GreyHawkXY

The most important aspect of the movie is that, it never gets boring .. There are lots of events, twists and turns that fill up the one and a half hours of running time .. None of them are meaningless scenes, making you try to remember how the characters arrived at that situation .. The link is always there, you will have no loose ends (at least no major ones) .. The plot is sound, the setting is plausible .. You will find several plot holes if you watch it carefully, and many not-so-believable scenes, but none of them devastates the atmosphere ..

But, casting is not perfect .. I still wonder how Virginia Madsen became the wife of Harrison Ford with 20 years of age difference .. She does not act so convincingly, I expected someone more fitting for the role .. There is no chemistry between them, there is no motherly love in Virginia .. Harrison Ford is his usual self, very similar to the character in Air Force One, trying desperately to save his family / loved ones in dire situation and get rid of the villains .. While he is running under heavy rain, I just wanted to shout 'someone, give him a towel, for God's sake!' .. Despite his old age, he never fails in his acting, although his characters are becoming more similar to each other with every new movie .. Paul Bettany is a great choice for the villain, which makes up for the presence of Virginia Madsen .. The rest of the cast is just 'fillers' ..

No award winning nor unique story here .. It is a common thriller script, with no big surprises .. But that is no failure for the movie, in my opinion .. It is not necessary for every thriller to be unique .. It has a common/good ending, where the hero saves his family and the villains are neutralized (I don't even think saying that it has a 'good ending' would be a spoiler :P).. Nevertheless, this movie gave me enough enjoyment for the night, which is the key point ..

This is certainly not an intelligent movie, that plays with you, tricks you, surprises you .. I found nothing to stimulate my mind .. The villains hence the ending becomes visible before half-an-hour counter elapses .. You are introduced with an interesting plot, but with no other driving factors that will keep you interested till the end ..

The acting is definitely poor .. The only characters that save the movie are the old-crime-king (Walken) and his driver (Leary) .. But, even these two actors are somewhat below their well-known quality, because of the messy and amateurish dialog .. The young actors show no talent at all, even if they have some .. Only the wanna-be-doctor character, T.K., is somewhat interesting, the rest, especially Ira, kept be irritated all the time .. No character study is visible, no motivation, nothing .. The lines are spoken with no mind nor soul .. Without Walken (and Leary) this movie would be in the trash ..

The saving feature of the movie is its plot (not the script, but the general plot) - the reason why my rating is above half-way point .. Several ideas are certainly unique, but the negative aspects corrupt the movie to the roots ..

Bottom Line - Minimal enjoyment for crime/thriller fans .. I found no reason to keep the movie in my movie collection for a second viewing in the future - I don't regret the time I spent for the movie, but I will regret if I (am forced to) watch it again ..

The setting and plot found here, is a common stereotype of the thriller genre: Several 'people' have to stay at a 'place' which is shut from the outside world; there is a 'killer' among themselves, and they have to find him/her before it is too late (But as you know, it is always too late, so we have only a few (1 or 2) survivors at the end) ..

If you like this particular 'generic' plot, 'Mindhunters' is a movie that you should not pass without looking ..

We witness many innovative murder techniques, till the end credits .. Mostly, there is no escape once a member of the group is selected and the trap is set .. The movie has serious plot holes .. So don't bother thinking 'what is the probability of victims following the EXACT steps that the killer expects from them, hence eventually dying ??' .. It is next to none in several cases .. Most of the viewers would guess the killer right away in the first half an hour of the movie .. So, you fell you are drawn into a dream where you cannot break the sequence, yelling inside 'Why are they going there, why are they waiting here blah blah??' .. But who cares ?? :) ..

The movie provides enough enjoyment that can be expected from such an ordinary plot .. The futility of the team members, the way the murderer analyzes their traits and decides how to kill them, brief background stories about the characters .. You will be treated with nice touches everywhere .. The movie is not mindless but just don't expect something really intelligent ..

I gave the movie a rating of 8 .. -1 for 'lost in a dream sequence, not so intelligent characters' property, -1 for weak ending .. I don't think there is anything wrong in using the generic plot, since the movie was fun to watch .. Is it open for a second time viewing ?? .. Well, definitely yes ..