Mindhunters

Plot synopsis:
The titular Mindhunters are a group of young FBI students who are undergoing training as profilers. Their instructor, experienced profiler Jake Harris (Val Kilmer), employs a highly realistic training approach by assigning the group variants of real investigations, including elaborate sets, props, and FBI actors to play out each scenario.
The students include Bobby (Eion Bailey), a young man with a talent for fixing things; Vince (Clifton Collins Jr.), a wheelchair-using ex-cop who goes nowhere without his gun; Nicole (Patricia Velásquez), a smoker who is attempting to quit; Sara (Kathryn Morris), a talented but insecure profiler who is terrified of drowning; Rafe (Will Kemp), a very intelligent, caffeine-powered British investigator, Lucas (Jonny Lee Miller), a supposedly fearless man whose parents were killed when he was a child; and J.D. (Christian Slater), their leader and Nicole's lover. Nearing the end of their training, the group's over-all morale is high, though Vince discovers that neither he, nor Sara, will make the rank of "Profiler" after secretly reading their training evaluations.
The group travels with their instructor to a small island off the coast of North Carolina to complete their final training exercise. At the last minute, they are joined by Gabe (LL Cool J, listed as James Todd Smith), an outside observer who has requested to see Harris' teaching methods in action. The island, used by the Navy to train for hostage rescue and outbreak scenarios, has an existing "population" of target dummies, vehicles on mechanical rails, and small town storefronts. Similar to their earlier training scenarios, Harris plans on using the town for their final exam, tracking a serial killer calling himself, "the puppeteer." The team settles down for the evening and practice their profiling skills on each other and Gabe, who reveals that he is also a skilled profiler in his own right. Sara and Lucas briefly bond over losses in their families; Sara reveals that her sister was murdered and drowned, creating her persistent fear of water, while Lucas shares that his parents died when he was 10. The two resolve to use the scenario to confront their personal fears.
The following morning, during the initial investigation of the "puppeteer" scenario, J.D. dies after triggering a clock mechanism that causes a tank of liquid nitrogen to freeze him instantly. Convinced that J.D.'s death is neither accidental, nor part of the training simulation, the group heads to the dock to leave the island; but the boat explodes. After returning to base, the group realizes that broken watches and clocks found at each scene point to the fact that there is a real serial killer on the island, who has co-opted the training exercise and is now hunting them down. The killer's M.O. indicates that he or she plans to kill someone at a time designated by the broken clocks. After a thorough search of the island reveals no other personnel, the group concludes that the killer is one of them.
At first, suspicions seem to point to Gabe, as Lucas found maps and documents of the island; however, before the group finishes confronting him, they each pass out, realizing that their coffee was drugged. They awaken to discover that the killer murdered Rafe while they were unconscious, and suspicions again return to Gabe. He temporarily deflects these suspicions when he saves Vince from another trap involving broken water pipes and lights electrocuting the water. However, Bobby is killed by a secondary trap when he goes to turn off the water. Sara, meanwhile, deduces that the traps are based on their strengths, talents, and weaknesses; and the remaining profilers elect to stick together, to keep an eye on each other. After more clues are discovered, suspicion shifts to Sara, who insists that she's being framed. Nicole, suspicious that the killer is among the group, leaves to be alone; but she becomes the next to die after she smokes a cigarette laced with acid.
Unexpectedly, the island's speakers begin to broadcast a taunting message from Harris, making them realize that he did not leave the island, though he led the profilers to believe that he had; convinced that Harris has been the killer all along, the remaining profilers search for him. Vince refuses to join the search party and stays behind at the lab. Sara, Gabe and Lucas find Harris and two other FBI agents next to him, all dead; Harris has been strung up to wires from the ceiling as a sort of marionette, just like the fake "puppeteer" crime scene that they were to investigate. The three turn on each other after triggering another trap, and Lucas is shot during the ensuing gun battle. Vince finds himself trapped in a freezer after he tries to reload his empty gun, but he escapes although he dies when his gun backfires on him in the elevator.
Sara finds Vince's body, but she is ambushed by Gabe, and the two struggle physically and mentally to profile the other, each believing the other person is the killer. Gabe manages to overpower Sara but is then attacked by Lucas, and the two of them get into a protracted fight. Sara eventually recovers and hits Gabe over the head with a fire extinguisher. Lucas reveals that he had been wearing a bullet-proof vest, allowing him to survive getting shot on the street. With Gabe subdued, he expresses doubt that there's enough evidence to prove that Gabe was the killer. Sara, however, reveals that she found a way to get one step ahead of the killer. Knowing that the killer was relying on timed mechanisms and remotes, as well as enjoying watching their anxiety under pressure, she changed one of the clocks to appear slow by fifteen minutes, and covered it in a powder that glows phosphorescently under blacklight. Reasoning that the killer would not be able to resist setting the clock to the correct time, she grabs a black light to scan Gabe's hands and reveal him as the killer. Sara instead finds the marking powder on Lucas' hands instead of Gabe's. Lucas confesses that his parents did not die in an accident, but that he killed them. Struggling ever since to find more thrilling targets to kill, he joined the FBI and planned to kill his brilliant fellow profilers, the only people he thought would be "worthy prey." Lucas tries to drown Sara, but she manages to kick him into the water. The two both manage to recover their weapons underwater, but Sara manages to shoot Lucas first.
