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.
Instinct is the second one in a row that Gooding lifts out of mediocrity by the sheer force of his talent, intelligence and personality.
– Bob Graham,
San Francisco Chronicle,
1 Jan 2000
rotten:
[Hopkins and Gooding Jr.] keep Instinct afloat on its sea of simplisms through a succession of climaxes until at last it reaches its unavoidable ending.
– Lawrence Van Gelder,
New York Times,
1 Jan 2000
rotten:
Gooding hurts the film more than his energetic presence helps it!