Gooding, Jr.) is introduced. Caulder agrees to take on the case of Powell and the two begin their talks. The problem here is that all they do is talk, or at least at the very begining, it's Caulder who does all the talking. It's when Hopkins begins to gradually speak his mind that the film takes its first few steps into becoming mildly interesting. The film takes us through Powell's history in Africa, little by little. It's the flashbacks that are actually played quite well, showing us how Powell's character was gradually accepted into the group of Gorillas. I couldn't help but think during these flashbacks that these scenes would have added up into a far more interesting plot for a movie.


Gradually though, "Instinct" thankfully begins to turn up the intensity as the therapy sessions begin to turn into a battle of wills with Powell teaching Caulder what the wilds taught him. There are some basically interesting concepts at the core of the original discussions between the two about "society", but they're not terribly deep. What I found slightly less enjoyable were the discussions about how we are a society of "takers". I understood the point, but it's somewhat silly and simplistic in the way it's presented.

What really brings this picture along and gives it forward momentum are the performances by Hopkins and Gooding, Jr.; both give their best try at roles that aren't terribly original in a movie that definitely doesn't try at all to be very original, copying from a long lineup of movies, most noticably, "The Shawshank Redemption"(at least "Pleasantville" director Gary Ross later apologized for not realizing he was taking from "Shawshank"). On the other end, "Instinct" doesn't make good use of two fine actors: Maura Tierny(TV's "Newsradio") who does her best with a small, underwritten role as Powell's daughter and Donald Sutherland, who is on hand to occasionally give advice to Caulder in a stereotypical "mentor" role. I won't even go into the group of patients in the same jail as Powell who look like they were taken from "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest".

Even after all that, I still didn't have that feeling that I dread from going to films: that dread mixed with anger that I've completely wasted two hours of my life. The central performances are certainly good and there are moments that I found enjoyable and entertaining. "Instinct" is one of those films where there is something there, I felt. It just isn't fully realized.

Close, but not quite recommendable. Maybe worth seeing at a bargain matinee.

** 1/2.