Masterminds

Like Ozzie says when it's getting wrong: 'We have a Die Hard situation'. But its Die Hard for kids, a thousand bullets, without anyone getting hurt, no swearing and no sex. See it on video, it's for anyone above 10 and PG? I think not, parents could be very bored watching this. I myself (28) enjoyed it.

One of the things I liked about MASTERMINDS, and parents will probably like this too, is that there is lots of shooting and explosions and all kinds of action. But the body count continuously remains at zero! Like someone said before, this is DIE HARD for kids. (It follows almost the exact plotline)

Overall, great movie, especially for kids 10-15.

4/5

Apart from laughing my bollocks off at the computer software and the way nobody gets hurt even from stepping on mines, I fastforwarded my way through this movie because nothing in it was even remotely interesting, apart from the odd question marks, such as "why are there rocketlauncher armed dunebuggys in the sewers" and "how did the principal and the kids actually get away" and the ever occurring, my personal favourite, "how come the bad guys always are listening for obscure radio transmissions when they don't even need a radio to begin with". More questionmarks: Why did the sprinkler system only start in the room where they had the computers, and why did they have the valve for it in the sewers? How come there are video outlets for porno channels in the cellar of the school? (Pure video outlets, not RF outlets)

'No good kid' Ozzie takes his young stepsister to school, and winds up in a hostage of the school by head of security Rafe Bentley (Patrick Stewart from Startrek / X-men). As Ozzie says himself: We got a die hard situation here people!

Thank goodness Ozzie is some sort of (computer)whizkid (apparently learned it from his dad) and sabotages the bad guys in many ways. Now, this computer thing is going way out of hand, with him infiltrating in the Pentagon (or something) in the beginning of the movie and his dad touching 2 keys and immediately infiltrates in the bad guys files... You also see the obligatory flickering 'NO ACCESS' and stuff like that... but who cares!

Near the end the movie loses it's touch a bit with a chase in the sewers (or something) and Patrick Stewart claiming to be a Manchester United fan... one of the worst scenes in movie history, I must admit.

But for 'one of the worst movies ever' (as it's sometimes called), I thought the movie was highly enjoyable. Flawed yes, far-fetched sure, but still...

Final score: 5/10.

We've seen movies about crafty teenagers playing a cat-and-mouse game with thieves so many times that it all gets blurred. But "Masterminds" is pretty entertaining. When shyster Rafe Bentley (a mustachioed Patrick Stewart) takes a school hostage, troublemaker Oswald Paxton (Vincent Kartheiser) decides to make Rafe's life a living hell. In a way, the movie is mostly a series of gags, but well done gags. This movie probably won't have any major effect on the cinematic landscape, but it doesn't pretend to be anything that it isn't. It's pure, unadulterated fun.

Maybe if thieves ever take over a place, I'll just use some of the gags that I learned from "Masterminds".