Mindstorm

This film is confusing at first, but it later becomes clear who is who, and what the aim of the characters is. Judge Reinhold, whom I admit I hadn't really noticed before, is obviously the well known name here, and although he actually doesn't get much screen time, he makes a big impact. The characters are sympathetic, and really, there are no 'bad guys'. There is, however, plenty of suspense. I found myself really cheering for the main characters - all they do, some of it pretty gruesome, is for good reason.

The setting is beautiful, and unusual, and the ending appropriate to the established concerns of the principals.

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.

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.

Definitely not a high budget movie, but filmed on location, Eastern Europe, and conveys a sense of place with a few beautiful churches and monasteries. Judge Reinhold carries this movie with understated authority and maturity that is miles away from his old comic persona. No comic scenes. Good character development of an appropriately cynical agent, but scenes without him are flat.

Plot pretty simple, but great to have a low impact action movie for once, without all those chase scenes, computerized monsters, and frenetic characters. Interesting Eastern European music seems to fit the movie. Much like a made for TV movie short of production funds. Not for everyone, but Judge Reinhold fans will like this role.

I enjoyed seeing Judge Reinhold in this role (I have not seen him for sometime), and this film was not a complete loser, but it did feature a weak plot, and was somewhat amateurish in execution. Let's put it this way. This would rate "good" as a student film. Oh, this picture was shot "on location" in Bulgaria and featured some fine scenery and exteriors. Incidentally, there are some major motion pictures, such as "Raising Arizona," (which really stunk, in my humble opinion!) I would rate lower than this picture.

The computer generated aircraft effects were a bit cheesy, but better than some I have seen.