Synopsis
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.
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Cast
- Anthony HopkinsDr. Ethan Powell
- Cuba Gooding Jr.Dr. Theo Caulder
- Donald SutherlandBen Hillard
- Maura TierneyLynn Powell
- George DzundzaDr. John Murray
- John AshtonGuard Dacks
- John AylwardWarden Keefer
- Doug SpinuzzaNicko
- Thomas Q. MorrisPete
- Vivienne SendaydiegoCatherine
Recommendations
- 70
Salon
Although Instinct is strictly a Hollywood formula picture, it's such an efficiently executed one, built around two such outstanding actors, that for the most part you won't mind. - 63
ReelViews
A perfect example of how solid directing and good acting can almost redeem a derivative story. - 60
The New York Times
The medium is more palatable than the saccharine message because Hopkins and Gooding know how to put on a show. - 50
San Francisco Chronicle
The warning against actors playing with dogs or children should be expanded to include men in gorilla suits. - 50
The A.V. Club
A mushy-headed, unintentionally funny inspirational drama that plays like a clumsy attempt to crossbreed "The Shawshank Redemption" and "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest." - 50
Washington Post
You could be forgiven for thinking -- occasionally -- that you just stumbled into "The Silence of the Apes." - 38
Chicago Sun-Times
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. - 30
Film Threat
The audience will respond better to ENTERTAINMENT than a club to the head.
