Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with a little look at Renny Harlin's MINDHUNTERS... I really, really want to believe this Finlander... I want to like this movie, but this is one of the rare good reviews this movie has turned out and I must say... Mr. Harlin has to win me back after DRIVEN... Hopefully this one at the very least won't have the dramatic conversations cut like the most intense action scenes known to man. Read on!!!
Hullo from Finland, Harry.
I saw Mindhunters the other day, and was pleasantly surprised with almost everything about it, contrary to the idea that the crappy (or fair, after all?) treatment the film has been given has given - was that correct English?
Well, the hype is hype, be it positive or negative. "Them" say that the delayed opening is due to the present day carousel the film industry is running, "too many" movies released weekly, and they think that the film would drown in the ocean of blockbusters. And that would not be fun, since they do like this film, these production and publishing people. These words are not straight quoting, though.
Anyway, is it, the Mindhunters, really not running anywhere but here in Finland, the home country of the director? Have u seen it, Harry? I, not robot, think it is definitely to be watched on the big screen. And later, a few times again on a media of one's liking...
I loved the colors and the details of shooting (the camera work/the cuts I mean), and the (whole) casting and characters (unlike the crappy Driven, for instance). The plot is usual as supposed to be, the tempo of scenes mostly fine, the characters are good in a modest way - and not supposed to develop in any way! There's no time for that, if u don't mind... tick tack, tick tack...
There is not much mindhunting, but then there IS something... Now, sometimes one should not expect something new in each thriller flick, since the whole idea of making that genre (like any other), is to repeat those cliches. Should a rollercoaster need to be changed and fixed to something really different, each time before u take a ride on it? U can make a twist here and there, mix up the sequence of loops and curves, but if u want to make people scream, don't change it too much.
That said, don't go see (whenever u do) Mindhunters with I've-seen-it-all-attitude, just go see it, and watch it with a quiet mind and relaxed feel - and don't let the soundtrack distract u, it really sucks.
Mindhunters is, within the territory of its modern kind, one of the coolest, without being a rocket scientific. Only thing that bothered me, was the use of music and a couple of scenes made in the usual poppish way... The rest of it, was rude and simple right on your face, with kinda psycho politeness... And the way Renny Harlin CAN direct, shows better in this film. He's been through the flops, the only way is up, with or without blockbusters, dude.
Best wishes,
P. Meterson
