Mindhunters

Mindhunters is one of those movies that's been on my watchlist forever, over the years its just managed to consistently evade me. Now I've seen it however, the wait was worth it.

This thriller starring Johnny Lee Miller, L L Cool J and Val Kilmer tells the story of several FBI agents going on a mock assignment on a secluded island in hopes of pleasing their tutor and getting the desired profiler job of their dreams. However shortly after arriving things suddenly get a tad too real.

I'll be honest even though its been on my watchlist for so long I didn't actually know what it was. For some reason I thought it was a sci-fi with a name like that, whereas it is in fact a fairly smart little thriller.

A blend of SAW (2004) and your standard police drama it's an entertaining little movie that is well written, well constructed and certainly not take your brain out viewing.

Sadly it's not without its flaws but it's still a lot of fun and a demonstration that once upon a time Hollywood did know how to do original old school style movies before they so very badly lost their way.

Fun little movie.

The Good:

Fairly smart

Cast are on point

Old school feel

The Bad:

Feels like its missing something

Film could have done with a higher running time

I found Mindhunters to be a thoroughly entertaining movie that did have some good surprises and moments. The story is as original as it could be, although, one can argue that the whole group in isolation getting picked off one by one thing has been done before. I will not give away too much of the movie so that you can be surprised at the twists that it offers, except I must make one comment. Why on earth do they let LL Cool J have some of the most ridiculously stupid one liners. I mean, if he wants to be bought as a believable actor, he needs to put an end to this madness. I am sure you will know what I am talking about when you see the movie.

Anyway, I give it 8 out of 10 and a definite check it out if you enjoy thrillers... especially ones with gruesome killers.

I was shown this movie at a friend's house without knowing ANYTHING about it. I mean NOTHING, to the extent of saying "Hey, Christian Slater is in this! Oh, and Val Kilmer!". I didn't know if it was good or terrible. Nothing. Zip. Nada. To me, this is the very best way to watch a movie.

Anyway, I was fascinated by it. What got me was the theme of this movie, which is thought-inspiring and original. Basically, that we humans, try all we want to be free-willed and intelligent, still act according to predictable patterns ingrained in our personalities. Both alone or in groups, it is in principle possible to predict and control the actions of humans.

The plot itself, although requiring a certain amount of suspension of disbelief, is original and fresh, and so is the writing. The characters are distinct and three-dimensional (they have to be in a story like this), and basically, the story works.

Especially since we, the audience, are also being profiled by the movie. We're trying to be clever and outwit the movie by saying "yeah, well, now this will happen" and constantly being outwitted ourselves.

Excellent, 10/10. An intelligent movie watcher's movie.

A group of eight FBI profiling students are given a final test when they're sent to a deserted military island where they must solve the clues left by a fake serial killer called the "The Puppetmaster." What starts out as an exercise quickly turns deadly as they are killed off one-by-one in elaborate death traps, forcing them to start questioning whether one of them might be a real killer.

The plot isn't original or anything as this concept has been done already. However, this seems like the type of film one would rent to have a good time. It wasn't as good as I had hoped but it was a fair rental. The story did have a couple of plot holes and some unrealistic moments. The movie is also kind of predictable. If you're playing really close attention, then you will figure it out. The characters were pretty much all one-dimensional so it wasn't hard to see what role this person was playing and such.

The acting was decent, nothing spectacular though. Kathryn Morris is no stranger to this type of roles. However, she isn't a very good actress. She's tolerable but they should have gone with someone else. Val Kilmer is in the film for about 15 minutes, which is bad since his character was probably the most interesting one. Christian Slater gives an awful performance and it's good thing that he doesn't really appear much in the film. LL Cool J gives a decent performance. He's not really a favorite of mine but I don't hate him or anything.

People should know not to take a film seriously if Renny Harlin is directing it. His films are usually made for fun and he isn't a very good director when he makes a serious one. Exorcist: The Beginning was bad and so was Driven. He does a decent job with this film but I still haven't forgiven him for making Cutthroat Island. The film isn't very long as it's just 100 minutes long. The death scenes are also pretty good even if they are unrealistic. The ending is longer than it needs to be but it doesn't effect the film too much. I also don't really understand why it was delayed as it was a mildly entertaining film. In the end, this film is worth watching if you're looking for a mindless thriller. If you're looking for something that will challenge you, look elsewhere. Rating 6/10.

Director Renny Harlin is very much a paracinematic man, and his particular brand of style fits perfectly in the early 2000s aesthetic of excess. High concept thrillers such as Speed rely on an exponentially thrilling pace. Moving the plot along faster than the viewer brain can comprehend the inherent silliness of the core concept.

Since Fincher's Se7en, thrillers have taken the macabre turn in the crime genre. Reaching the point of Wan's Saw set within one of those trials of torture. Mindhunters similarly attempts the same zenith, upping Se7en's police duo with a ragtag team of FBI agents, racing to solve an ongoing test of intelligence and insanity. Despite the blatant exposition and character development, none of these people seem smarter than Pitt's hardheaded detective.

The agents muster a fun mix of "oh, they've come a long way since" and "oh... who?" Notable entertainers here are Johnny Lee Miller sporting his best Blanche DuBois, Christian Slater and Val Kilmer competing in their natural friendly-yet-suspicious-yet-bored acting styles, and LL Cool J acting as if he was John McClane in yet another preposterous scenario.

Attempting to outdo predecessors with 'bigger is better', the story takes place on an isolated island complete with an entire city simulation for a training exercise. According to their teacher, representative of "the mind of a sociopath", presumably not meaning laughably inane and ridiculously convenient for the killer's grand scheme. The film, of course, never slows down to let you question how the entire plot hinges of this arbitrary setting.

The script of Mindhunters is definitely where entertainment hinges on as Harlin desperately races ahead of logic and common sense. For such a complex and convoluted mystery build, there are a remarkable number of legitimate plant and pay-offs. Many of them are obvious enough to predict despite the suspension of disbelief being thoroughly tested. Much how Jigsaw relies on sheer chance amidst his philosophical soliloquies, a great number of set-pieces and foreshadowing relies on pure coincidence.

The script is constantly testing whether these characters are supposed geniuses outmatched or merely idiots outwitted by another idiot. One particular if insignificant moment of clumsy writing is the repeated mantra of a situation only being secure "on the drive home", the heroes of course proving this right... when boarding a helicopter to safety. Could've easily been fixed for "on the way home" but it doesn't affect the story.

In a world of post-modern, meta-narrative ironies, Harlin is successful in his sheer earnestness for pure, dumb, entertainment. For a film about investigative geniuses battling a criminal mastermind, it's best to leave your brain at the door.