Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
In a prison for the criminally insane, deranged anthropologist Ethan Powell is set to be examined by a bright young psychiatrist, Theo Caulder. Driven by ambition and a hunger for the truth, Caulder will eventually risk everything—even put his very life on the line—in a harrowing attempt to understand the bizarre actions of this madman.
Instinct is carried almost entirely by Anthony Hopkins and Cuba Gooding Jr., whose performances elevate what is essentially a derivative, preachy screenplay. Hopkins brings genuine intensity and gravitas to a role that could easily have been scenery-chewing, while Gooding holds his own in their charged exchanges. The plot, however, is a fairly formulaic variation on the 'brilliant madman teaches psychiatrist profound life lessons' template — echoes of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and similar films are unavoidable, and the philosophical messaging about civilization vs. nature is handled with a heavy hand. Cinematography is competent but unremarkable, with the prison setting serviceable rather than inspired. The ending feels abrupt and somewhat unsatisfying, failing to resolve the film's tensions in a meaningful way and leaning on sentiment rather than earned catharsis. The film's core concept — an anthropologist gone feral who communicates through gorilla behavior — has potential for genuine novelty but is squandered by conventional execution.