Surprisingly incoherent and boring

An absolute waste of money

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

The average mark given by IMBd users seems to me very logical, a good movie, with very good acting and an interesting psychological thriller, but with several superficial details that partially spoil it.But when I went to read the reviews I saw that most of them give 10/10 which I think is nonsense. Reading most of them I realised that what people praise is the message of the movie, not the movie itself. I agree that the movie makes a very good criticism of what mankind is, and how he treats the planet and himself. But imho the message is given in a too superficial and sometimes disappointing manner. First of all, how can Hopkins start talking so easily? just mention his daughter once or twice and voilá, he is talking. I expected to take some effort and intelligence for the psychologist to make him talk. Secondly, the rebellion in the mental health prison, when they start breaking the cards, the scene is so simple and stereotyped that looks like made for kids. Third, the moment when they kill the gorillas with the baby gorilla in hands of Hopkins, for me this was a cheap easy tear trick. And finally, all the psychological evaluation is too fast, shallow, without any unexpected turns and does not look intelligent at all. A nice touch is the homage to Shawshank Redemption when he goes out of the car in the rain and extends the arms, but even this was not very carefully made with the BMW at the bottom, not poetic image at all.Conclusion: a nice movie, good acting, deep message, but several simplistic scenes and plot deficiencies spoil it.

Instinct (1999): Dir: Jon Turteltaub / Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Cuba Gooding Jr., Maura Tierney, Donald Sutherland, John Ashton: It's Hannibal Lector in Africa comparing animal instincts to that of humans. Anthony Hopkins abandons his family to study gorillas in Africa. He abandons civilization and remains among gorillas for two years until he is taken prisoner for murder. Nothing is resolved in the nitwit conclusion and it would seem unfit that anyone would choose to live in the wild as oppose to be with their family. Family situation is loosely handled and the screenplay throws in unnecessary subplots including treatment of prisoners. It isn't surprising when Hopkins nearly kills an inmate due to mind screwing by guards. Directed by Jon Turteltaub who previously made two very different and more enjoyable films in While You Were Sleeping and Phenomenon. Hopkins is basically reciting his famed Lector role, which distracts any potential message. Cuba Gooding Jr. plays a flatly written psychiatrist who tries to make a difference. Maura Tierney is wasted as Hopkins's daughter who is destined to remain scratching her head at it all. Donald Sutherland is featured as a judge and that is a big reduction after all his great leading roles. More African footage would have been preferred over its blatant courtroom appeal. Trust your instincts and avoid this film. Score: 2 / 10

I think the reason why there are so few who have given credit for this movie is that there are so few who have reached that level of self-awareness that this film requires to understand.This movie is very, very psychological. There are so many thoughtful, playful and subtle psychological hints, situations, story lines, and gestures that piece together the whole story that if you are not interested in behavior, or some form of deeper exchange in a movie-experience, then this is NOT a movie for you.However, for people who understand psychology, behavior, and norms, who are interested in social experiments, and who are interested in questioning human moralities, this film will simply be a masterpiece. This is one of the best movies I know. SEE IT! (Apologize for any grammatical errors, English is not my native language.)

This is an awfully sentimental movie, with nice acting and promising script. But, sorrowfully, it's also one of the movies which you find yourself asking after its end; what does it say ?! The problem is within this script. It's not only promising, it rather has so great factors : The thrilling psychological investigation about the truth of strange murders, exploring a vague yet interesting man, a despotic reign vs. oppressed people, the animal vs. the rational human who became more beastly, the love and family vs. money and position. The tragedy though is that this movie didn't pick out well what to say out of all of these beautiful meanings. Or maybe it picked out saying them all in the same time (!), to end up with nothing complete.(Anthony Hopkins) is an excellent actor but I longed for someone who's physically bigger, such as Nolte, Hackman, or Connery (who I knew later that the role was written for him). The chemistry wasn't that palpable between him and (Cuba Gooding Jr.) as well. (Cuba Gooding) gave only 90 % of him for the role, and the script embarrassed him already with inconsistent aims; does he have to be more concern about love (the mentor himself forgot to express his love to his daughter !!), does he have to be more human and less beastly (that was the problem of the prison's managers, not him !), was he after the wrong goals all along ? (then what he got from that man to get right ?!). So the moment in which he tells Hopkins, so teary and desperate, "You taught me how to live" was undoubtedly the highest peak of sentimental crap this movie could achieve !The soft piano score got on my nerves since it made the movie's soundtrack as the same as any other Hollywood movie with romantic feel. I thought I was watching (Patch Adams – 1998) for god's sake! It was boring score and surely it obliterated big part of the movie's singularity. On the contrary, the sound effects worked highly. They incarnated smartly many important emotions and turning points. The end with the lead runs away made it kind of mix between (Scent of a Woman – 1992) and (The Shawshank Redemption – 1994). So was it about how the people became so inhuman therefore the only available freedom would be by living with the animals?! That's the closest meaning it could reach, however by unsettled script and after nonplused time. What makes you sad is that it had real original factors to be one-of-a-kind movie, but it blew it. If something (Instinct) missed, and extremely needed to be true magical, then it's the instinct of being focused.