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Instinct
Movie Stats & Links |
| Starring: |
Cuba Gooding Jr., Donald Sutherland, Anthony
Hopkins |
| MPAA Rated: |
R |
| Released By: |
Touchstone
Pictures |
| Web Site: |
www.instinct-themovie.com |
| Kiddie Movie: |
Oh no, I don't think so. |
| Date Movie: |
She'll might get jumpy and hold your hand. |
| Gratuitous Sex: |
None. |
| Gratuitous
Violence: |
People get killed, beat up, and put in
head-locks. |
| Action: |
Some chase-type scenes in the jungle and through
the airport. |
| Laughs: |
Some cute one-liners. |
| Memorable
Scene: |
Anytime Caulder is trying to evalute/question
Powell. |
| Memorable
Quote: |
Powell to Caulder after he speaks: "Have I made
your fucking day?" |
| Directed By: |
Jon Turtletaub |
| Produced By: |
Michael Taylor, Barbara Boyle |
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Instinct
A Movie Review |
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Cuba Gooding Jr. has a new line. No
more "Show me the money!" Nope, after watching "Instinct"
now it's "Everybody goes outside!" Alright, it doesn't have
the ring as the "Jerry Maguire" line, and I doubt people
will be coming up to Cuba now and saying "Come on, say that
'outside' thing," but "Instinct" did make me now see that
Cuba is a pretty damn good actor. And that Anthony Hopkins
guy isn't bad either.
In "Instinct" we've got Dr. Ethan Powell (Anthony
Hopkins). He's one of those professors who is totally
dedicated to his work and leaves his family in the dust. He
finds himself in Africa studying gorillas and somehow
disappears into the jungle. Well, after killing some poacher
dudes, he's captured and instead of hung overseas, Powell
gets extradited back to the U.S. and now it's time for Dr.
Caulder (Cuba Gooding Jr.) to evaluate him before his
hearing. Caulder is one of those kiss-ass kind of students,
always working to please everyone to get ahead, and sees
Powell as his chance at fame and advancement. At first he is
totally happy he gets to do the evaluation, kinda a gift
from his professor/mentor dude, Ben Hillard (Donald
Sutherland), but then Caulder finds out that he also has to
evaluate/treat the rest of the crazies (umm, I mean mentally
ill), in the maximum security prison Powell is vacationing
in. He's not to pleased, but keeps his end of the bargain so
that he can get to treat Powell.
Well, yea, you can probably guess that a lot of this
movie revolves around Dr. Caulder's transformation from the
kiss-ass intern to a guy who has actual feelings, and yea,
the movie does some preaching about humanity today (I almost
became weepy as I was seeing the reason Powell killed those
dudes in Africa), but for me most of this movie showed some
great acting on many sides, Hopkins as usual, Gooding which
impressed me (except for the scene where he tells Powell
"Try me." It still wreaks of overacting, but that's just
me), and then there's the hospital of, umm, the mentally
ill. We see inside the mind of Powell, we see him twist
Coulder into a human being, and we see Coulder's human being
side care about what happens to the crazies he has been put
in place to help. The other treat comes from the acting of
the mentally ill patients. You feel a little sad for them,
but love their triumphs.
"Instinct" does get a little preachy but I was able to
get past that quickly and just enjoy the film. I expected
not to, having read some early reviews, comparing it to
"Gorillas in the Mist" and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's
Nest," and yea, I suppose there are similarities, but
sometimes you just have to listen to the story a movie
tells, take it for what it's worth, and enjoy the
characters. Everyone in this film lets you do that.
So, I give "Instinct" 4 stars out of 5. It could have
been a little better, and I would have preferred the movie
ended with Powell just staring into space after Coulder
blubbered to him how he was ready to get back in "the game,"
but I guess it's tough for anyone in Hollywood to leave a
movie on a slight downer. Oh well.
That's it for this one! I'm The Dude on the Right!!
L8R!!! |
