Copyright © 1999 by Michael Segers, All rights reserved
Dr. Ethan Powell, according to the new film Instinct, is your typical world class authority on primate behavior. He goes to Africa, kills a few people, charms killer dobermans, and ends up, as played by Anthony Hopkins on a very bad hair day, looking for all the world like King Lear. Meanwhile Cuba Gooding, Jr., has toned himself down a few notches from his Jerry Maguire role to play Dr. Theo Caulder, a rather one-dimensional character who grows to perhaps two dimensions right before our eyes.
There is a warning at the beginning of the film, when it is claimed that the film was inspired by Ishmael, by Daniel Quinn, one of the most uninspiring novels ever written. Although it won Ted Turner’s Tomorrow Award ($500,000) for its ideas, it falls flat in any sort of emotional appeal or human interest—understandable since the main character is a gorilla, a poster-gorilla for logorrhea who somehow (Quinn doesn’t get bogged down with details) communicates a long, tedious pseudo-history to perhaps the most masochistic listener in history. Guess which species is cast in a singularly bad light. Although there are a couple of rather irrelevant references to Ishmael’s divisions of human cultures, the main debt the film owes to the book is in the irritating questions and answers that Hopkins and Gooding have to pack some emotional punch into.
But, the film is derivative enough for those who enjoy looking for influences and inspirations. Take a good measure of jungle movies from Tarzan to Gorillas in the Mist. (As messy as the plot is already, I wish it could wink or nod to the infamous gorilla number in Blonde Venus.) Mix in a whole mess of prison movies and psychiatrist movies, from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest to Good Will Hunting, and finish up with a homage (plagiarism with an education?) to the Sixties’ cult clunker, King of Hearts. Gerald Di Pego’s script (he also takes credit for Message in a Bottle) is crammed with stereotypical characters, plots that go nowhere, and some unstated racial problems that I found troubling. A white character kills black characters because they killed gorillas.
Forget gorillas, though. This is a movie about actors. Hopkins uses his elegant voice and powerful physical presence to their maximum effects—very special effects. Gooding is not given as much to work with. In fact, he has some lines about learning how to feel that shouldn’t be allowed outside an undergraduate script-writing class. Best of all, when the two are on screen together, I expect to smell sizzling celluloid.
Other actors don’t fare so well. Donald Sutherland could sleepwalk through his role as Caulder’s mentor. By the way, after seeing this film, a woman told me that Sutherland could de-throne Sean Connery as Sexiest Sexagenarian. Pity poor Mara Tierney, even more wasted here than she was in Liar, Liar. As Powell’s daughter Lynn, she is scared, frustrated, angry, but the writer never decides how to deal with her. There seems to be a possibility of some relationship between her and Caulder, but that goes nowhere, or does it? A subplot is a terrible thing to waste, and since "Dr." Barbara Streisand got involved with Nick Nolte in Prince of Tides, surely a little old thing like professional ethics isn’t standing in anyone’s way.
This is no Silence of the Lambs, although Hopkins spends most of this film in chains. (At this rate, he is going to gain most favored status among the bondage & dominance crowd.) That was a film that drew on every possible asset that a film can have—script, acting, production, cinematography—to create an effect so powerful that I’ll probably have my Silence of the Lamb nightmare tonight, just because I thought of it now.
There will be no Silence of the Gorillas nightmares, I hope. But for a chance to see two powerhouse actors letting it all hang out, you might yield to this Instinct. As you follow your instincts, keep your feet dry and your heart full of noble thoughts. Although I’ve cautioned you before about official movie web sites, this might be a good one to look at:
http:www.instinct-themovie.com
For some ingenious programming in a tribute to the original Star Wars:
For one of the most impressive, entertaining, and downright amazing web sites I’ve ever seen—and an opportunity to learn so much about gorillas—check out:
http://www.selu.com/ bio/gorilla