Instinct

Rating:
Summary: Very entertaining movie
Review: It's hard to explain the refreshingly intelligent and moving and thoughtful script of this film. Issues such as what is really civilized behavior, the pack as family mentality, and humanity versus inhumanity are explored with depth but never with a heavy hand. The performances of Hopkins and Gooding are exceptional and very beleivable. Gooding did a great job portraing the depths of emotion and the layered aspects of his character in Instinct. An incredible acting job. And Anthony Hopkins is as always a top notch acting job! I think you should see this movie. You want to watch it more than once as I have. It is well worth the time.

Rating:
Summary: One of the most compelling and thought provoking movies ever
Review: While I was watching "Instinct," I noticed that it wasn't anything like any other movie I've ever seen. It's one of the most emotional and powerful movies ever made. I can't think of any others that even come close to the emotions that it has. I also haven't ever seen any other actor that can make just a typical drama or suspense movie feel like a compelling adventure like Anthony Hopkins accomplished in this movie. I can't say who I think the best actor is because there's so many great ones, but I have to say that after watching movies such as "Instinct," "Silence of The Lambs," and "Legends of The Fall," Anthony Hopkins is the first name that comes to mind when someone asks me who I think the best actor is. Cuba Gooding, Jr. is also a great actor and does one of his best jobs in "Instinct."

If you're looking for an action-packed action movie, don't get "Instinct." But if you like drama movies with a lot of suspense and you would like to hear a tale of how people can live (with animals) peacefully and without worries, then "Instinct" is definitely for you. It shows how a man is sent to prison for just taking care of his 'family.'

The only reason I can think of anybody not liking "Instinct" is that they either don't like this kind of movie, or they didn't understand it. Watch this movie closely and listen to every word and it'll grasp you and never loosen its grip until the last scene of the movie.

Rating:
Summary: You do not need to watch this movie to figure it out
Review: As is more and more often the case the trailer for "Instinct" provides what you need to know about this movie. Noted anthropologist Ethan Powell (Anthony Hopkins) was reported missing in the jungles of Africa and lost for almost two years. It was said that he was walking amongst the gorillas that he was studying. Then he murdered a couple of game wardens with a wooden club. Now he has been returned to the United States and placed in the mental ward of a prison where he refuses to speak. The case is discussed by a pair of shrinks: Dr. Ben Hillard (Donald Sutherland), who is old and wise, and Dr. Theo Caulder (Cuba Gooding, Jr.), who is young and smart. Hillard engages briefly in deep thought and then muses: "He lives with the animals, takes on their behavior, and becomes one. How does that happen?"

Of course that is what the movie is about, and young Dr. Caulder is going to go have a series of confrontational sessions with Dr. Powell in prison, get him to talk, and eventually find out the answers to the big question. But as soon as Hillard articulated the big question I had my hand up because I was pretty sure I knew the answer. I mean I saw "Gorillas in the Midst" but even without that big clue common sense would pretty much tell you why somebody studying primates in the jungle would favor the apes and side with them against human beings. There might be some surprises in terms of the details, but certainly the general idea here is clear even before we actually "learn" the answer. However, to be fair, this film gets credit for not having a sexual relationship develop between young Dr. Caulder and Powell's daughter Lyn (Maura Tierney),

Will Anthony Hopkins staring at an inquisitor in a prison setting it is hard not to see parallels between "Instinct" and "Silence of the Lambs." Caulder admits at one point that he has become a student as well as a therapist and this 1999 film is one where the patient may well do more for the doctor than the other way around. Added to this film are your standard roster of prison goons, apathetic doctors, and eccentric prisoner-patients in a simplistic combining of "The Shawshank Redemption" and "One Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest." Consequently Caulder not only has to bring Powell back to sanity and his family, but has to fight to reform the corrupt system that he finds.

The extras on this DVD consist of the trailer for "Instinct," as a reminder that it was a lot better than the actual movies, and then pictures of other movies you could have watched instead of this one. Apparently someone in a decision-making capacity recognized that most people watching this movie were probably to hit the eject button as soon as the credits, so why waste time and money adding extras nobody was going to want to see?

Rating:
Summary: When Humans Knew How To Live
Review: This is not a five star film. It is a good film with a five star message.

