This film really surprised me. I mean REALLY. I mean I knew that Hopkins, Sutherland and Gooding Jr. were good actors and I'd heard about the film, but I was believing it would be nothing special. I WAS wrong. It had been very long, since I had last seen a film, with a message, a meaning and a higher value than entertainment, but this one is it. Maybe it's just because I study psychology, but I really enjoyed this film. It will take away your illusions. Highly recommended.

8 out of 10

Anthropologist Dr. Ethan Powell (Anthony Hopkins) is released from an African prison by the State Department. He had killed 2 Rwandan park rangers with a wooden club after living with the mountain gorillas for almost 2 years. Ben Hillard (Donald Sutherland) assigns his best psychiatric resident Theo Caulder (Cuba Gooding Jr.) to evaluate the silent Powell's mental stability. A door alarm sets Powell off in a violent rampage. He is locked up as Theo tries to engage Powell with the help of his daughter Lynn Powell (Maura Tierney). Dacks (John Ashton) is the sadistic guard. John Murray (George Dzundza) is the ineffective prison doctor.

The movie starts with Hopkins acting like a mute Hannibal. There is something powerful and scary about Hopkins being silent. The premise loses some of the power as he starts talking. It's so much more powerful as an animalistic creature. I continue to have problems with Cuba as an actor. He is so earnest in every move he makes. It is the most annoying thing. Now this character does have this arrogant superiority. So his acting somehow fits the character. It doesn't make me like him anymore. As for the anti-civilization diatribe, I take it with a handful of salt and swallow it as best I can. The turn in the movie doesn't really help and makes it less interesting. The movie starts with something fascinating but fades into a weak Shawshank.

I have read Daniel Quinn's very interesting novel "Ishmael" (in which a gorilla explains to a human the problems that humans have created in the world),and I would like to assert that "Instinct" didn't do the fullest job adapting it. Anthony Hopkins, Cuba Gooding Jr, Donald Sutherland and George Dzundza all turn in fine performances, but due to excessive moralizing, the movie comes out kinda silly. I really recommend just reading "Ishmael" and only seeing this movie if there's absolutely nothing else to see.

So, in conclusion, I will play off of a movie title to give my summation: this "Instinct" is not basic.