Progetto Mindstorm

I've seen this movie, and it's not to be confused with David Cronenberg's movie : Scanners (1981); although both movies utilizes the same premise - i.e. mind power... it is a standard B action flick with lots of explosion dumb script, and bad CGI (which you can pinpoint right from the opening scene). I give it a 1 out of 5 stars.

Well, it was a dark gloomy November night. I was sitting in my sofa thinking what shall I do. The clock's pendulum just made hands align on 1am. I reclined back, wondering whether by watching this movie, I become excitedly thrilled with action or my heart would throb with fear of the unknown powers of human mind.

None of these expectations fulfilled. First 20 minutes of the movie I spend figuring out whether it is screenwright's, director's, actors' or componist's fault. I guess it was a bit - sorry - a LOT of all. The screenplay - I can't talk about a story as there ain't a hint of story to this movie - is horribly shallow, purposefully missing all good hooks that could send a shiver down your spine. Even such a straightforward moment as a mortal duel between two best friends passes without the viewer barely noticing anything happened. Actors were - well, matching the screenplay's standards. They walked, talked, breathed to not to suffocate, but that was it. One could expect more at least from J. Reinhold. Regarding the guy behind the camera - I hesitate to call that one a Director of Photography - he could shoot nice sunsets or party pictures. Not a movie. Too many static shots, too many mistakes in picture composition. And the music - I am sorry. There was none. Just some two beats sampled off some stoned DJ's houseparty, pretending to accompany the movie.

I managed to watch this tragical attempt, but I'm still considering claiming a health damage insurance. Sleeping, I'd make better use of the time.

OK, here are the two biggest problems with this movie: Judge Reinhold and the sibling sub-plot. Nothing against Judge Reinhold, he's a decent enough actor when it comes to lighter fare like fathers inhabiting their sons bodies or flinging coffee into a robbers face but in this film we're expected to believe that Judge Reinhold is an ex-Black Ops Officer? Sorry, no. Knowing that Judge took this role to pay the rent and get a free trip to Bulgaria makes it a bit more forgivable from his point of view, but the casting director really should have gone for a younger, more athletic B-movie actor, like Antonio Sabato Jr. Sorry Mr. Reinhold, no hard feelings.

Also, what was with the sister?! Her accent was waaayyyy too thick (to the point that I couldn't understand what she was saying and with the lack of subtitles written into the DVD...) and her character was useless save for the fact that she provides a way to end the movie. Why not make Jerry an only child and develop a love interest. Same actress (dubbed over of course), different character name, and an extra ten minutes spent on explaining how/why they hook up. The ten minutes could easily have been lost from the "map" chase scene.

Even the fact that most of the aircraft featured in the film were CGI didn't bother me as they did a decent job on their surely shoe-string budget.

All in all, I'd have to say that this movie wasn't so bad. If USA still ran their "Up All Night" showcase of B-Movies I would have watched it and enjoyed it thoroughly.

There is not a single redeeming feature for this misguided effort. I don't even want to give it the credit of calling it a movie.

The story centres around a plot that would have been turned down by the makers of Knight Rider, and that's saying a lot.

The acting is appalling, although perhaps some of them could be forgiven as English is apparently not a language they understand. It looks as if they have just learned their lines phonetically without actually understanding how bad the dialogue they are partaking in is.

The special effects are definitely not special and only barely qualify as effects.

My only saving grace is that it wasn't me who chose this at the video store. Apparently the girl who chose it was impressed by the cover. I haven't yet seen the cover, but looking at it for 90 minutes would be infinitely preferable to having to sit through this loathsome tosh.

I only hope that the people rating it 10 out of 10 here are either being ironic or are multiple votes from Judge Reinhold trying desperately to keep this off its deserved place at the bottom of the IMDB charts.

Please, for the sake of your own sanity, do not ever give into the temptation to watch this movie. It makes Porky's 3 look like a masterpiece. Yes, it is that bad.

This film is awful. Terrible. Waste of time. It has reasonably well known actor Judge Reinhold in it - i guess his career must be slowing down or maybe he just needed a cheap holiday in eastern europe. The story sucks, the action sucks. This is not always a bad thing as some bad movies are really funny in an unintentional way. This one isnt. Avoid at all cost.