IT'S A TRAP ~ my favorite year

Mindhunters (2004)

Plot: FBI profilers (Mindhunters) in training, obvious leader J.D. (Christian Slater), Cocky Lucas (Jonny Lee Miller), Sara (Kathryn Morris) and others are taken, by harsh, maverick style instructor Jake (Val Kilmer), to a training Island with its own deserted town, Utility works (where most of the action takes place). The plan is to profile & catch a mock serial killer known as The Puppetmaster loose in the town.

The team are made instantly uneasy by the addition of Gabe (LL Cool J) who gives them little information. So my the time they reach the island conspiracy theories about his inclusion are rife this isn’t helped by the major mind fuck of intricate traps & tasks with fatal consequences picking of the Mindhunters one by one in increasingly ingenious ways.

Extreme puppeteering

The fingers point in all directions, they get more & more paranoid. They’re all profilers so they make assumptions about everything that happens, continually leading them to different suspects. Early contenders are newbie Gabe or Jake but this is no training game.

Every attempt to call for help or escape the island leads to another trap

How well do they really know each other? can they really trust anyone?

Cool laser blasters. Must have missed that bit

Is it good: It’s pretty good. Much better than the 25% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, that's harsh (It’s at least average tomato men) The cast has established actors Kilmer, Slater, Miller and Mama said knock you out if it isn’t LL Cool J.

The film flows well and with a fair amount of action & tension to keep anyone entertained and there are enough twists, I genuinely couldn’t work out who was doing what till towards the end, which is rare and appreciated (Usually if a film does this it gives you no clues or brings in someone you’ve never seen before till the end).

Guy at the back Farted awkward.

Turdige: Although the acting is good the characters are very formulaic with obvious blatant, shout out, flaws that will be used against them (Caffeine, cigarettes, water) . The cast outweighs the film really Kilmer & Slater are criminally underused Renny Harlin made Deep Blue Sea if that’s not too much of a clue why. If you can get past the ridiculous opening trap/death on the Island (Just fuckin move dick head).

Overall: More of a TV movie than Hollywood blockbuster but a descent stab at a mystery thriller with a nice serial killer twist, kind of like a TV lite SAW.