On I List of Movie Reviews

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Instinct (1999)

Rate: 4
Viewed: 5/25

5/25: Instinct "explores the themes of civilization, family, and humanity with realistic effects and emotional depth."

Uh...yeah, whatever. All I saw is a vengeful old man who hates authority and can't do anything about it after witnessing the killing of mountain gorillas. In other words, it's shallow bullshit that happens to be the male version of Gorillas in the Mist with a ripped-off famous moment from The Shawshank Redemption.

Poor storytelling is part of the problem. It takes forever to arrive at the reason why the old man killed Africans. By the time he finished explaining, the movie was over, rendering everything else at Harmony Bay Correctional Facility pointless. Director Jon Turteltaub needs to rethink what's important and what's not without being derivative.

Anthony Hopkins is fair, but this type of character coming from him has been done to death. Well-meaning at first, Cuba Gooding, Jr., is superficial toward the end. When he had a big speech at the end in the hopes of turning it into an Oscar-winning clip, I thought Anthony Hopkins would turn slowly and tell him, "Juha...nobody gives a fuck about how you feel. Now, get out of here."

All in all, the tagline of Instinct should be: "Trust it by seeing Gorillas in the Mist instead."

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