Anthony Hopkins Movie:

Editorial Review:
Anthony Hopkins is a brilliant actor; Cuba Gooding Jr. is a talented guy with a lot of charm. Both have recently won Oscars (Best Actor for The Silence of the Lambs and Best Supporting Actor for Jerry Maguire, respectively); neither can make Instinct compelling. Hopkins plays a brilliant anthropologist studying gorillas who entered into their world, becoming part of their family, and who killed two park rangers in the gorillas' habitat. Gooding plays a brilliant young psychiatrist who's supposed to evaluate Hopkins and determine whether he's fit to stand trial. Hopkins, along with a number of other psychotics, is being held at a prison, which serves to illustrate the movie's themes about control and freedom. It's not so much that the ideas themselves are hokum--nature versus civilization is always a rich topic--it's that Instinct boils them down to inane sound bites. Psychology is reduced to a game in which the psychiatrist's job is to trick the patient into believing the correct thing or revealing the key that will solve the puzzle. There's not a credible moment in the whole movie, despite the presence of a good cast, including Donald Sutherland (M*A*S*H, Klute, Without Limits, and many, many others) and Maura Tierney (TV's Newsradio). --Bret Fetzer

Instinct [Region 2] Reviews:
Conviction and Confinement.
2008-08-10 - This account of a wild and wooly Anthony Hopkins as a killer par excellence who was rescued from his prison in a jungle somewhere and then confined illegally in the U. S. He had long white hair, strength of an ape (mountain gorillas), and look like Hemingway in 1954. Like the animals he studied so dilligently, he had the instinct to fight for his survival. Dr. Calvin writes about the marvelous ability of humans to think and choose to make decisions, solve problems, forecast the future and even create ethics, all using this mental Darwinism.

In the confinement in America, he refused to speak or socialize with the other prisoners, all of whom had mental problems. The jail was full of psychotics and other mental criminals, caged like an animal and abused by the guards. The cruelty in the guards' behavior caused a riot. Ethan kept remembering base camp and what happened there, and reflected on his success and failure to protect the apes. When he decided to trust the doctor, he asked him "Are you free?" He apparently he trusted him because he looked like the apes in the jungle. He needed someone to listen about the murders. "I used to be you; see what I have become."

What have you lost when someone else takes over control? It takes a lot of confidence. Now he has an opportunity to better himself by appearing in court. Was it a Good Conviction like Lewis Weinstein's account in the book of the same name? He had to hold on to show where the violence came from, killing the apes. and acted like a mad man. Violence can be provoked. Funny how things can change overnight. Loving, petting, kissing, holding hands -- you put trust in a person who was not in control. All was lost, taken away by force. "You taught me how to live."

Ethan regressed after the guard's attack. It is hard to see a grown man cry. Failure makes anyone cry, even a woman. He thanked the young doc for sharing this journey with him, your friend; then he returned to the wild. This book tells how chimpanzies can't talk and why we forget our dreams.

Remove the music, please
2008-07-27 - This could be and probably would be an excellent movie if it weren't for the fact that music played loudly throughout the film drowns out the characters' words.

I found myself tempted to turn the movie off due to the irritation caused by the disruption, but felt the movie worth watching, regardless.

Gorilla Thrilla
2008-03-30 - Just another "Man-is-bad,nature-is-good" movie,the point of which is to show brain dead audiences that if humans would just vanish from the earth, the stately animals would prosper. Which is not to disparage the acting of Hopkins and Gooding -- they turn in outstanding performances. And the plot is realistic -- barely so -- and the movie keeps your attention throughout. Except for the two key actors, most of the others are average and uninspiring. And, when the movie's over, you know you have just watched another average film with a cliched and overdone plot.

One wonders why Hopkins didn't win an award for his performance,
2008-03-11 - Instinct DVD

Instinct was directed by John Turteltaub, and featured an all star cast, Instinct was released in 1999. The film is based on ideas suggested in [[ASIN:B000N7CPIU.

Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins plays Dr. Ethan Powell, a primatologist turned murderer, while Gooding plays Theo Caulder, a young psychiatrist who must unlock the secrets in Powell's mind and unravel the mysteries behind his unusual killings. As the truth comes to light, we learn about how Dr. Powell had become estranged from his family only to take solace in a family of a different kind in the wild. In the process, both men take a journey of self-discovery, not unlike the one taken by millions of Ishmael readers in Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit

I wonder why Hopkins didn't win an award for his performance,

Highly recommended for fans of Anthony Hopkins and Cuba Gooding, Jr. and students of primatology

Gunner March, 2008


Great Movie
2008-01-09 - The acting in this movie was great and I enjoyed the message of the movie.
Calvin