Lucas recovers and begins to taunt her about the evidence he planted blaming her until Gabe reappears: he is the last witness. In a last desperate effort, Lucas attempts to regain his weapon, forcing Sara to kill him, shooting him through the top of the head as he bends down to retrieve his weapon. The following day, Gabe and Sara flag down the U.S Navy helicopter to leave the island, determining that they've sufficiently secured the scene.

Tags: entertaining, violence, murder, flashback

Review:
It's still entertaining.I agree that they could have used the cast differently and that some of the plot points are quite unbelievable but on the whole it doesn't distract from the tension and the setting of the movie.The profilers sometimes act pretty stupid and out of character but the actors do a very decent job portraying them and Renny Harlin has actually done a really good job with the directing.If you want a horror/thriller/action flick where you keep guessing pretty much to the end and don't mind recognizing bits and pieces from other movies then this is for you.
A group of eight FBI profiling students are given a final test when they're sent to a deserted military island where they must solve the clues left by a fake serial killer called the "The Puppetmaster." What starts out as an exercise quickly turns deadly as they are killed off one-by-one in elaborate death traps, forcing them to start questioning whether one of them might be a real killer.The plot isn't original or anything as this concept has been done already.
FBI trainees in the criminal profiling division get stuck on an island with a sadistic serial killer while going through a simulation organized by their eccentric teacher (Val Kilmer).
The serial killer kills victims by using booby traps.The movie reminded me of a cross between SAW and FINAL DESTINATION, with a 21st century twist on Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Indians".
Other contributing factors included the performances (especially by Kathryn Morris as a vulnerable trainee), a fast pace, imaginative directing by Renny Harlin (CLIFFHANGER, THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT), and terrific writing.Suppose to take place on an island off the coast of North Carolina, but was actually filmed in the Netherlands..
It tends to work rather to hard to try to be shocking, and its hard to really care for the unsympathetic characters, so when they meet their elaborate and grizzly ends you don't feel any emotion except maybe for slight queasiness, and irritation about the impossibility of their dispatch.The main impact that the film had on me was to make me realize, by the presence of Val Kilmer and Christian Slater, that many of the stars of the eighties seem to have faded away in last few years.It is not a total disaster: There are some tense scenes, some reasonable performances and at least early on a certain atmosphere, but there are many other films that cover the same ground rather better..
In fact, had it not been for a couple of the actors on the credits-list and a fairly decent grading here at IMDb, I would've probably stayed far away from this movie.The movie actually started off a good deal better then expected.
But obviously something quickly goes wrong, a member gets killed, and the usual race against time sets in to find out who the killer is before each and every member of the team gets plucked out.The movie actually has the potential to turn into a suspense and clever psychological thriller.
For some reason, the most talented and interesting actors are taken out of action extremely early on, the rest of the team, (most of all LL Cool J and Velasques), deliver uneven, if not directly terrible performances, the score is often very misplaced, usually destroying tension and suspense rather then building it.Regardless, the biggest problem with the movie is by far the story, which is mostly predictable, boring and full of bad clichés.
Clichéd perhaps, but a useful reminder not to reveal yourself too much as there are dark and dangerous minds out there.What I disliked, though, was some of the dialogue being too predictable--serial killers are supposed to have been bed-wetters; thankfully, there was none of that in there, but the reference to parents gave the game away.On a positive note, I liked LL Cool J's acting.
He delivered his lines with tremendous ease, and made his "gate-crashing" very well-intervened.To add to the above, I think there's an existential element about this yarn that I don't have sufficient knowledge to elaborate on---but I would recommend for those that disliked the film for the story-line, try watching it again, paying close attention to how the killer was able to kill everyone off.
The Story is about Seven Promising FBI Profilers (Kathryn Morris, Jonny Lee Miller, Clifton Collins Jr., Patricia Velasquez, Eion Bailey, Will Kemp and Christian Slater) are becoming F.B.I. Agents but they have to finish one last course to become full time agents.
Also who so the real killer in this island or it is One of Them in the group ?This entertaining film is directed by Renny Harlin (Exorcist:The Beginning, Die Hard 2:Die Harder, Cliffhanger).
The film, too, has spectacular visual polish--it's just a great-looking film, everything with this sinister, pristine quality that gives the viewer a fair chance to notice everything and solve the mystery.One by one the trainees start dying, even though it's supposed to be a harmless test of young new recruits who all wanna join the FBI, figure out the sick minds of serial killers, and put them away based only on whatever gory evidence they leave, or don't leave, behind.
The way the plot opened up was pretty special its a real work of art the way the scripts and the directing come together.I loved the darkness and the constant guessing "is it you, because you said that" sort of thing.TOTALLY did not expect that ending at all it came as quite a shock, it was so well written that even i didn't guess who it was although i think that because of the way the writers didn't know who it was going to be until the last moment kind of helped out there.