This is a film with very important ideas, and two actors to deliver the concepts. Anthony Hopkins is one of the finest actors making films, and Cuba Gooding Jr. has established himself as a talented actor as well. What he lacks are the decades of experience that a man like Hopkins can bring to a film, and this film did not give him a strong role. Hopkins's role could have been brilliant, unfortunately his time amongst the gorillas appeared in flashbacks, so that part of the film in all its beauty played second to a maximum security mental hospital where those that administered the facility were more of a problem than the inmates.

Different reviewers have touched on ideas that were a part of the film. The segment that was the most powerful for me was when Hopkins drew a map of the world with the people that inhabited it 10,000 years ago. His speech about modern man's presumption that he has the right to a dominion over the world is searing and brutally accurate. The idea that far in the past humans used what they needed as opposed to what they wanted is not a new one. But when an actor of Hopkins's stature speaks of the arrogance of the human race placing itself in the position of Gods, exploiters, "Takers", the import of the message is all the more powerful.

A viewer of this film need not be an intense environmentalist or a member of Greenpeace to understand and agree with this man who was to live among the apes. There is no reasoned argument that humans today make proper use of the resources we have. We don't, and as a planet we never will. Adjustments will be made when issues become so problematic and intrusive that we have no choice but to change. But change will happen when there is no other choice, not because it is the intelligent option to take.

Humans still are more akin to a virus than a symbiotic life form coexisting on this planet. To become the latter does not mean we must stop driving cars and live in mud huts. It requires that intelligent people making intelligent choices. To date we have a miserable record and we show no signs of improving. The steps that have been taken have made some differences but they are largely in response to a problem not an act of prevention, and they happen because they are reasonably convenient, not a major financial or technological challenge.

Rating:
Summary: The Definitive Sleeper
Review: The critics completely blew it on this one as it was easily the best movie of the year. I walked out thinking Gooding (actor) and Hopkins (supporting actor) had oscars in the bag. I usually can't stand "show me the money" Gooding (one of the least deserving supporting actor oscars in Jerry McGuire since what's her name in My Cousin Vinny). I knew even at that time I saw it that it was underpromoted and underattended. I had low expectations, but was totally blown away. I haven't so differently read a movie since Billy Bathgate bombed so miserably.

An extremely well-acted and written movie with, gasp, a fully developed female character that complements the two leads. This movie pressed some buttons, and I was frequently in tears as it touched on issues of family and human nature. I was amazed that Hopkins character was so clearly distinguished from Dr. Lector - because it seemed otherwise such a repeat in the trailers - once I saw it. Many a critic pronounced it another Lector character, which shows their haste - only someone who must rush through so many movies to review could miss its greatness. OK, many friends have seen it with equally ho-hum reviews... I don't get it. It just makes it all the more special a movie for me.

Given the mixed reaction this movie gets, go ahead and watch it - you may love it too.

Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly good!
Review: I'd heard some criticism of this movie, basically that it was the same thing they did with Hannibal Lecter, same actor, so why bother seeing it, yadda yadda. Not so! I was expecting a different type of movie, and was VERY pleasantly surprised by Instinct. I agree with some of criticism of "stereotypical" prison guards, "eccentric" inmates in the psych wing... yet it works. It's worth your while!

Rating:
Summary: Are You Free?
Review: Instinct is simply the most under-rated movie of all time. Hopkins and Gooding gave us great performances that were backed up by the talented supporting cast of Maura Tierney, Donald Sutherland, John Ashton, George Dzundza, and Doug Spinuzza.

It's too bad that most people who watch Instinct really don't understand the message, because it is one of the most important messages of all time. The message is that humans need to stop acting like we are gods, and give up the delusion that we are the masters of the universe.

How can such an awful film like Fargo gets praised left and right as one of the best, while this incredible masterpiece called Instinct goes unnoticed? Don't know? They are called CRITICS. Critics are generally people who have seen so many films, that they are burnt out, and try to analyze films in ways they never did when they truly enjoyed movies. They tend to develop a distaste for entertaining movies, and a taste for bizarre or boring films. Once some of the top critics blasted Instinct, it didn't have a chance. The domino effect took over, and a movie that I thought was destined to be hailed as one of the best, was very quickly stomped into obscurity.

