Product Details

• Actors: Anthony Hopkins, Cuba Gooding Jr., Donald Sutherland, Maura Tierney, George Dzundza
• Directors: Jon Turteltaub
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Walt Disney Video
• VHS Release Date: June 13, 2000
• Run Time: 126 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (108 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6305608253
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #20,197 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Anthony Hopkins is a brilliant actor; Cuba Gooding Jr. is a talented guy with a lot of charm. Both have recently won Oscars (Best Actor for The Silence of the Lambs and Best Supporting Actor for Jerry Maguire, respectively); neither can make Instinct compelling. Hopkins plays a brilliant anthropologist studying gorillas who entered into their world, becoming part of their family, and who killed two park rangers in the gorillas' habitat. Gooding plays a brilliant young psychiatrist who's supposed to evaluate Hopkins and determine whether he's fit to stand trial. Hopkins, along with a number of other psychotics, is being held at a prison, which serves to illustrate the movie's themes about control and freedom. It's not so much that the ideas themselves are hokum--nature versus civilization is always a rich topic--it's that Instinct boils them down to inane sound bites. Psychology is reduced to a game in which the psychiatrist's job is to trick the patient into believing the correct thing or revealing the key that will solve the puzzle. There's not a credible moment in the whole movie, despite the presence of a good cast, including Donald Sutherland (M*A*S*H, Klute, Without Limits, and many, many others) and Maura Tierney (TV's Newsradio). --Bret Fetzer

From The New Yorker

Anthony Hopkins plays a distinguished anthropologist who lives happily amid the mountain gorillas of Rwanda but goes ape when some rogue park rangers try to eliminate the peaceful furry beasts. Several years later, he's stuck in a ward for the criminally insane in a Florida prison, and Cuba Gooding, Jr., a hot-shot young psychiatrist, tries to spring him. It seems that the anthropologist, despite his violent habits, is a deeply moral man with a Rousseauian take on the corruptions of civilization and the benevolence of life in a state of nature. This unfortunate rubbish, written by Gerald DiPego (from a novel by Daniel Quinn) and directed by Jon Turteltaub, preaches against violence while attempting to excite us with the peculiar spectacle of Hopkins bashing people twice his size. The only pleasurable element in it is the performance of Gooding, whose charm and intelligence, products of high civilization, neatly undermine everything the filmmakers are trying to say. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars awe inspiring ..., May 21, 2005

By	Mary C "NurseMare" (NJ, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Instinct (DVD)

I was prepared to not like this movie. There were so many negative and lukewarm reviews. I'm glad I watched it in spite of those reviews.

This is a deeply moving story about an anthropologist who leaves everything behind and lives with a group of gorillas - we get glimpses of that life later in movie. The beginning of the movie is a portrait of him as a madman, who doesn't speak, and has killed two park rangers. He is transported to the U.S. and awaits trial in a prison for the criminally insane. Cuba Gooding Jr. is a psychiatrist who is trying to get him to come out of his shell and speak. Cuba Gooding Jr's performance is the stand out in this awe inspring movie.

For fear of giving too much away, I won't say much more. I will say, however, that this movie is not so much about the crime itself. It is more about the transforming nature of love and respect and, ultimately, the meaning of freedom.

Unlike some other reviewers, I would heartily recommend this film. It is a movie that makes you think. It is a movie that will be on your mind for days and days. It just may transform the way you think.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This movie is about control., August 14, 2005

By	Jeremy James (Kentucky USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Instinct (DVD)

Everyone thinks this movie is about Anthony Hopkins living out some demented "Gorillas in the Mist" nightmare. That is simply the catalyst for teaching us something about how we relate to the world around us. Everything about this movie is about control, the desire to control those who are not like us, the desire of the guards to control the population, the desire of Gooding's character to contol Hopkins. But, what Hopkins has to teach us is that we are not in control, but we simply hold onto our illusions of control. When our illusions are threatened we become angry and frightened because we are afraid of the reality. Ever wonder why we are so disturbed about a home invasion? Is it because someone came in, or because we had built up an illusion that we were safe, and now that illusion is gone? In this movie look past the gorillas and the corny guards and the predictable plot, look deeper into what the characters reveal about ourselves. Truly, then this is a very frightening movie.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible Performances, January 30, 2000

By	Amateur Saboteur (Unimportant) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Instinct (DVD)

Hopkins and Gooding give what is quite possibly the most impressive performance, in my opinion, of the year. If you have anything against either actor, however, I don't reccommend the movie, as 90% of the film centers solely on those two actors. On the other hand, if you're an avid fan of the two (as I am), this is a definite must to add to the collection.