Not in the least instructive or entertaining.
Instinct (1999)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:66
Fresh:18
Rotten:48
Average Rating:4.3/10
Consensus: A convoluted and predictable plot overshadows the performances.
Runtime: 2 hrs 6 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Theo Caulder (Gooding, Jr.) is an ambitious psychiatric who has been asked by his mentor Ben Hillard (Sutherland) to evaluate the case of legendary anthropologist and primatologist Ethan Powell... Theo Caulder (Gooding, Jr.) is an ambitious psychiatric who has been asked by his mentor Ben Hillard (Sutherland) to evaluate the case of legendary anthropologist and primatologist Ethan Powell (Hopkins). Powell- a highly educated man who holds an ominous secret in his past- is currently being held captive in a maximum security prison for the critically insane. In an attempt to understand the actions of this headline-gripping madman, Caulder elicits the aid of Powell's estranged daughter, Lyn. Risking his career and his life, Caulder's ambition drives him to find the truth, regardless of the cost. Both men become psychologically connected as their relationship changes from psychiartrist and prisoner to student and teacher. [More]
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Cuba Gooding, Donald Sutherland, Maura Tierney
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Cuba Gooding, Donald Sutherland, Maura Tierney, George Dzundza, John Ashton, John Aylward, Marc Macaulay
Director: Jon Turteltaub
Director: Jon Turteltaub
Screenwriter: Gerald Di Pego
Producer: Barbara Boyle, Michael Taylor
Composer: Danny Elfman
Reviews for Instinct
It's as though the filmmakers got spooked by the very primal scream that would make this movie soar.
Soulless exercises in manipulation such as this that robsany of the enjoyment or genuine excitement out of cinema.
Regardless of how familiar the storyline and characters seem, everyone connected with the movie seems to think it's of invaluable importance. Instinct is one suffocatingly pompous flick.
If there's anything worse than a movie hammered together out of pieces of bad screenplays, it's a movie made from the scraps of good ones.
Perhaps, like the human race itself, "Instinct," far from flawless is nonetheless seductively imperious, and yes, as lovable as a perfect paradox
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