Instinct (1999)

Directed by: Jon Turteltaub | 126 minutes | drama, thriller | Actors: Anthony Hopkins, Cuba Gooding Jr., Donald Sutherland, Maura Tierney, George Dzundza, John Ashton, John Aylward, Thomas Q. Morris, Doug Spinuzza, Paul Bates, Rex Linn, Rod McLachlan, Kurt Smildsin, Jim R. Coleman, Tracey Ellis, Kim Ingram, Paul Collins, Marc Macaulay, Jim Grimshaw, Gary Bristow, Rus Blackwell, Bruce Borgan, Louanne Stephens, Ajgie Kirkland, Chike Kani Omo, Christopher John Harris, Ivonne Coll, Pat McNamara, Vivienne Sendaydiego

What ever happened to Cuba Gooding Jr.? In the 1990s, the talented New York actor was brought in as a major new star in the firmament. With notable roles in ‘Boyz ‘n the Hood’ (1991), ‘A Few Good Men’ (1992) and ‘Outbreak’ (1995), he was launched in Hollywood, before his definitive breakthrough came with his role as the self-centered American football player Rod Tidwell in ‘Jerry Maguire’ (1996). Thanks to that role, Gooding Jr., son of the lead singer of the R’nB group ‘The Main Ingredient’, already won an Academy Award before he was thirty. A few decent roles in blockbusters like ‘As Good As It Gets’ (1997) and ‘Pearl Harbour’ (2001) followed, after which it went downhill fast. Not only did Gooding Jr. for dubious roles in equally dubious films (‘Boat Trip’ (2002), ‘Norbit’ (2007) and ‘Daddy Day Camp’ (2007)), he can no longer distinguish himself in films that are above average rise (‘American Gangster’, 2007).

Where things went wrong with Cuba Gooding Jr. cannot be determined exactly. It must have been somewhere around ‘Instinct’ (1999). In that film – often classified as a thriller but actually more of a drama – Anthony Hopkins plays the cultural anthropologist Ethan Powell, who went missing in the African jungle five years ago. He resurfaced several years later, killing two people and attacking three others. The Africans put him behind bars, where he stays for a year before being transferred to America. He ends up in a heavily guarded psychiatric clinic. Professor Ben Hillard (Donald Sutherland) is initially supposed to take care of him, but for some inexplicable reasons he leaves this prestigious job to his most ambitious student, young Theo Caulder (Cuba Gooding Jr.), who is highly regarded as tower blows that he will be able to get Powell – who hasn’t spoken a word in years and has taken on bestial features – for a while…

‘Instinct’ is one of those films in which one heavy theme is not enough. Director Jon Turteltaub (‘Cool Runnings’, 1993) and screenwriter Gerald Di Pego (‘Phenomenon’, 1996) found it necessary to broach no fewer than four (!) very heavy subjects. First, Powell preaches for a more peaceful harmony between man and his environment. A theme that has been discussed in countless films before. Following on from this is the second issue, which is that it is wrong to put wild animals in cages. The troubled relationship between Powell and his daughter Lynn (a good role by Maura Tierney) is the third hot topic. Finally, our look inside a mental institution modeled after Milos Forman’s ‘One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ (1975) makes us think that prison life in the US could use a makeover. If you want to tell so much at once, you can never quite get what’s in it. When you watch ‘Instinct’ it seems as if Turteltaub and Di Pego have listed their favorite movies and cut out the best bits and put them together.

The actors help them in the saddle by bringing out their best roles again. Anthony Hopkins, not the least, plays a mild version of Hannibal Lecter, the intelligent psychopath who initially terrifies you. However, Ethan Powell never becomes as unpredictable and manic as the illustrious Lecter. Gooding Jr. comes with a combination of his two best roles – Rod Tidwell in ‘Jerry Maguire’ and Frank Sachs in ‘As Good As It Gets’. Donald Sutherland can also be seen in his familiar capacity as a wise old professor. Only Maura Tierney knows how to distinguish herself in her relatively small role. The photography is done in such a way that ‘Instinct’ seems big and important, but the film doesn’t manage to live up to that. The score also does not really leave a mark on the film, because composer Danny Elfman (not just anyone) navigates between gloomy and cheerful pieces of music and does not work in a straight line.

In general you can say that in the case of ‘Instinct’ there would have been much more in it than they can get out of it now. If they had concentrated on one (or possibly two) major themes, that would have made a big difference. A slightly more original approach and a little more challenge for the actors would have done the rest. Now the film swings back and forth between themes and moods, with almost all the actors playing on autopilot. Not that ‘Instinct’ has become a bad film because of that, but one that – certainly in view of the talent involved – is hardly satisfying.