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New Century of Cinema
DOWSE Guide to the
Movies
by Tony Lee editor of
Pigasus
Press
Instinct
Director: John Turteltaub
118 minutes (15) widescreen 2.35:1 Touchstone DVD
review by Steven Hampton
A noted anthropologist is accused of murder but remains silent. An ambitious young
psychiatrist thinks he can get the alleged killer to speak. A battle of wits ensues as
these two men explore the heights of spiritual peace, the depths of violent rage, and
a fascinating view of broken family relationships. Are we back in Diane Fossey
territory here? Or is wild man Anthony Hopkins' blunder in the jungle an effort to
play Tarzan as a mental patient? Hopkins turns in another powerful performance as the
educated man who has lived among gorillas for two years, but his co-star, Cuba Gooding,
Jr. is only moderately likeable as the over earnest shrink. Renowned simian expert
Peter Elliott does his usual best as trainer of those people in Stan Winston's woolly
suits (here credited as "special character effects") and, sure enough, they
do move and act like the great apes that we used to see at the zoo, before zoos went
out of fashion. And yet, however convincing they may be, the 'apes' don't have enough
screen time for us to tell one from another, and Hopkins ends up having to carry the
film entire film through the intelligently scripted and strongly emotive, but numbingly
predictable, prison interview sessions. Which just leaves, surprisingly, Hopkins'
screen daughter (Maura Tierney), to pick up the pieces left scattered around by
Gooding's largely blank faced style of acting. Tierney is quite stunning in her few
scenes, making the most of limited screen time and an obviously underwritten part and,
with relative ease, making Gooding's efforts look feebleminded by comparison.
DVD extras: just the basics - scene access in 21 chapters, four language
soundtracks, choice of eight subtitled languages, and that's all.
Back to Movies on Dowse index.
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