La voix des crimes

An excellent all round film, from its storyline to its cast. It has elements of X-Men meets Alias. The story runs well taking you from the very beginning to a mouthwatering 'want more' ending. All the characters have their own identities and allow you to understand their feelings and emotions without the need for the usual complex and barely believable plot twists to explain seemingly unnecessary plot rollercoasters. From early on you get very comfortable with the characters and find them very easy to follow and understand, the actors and actresses making this very easy. Special mention must go to Joe Flanagan, (Stargate Atlantis fans will recognise him) who plays a real feeling cop instead of the usual leading Robocop character who never puts a foot wrong, also Peter Horton, (from Sideout and 30something fame) who manages to balance compassion with trying to do the right thing for all people.

Give this film a chance, you will not be disappointed; just nervous stood in a crowd the next day with your thoughts running through your mind. Would you want everyone knowing what you were thinking?

Thought Crimes arrived on the UK DVD market without much fanfare. I rented it, expecting a cheap B-movie. What I got was a very enjoyable story. I've since shown it to friends, who unanimously agree about its virtues.

The story is about a girl who unwillingly receives telepathic powers. She can hear other people's thoughts. After being driven mad by it, she gets picked up by a mysterious scientist, who trains her to develop her powers, and target them. Soon, she is asked to assist in helping with an investigation.

The movie is well-written, and many pathways for sub-plots and story lines are opened. Some are closed, but quite a few remain open, suggesting that this was meant to start a series. It's a thrilling movie, with a fairly original concept, dramatic moments that are convincing without getting too sappy and crucially, a sense of humour. It is comparable to Wheddon's various series (Firefly, Buffy et al) in its qualities. (Except for one deplorably bad line of dialogue in a crucial scene near the end) In terms of the acting, most people do a fairly good job. The male NSA agent / hero lays on the charme a bit thick, but I suspect the script forced that anyway. Maybe I just dislike male good-looking actors.

I highly recommend this movie for light entertainment purposes. It's more original and enjoyable than most big Hollywood movies these days, and it deserves a larger audience (and a spin off TV series!)

In 1994, in her high school prom, Freya McAllister (Navi Rawat) starts to hear voices in her head, is declared schizophrenic and sent to a mental institution. She is treated by Dr. Michael Welles (Peter Horton), who is sponsored by the National Security Agency (NSA), and along the treatment, he tells her that she in not crazy, but indeed she has powerful telepathic skills, being unique in the world. Nine years later, she is assigned by NSA to work with agent Brendan Dean (Joe Flanigan) in New York, chasing together the dangerous terrorist Cazal, whose identity is unknown by the secret service.

What a great surprise this excellent movie was for me! Yesterday, when I decided to watch "Thoughtcrimes", I was expecting a common movie just for killing time. However, the intriguing story hooked my attention until its very end. The beginning of the film is a sort of "Nikita" or "Firestarter", but the story works very well. Navi Rawat and Joe Flanigan show excellent chemistry, the characters are very well developed, the screenplay has no flaws and certainly is an attractive entertainment for fans of action movies. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Crimes Premeditados" ("Premeditated Crimes")

Note: On 27 Nov 2021, I saw this film again.

Recommended.

The movie has a strange start; the kind I don't get to watch in a lot of other movies. It's blunt, straight to-the-point to what happened, and where the story is going to take off from. I recall watching the same kind in a recent Hindi movie called 'Zinda' (that had a completely different story and theme, by the way).

Also noted by another viewer, one of the aspects that make this movie different is that within the first 15 minutes of the movie, you know that the central character isn't going to discover her strengths on her own; but she needs assistance. Had they not done that, it would have become yet another 'gifted' story. Overall, I liked the movie, and had a good feeling after watching it. There are many loose ends in the story that have been left unexplored, but hey, nobody's complaining.

Navi Rawat has looked great in the movie, by the way.

Rented it on the title thinking it would be either a rip-off of Minority Report or something Orwellian. Was neither, but could be a distant prequel to Minority Report. But in its own right it's Psi-Fi of a high order (even down to a guest appearance from Joanne Vannicola from TV's "Psi Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal"). Good stylized secret intelligence world around a plausible rendering of telepathy. The main actor did a good job with the bewilderment of the naive telepath and the guided recovery to functionality. The ending was too smug and triumphal for my liking and spoilt (a little) an otherwise fairly thoughtful thriller. I only recognized one actor but all played their parts well, the suspension of disbelief wasn't really broken at all. Recommended to anyone who likes a good story well told.