Line #6 Film/Instinct


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/4f944717_1598_4b3b_a34c_b5c85917ed9d.jpeg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350: ''We have only one thing to give up. Our dominion''.]]
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4	''Instinct'' is a 1999 Drama-Thriller movie directed by Jon Turteltaub and starring Creator/AnthonyHopkins, Creator/CubaGoodingJr, Creator/MauraTierney and Creator/DonaldSutherland.
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6	Years after going missing in the African jungle, renowned anthropologist Dr. Ethan Powell (Hopkins) is found and convicted in the murder of two poachers and is imprisoned in a prison psych ward after seemingly becoming dangerous and unhinged. Ambitious young psychiatrist Theo Caulder (Gooding Jr.) is brought in to look at his case and attempt to get Dr. Powell to speak and possibly go to trial for his release, however in the process he learns that Dr. Powell might be more sane than he appears and has more to teach him than he thinks.
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8	[[https://youtu.be/tFTj82Y90uA Trailer]]
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10	It was inspired loosely by the book ''Literature/{{Ishmael\|1992}}''.
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12	No relation to the [[Series/{{instinct}} TV show]] or [[VIdeoGame/{{Instinct}} zombie game]].
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15	!!Tropes
16	* ActorAllusion: Anthony Hopkins playing a doctor imprisoned in an asylum… [[Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs sound familiar?]]
17	* AnimalLover: Powell is this as he came to develop a strong bond with a family of Gorillas and is shown to be fond of dogs, able to befriend and tame two guard dogs he is locked in a truck with.
18	* BedlamHouse: The psych ward where Powell is held isn't a nice place. Patients are overmedicated and routinely pitted against each other by a sadistic guard who brutalizes them at any opportunity, all for the authorities maintaining control. Dr. John Murray, who Theo Caulder comes to assist, says this was even worse before he took over.
19	* BetterWithNonHumanCompany: Powell is fonder of animals (gorillas especially) far more than his own species.
20	* CrimeOfSelfDefense: Powell was convicted of murder and imprisoned for killing supposed park rangers with a wooden club. They were really poachers and he did it to stop them slaughtering his gorilla "family".
21	* DisappearedDad: Powell was mostly off in Africa studying gorillas while his daughter grew up and had little time for her. When they meet again Powell apologizes and says he was a fool, saying he wishes it was possible for him to go back, never letting go of her.
22	* EvilPoacher: A group of Ugandan poachers brutally shoot the gorillas who Powell lives with. He kills two and wounds others while attempting to stop the slaughter. He's convicted of murder for it, with the government saying the men were park rangers. There's no apparent motive in the film presented for this, so apparently it's [[ForTheEvulz just the hell of it]].
23	* GoingNative: In a way, as Powell was once an anthropologist studying gorillas who eventually joined a gorilla group and had lived with them for years. He himself says this was an extraordinary and unprecedented event.
24	* HumansAreBastards: Powell has developed this belief. Seeing civilization as a mistake because humans have strayed too far from the natural world and only exploit and take from it.
25	* MyGreatestFailure: Powell, after living in a gorilla group, has come to loathe the fact that he'd once captured a gorilla he named Goliath. He now lives in a zoo, making no attempt to escape even when the door's opened as he's broken by captivity.
26	* NatureHero: Powell has become this, after living for two years with a family of gorillas and choosing to be isolated from humanity and becoming part of the natural world.
27	* SuperiorSpecies: Powell views the gorillas as this.
28	* TrailersAlwaysLie: The film trailer makes it seem like Powell is akin to Hannibal Lecter or someone similar, an imprisoned sociopathic killer who plays mind games with his doctor. While at first it seems this way, the film later goes in a completely different direction.

Context Film / Instinct