How can this movie be so often described as derivative by the exact same people who praise one of the most derivative movies of all time, called The Shawshank Redemption? Watch Shawshank right after watching Escape from Alcatraz, and you should see what I mean. Was it King, or was it a writer for Shawshank the movie that stole those ideas and scenes? I don't know.

We all have opinions, and mine aren't any better than yours; but when a movie that has the entertainment, acting, writing, and messages of the caliber that Instinct does, can be successfully portrayed by the so-called experts as a horrible film, then you know something screwy is going on. Just watch this masterpiece, and do it with an open mind. From the words of Ethan Powell, played by Anthony Hopkins: `Are you free?' Not many of us are.

Rating:
Summary: You do not need to watch this movie to figure it out
Review: As is more and more often the case the trailer for "Instinct" provides what you need to know about this movie. Noted anthropologist Ethan Powell (Anthony Hopkins) was reported missing in the jungles of Africa and lost for almost two years. It was said that he was walking amongst the gorillas that he was studying. Then he murdered a couple of game wardens with a wooden club. Now he has been returned to the United States and placed in the mental ward of a prison where he refuses to speak. The case is discussed by a pair of shrinks: Dr. Ben Hillard (Donald Sutherland), who is old and wise, and Dr. Theo Caulder (Cuba Gooding, Jr.), who is young and smart. Hillard engages briefly in deep thought and then muses: "He lives with the animals, takes on their behavior, and becomes one. How does that happen?"

Of course that is what the movie is about, and young Dr. Caulder is going to go have a series of confrontational sessions with Dr. Powell in prison, get him to talk, and eventually find out the answers to the big question. But as soon as Hillard articulated the big question I had my hand up because I was pretty sure I knew the answer. I mean I saw "Gorillas in the Midst" but even without that big clue common sense would pretty much tell you why somebody studying primates in the jungle would favor the apes and side with them against human beings. There might be some surprises in terms of the details, but certainly the general idea here is clear even before we actually "learn" the answer. However, to be fair, this film gets credit for not having a sexual relationship develop between young Dr. Caulder and Powell's daughter Lyn (Maura Tierney),

Will Anthony Hopkins staring at an inquisitor in a prison setting it is hard not to see parallels between "Instinct" and "Silence of the Lambs." Caulder admits at one point that he has become a student as well as a therapist and this 1999 film is one where the patient may well do more for the doctor than the other way around. Added to this film are your standard roster of prison goons, apathetic doctors, and eccentric prisoner-patients in a simplistic combining of "The Shawshank Redemption" and "One Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest." Consequently Caulder not only has to bring Powell back to sanity and his family, but has to fight to reform the corrupt system that he finds.

The extras on this DVD consist of the trailer for "Instinct," as a reminder that it was a lot better than the actual movies, and then pictures of other movies you could have watched instead of this one. Apparently someone in a decision-making capacity recognized that most people watching this movie were probably to hit the eject button as soon as the credits, so why waste time and money adding extras nobody was going to want to see?

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful movie!
Review: As another reviewer said, one of the really good things this movie did was mention Daniel Quinn's book in the beginning.

I have just finished reading Ishmael by Quinn (which I wouldn't have known of hadn't it been for this movie), and I must say that Instinct's scriptwriter has done an excellent job of creating a story *based* on the thoughts of the book but making it so much more interesting and dramatic. The movie has IMPACT. It caught my attention when I saw the trailer on TV, and I knew I had to watch it, and I *drank* it in like I had longed for it for ages.

It's a beautiful, excellent movie.

Rating:
Summary: Another MASTERPIECE with ANTHONY HOPKINS ! ******
Review: HE WANDER IN THE JUNGLE WITH ITS FRIENDS THE GORILLAS WHEN THEY ARE ALMOST ALL TOGETHER KILLEDS BY SMUGLLERS AND HE WANT TO AVENGE THEM HIS ANIMAL INSTINCT IS COME BACK FOR ALWAYS FOREVER ! He is strong ! VERY STRONG AND INTELLIGENT ! He almost pass to kill these MURDERERS ONLY with its hands but he is alone in front of the killers, so, he is beared away in a psychiatric prison far away of his PARADISE he gived up his daugther thor that as much as every thing he khas known in his life ONLY a young man can be able to understand Witch he has made, and who is he .... NOW !!! And he want see again his PARADISE !!! A PERFECT MOVIE !!!