Release Year: 1999
Average Rating:
Last Reviewed On: July 1, 2000 (by Michelle)
(DVD version)
Scott's Review:
on March 4, 2000When I first saw the trailers I was somewhat expecting a "What would have happened to Tarzan" kind of story. It's not what I got, though I'm not sure what this movie was trying to tell us. Basically, this is the story of a man, who through scientific purism, goes to live with a tribe of gorillas, and as much as any man can, becomes one of them. When the hunters come after the gorillas, he kills a couple of the hunters, "protecting his family".
He then is sent to jail, and eventually extradited to America, where he ends up in a classically over crowded jail/mental hospital. He hasn't spoken a word to anyone since his capture, and he appears to be acting like a gorilla. Of course, the psychiatrist manages to break the charade and get into his character. Then life just gets silly.
I think the movie was trying to tell us how much our lives are like the lives of the gorilla, someone else has stolen our freedom for our own good. But I just couldn't see it; there were too many contrived scenes. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the movie, but by the end, I felt I was missing something, some key that made the movie make sense, but I suspect that key was left on the cutting room floor.
Michelle's Review:
on July 1, 2000Bleh. maybe I just didn't get this film. Or maybe I was tricked by the trailer which sold it as more of a Silence of the Lambs type movie, but I thought this movie was overall pretty dull. I didn't get the relationship between the 2 main characters, and thought that their whole dynamic was just plain goofy, The whole premise that this guy was tortured and messed up because he bonded with monkey's and then they were shot by some hunters was just silly. This movie is a definate rent only if there's nothing else at the video store you care to see.
-- Scott and Michelle