It never seizes to amaze me why certain people choose to overly criticize a movie that is clearly made for the sole purpose of entertaining you for a couple of hours.Mindhunters delivers exactly what it promises, a nice thriller that works moviewize rather well, sure it is nothing new or incredible but does it have to be ?
Seven FBI trainees are training to become elite profilers, in order to succedd they have to do a training simulation on an island where they are supposed to find a serial killer, of course the mission is just a game to see who handles situations in the best way possible.
Now the quickly decreasing number of seven people have to find out who's setting up traps for them on the island but it's not that easy when they're the only ones on the island.Well the plot is something I suppose, a serial killer picking off the FBI trainees one by one, instead of using the usual Knife, Machete or Chainsaw, this killer cleaverly uses specially timed inventive traps, you see this Killer has studied each member of the trainees habits and so knows what can kill them, they're goal is to try find out who this killer is and play him or her at they're own game, before they all end up dead."Mindhunters" has a number of famous faces such as rapper/singer/actor LL Cool J (Deep Blue Sea Halloween (HZO), Christian Slater (Broken Arrow & Alone In The Dark), Val Kilmer (Top Gun & Batman Forever), Johnny Lee Miller (Trainspoting), Kathryn Norris (Minorty Report and TV'S Cold Case) and Patrica Velaquez (The Mummy Returns)Being the slasherfan that I am, it's nice to be able to enjoy a slasher where the killer doesn't wear a mask and the cast doesn't consist of a bunch of good looking teens who can't act.
Not having these two factors, just proves that the story is stronger than most modern slashers, it's a shame that movie ended being shevled for years and wasn't a success at the box office but to me that doesn't matter because this is one hell of gem of a movie.Each cast member brings they're own unique talent to the roles of this movie, yes even LL Cool J who I don't think much of as a singer, but in this movie he plays a strong lead character in this movie, Christian Slater is also solid in his short screen time, Johnny Lee Miller shows depths to his character as the movie goes on and both the female leads are great as well Kathryn Norris plays cat and mouse with the unknown killer and plays the killer at his own game.The deaths in this movie are cool and inventive, we get a guy iced then breaks into pieces, a decapitation, a guy gets speared through the chest and we also get something completely new death by cigarettes, laced with acid and let's just say smoking is bad for your health.All in all there's a little something for everyone in this movie, there's the horror, action and a bit of CSI, well recommend this movie to anyone..
Mindhunters, a thriller/mystery/action movie, somewhat similar to 2002's D-Tox (or Eye See You), tells the story of a bunch of FBI profilers stuck on an island during an exercise, getting killed one after the other.The film starts off well enough, if a bit predictably, with a sequence that puts you in the mood and gets you interested and intrigued.
A few "name" actors are present (Val Kilmer, Christian Slater, LL Cool J), however, like in Renny Harlin's own, and also somewhat similar movie Deep Blue Sea (also with LL Cool J), that doesn't really mean much (I can't go into more detail without revealing spoilers).All-in-all, Mindhunters, scripted by the up-and-coming Wayne Kramer with ghost rewrites from the already-up-there Ehren Kruger, is a solid entertainer which fulfills its promise.
The acting is great and it keeps you guessing the whole film (I am mad at the discussion board users because they gave away who the killer is and i haven't watched it all yet) but its still fantastic.It has the best murder sequences since Freddy Krueger hit Elm street, i loved how well the characters were developed and how well they were murdered.
I saw about 55 minutes of it and three people were killed off (If you a guy who watches these movies for the murders) and each time the killer is not shown, he just sets traps for them.The film was great and the acting terrific, where are the Oscars on this one?.
Long time we have been waiting to see the Latest Renny Harlin movie in theaters and as it finally came, it came with a bonus to all Finnish people because it was shown in Finland Before any other country in entire world.
Like all the other Renny films, Mindhunters was not a exception having a bad reputation before premiere but as a fan who sees Renny as a unique action film visualist I was eager to see film.Movie is about FBI profiler trainees who find themselves in an isolated army trainee camp island where the final exam before the real work is about to take place.
I have to admit that after wondering through couple of ..well...not so good films Renny finally found his way back to the business making extremely fluent and individual action thriller what represent the elite in this movie genre as in Renny's level as much as globally.
The whole setting is so done and seldom is things validated or motivated in a way that would make the film believable.Basically, it's a cliché filled suspense movie about a group of people, stranded on a island off the coast of North Carolina.
'Mindhunters' is one of those perfect blends of the aforementioned genres and it often manages unbearably exciting because of it.Wayne Kramer  director of the sick but excellent crime mess Running Scared (2006)  penned the story to Harlin's film and much of his thirst for graphic gorefest is quenched at various points in the plot.
The psychological tension , the dark atmosphere , the shocking twists  Anyway the book has been adapted into movie and furthermore the whole idea of people left in isolated place with killer being one of them has appeared in countless thrillers .
Soon , the murders become real and the have to figure out who is the killer.The movie is directed by Renny Harlin famous for "Die hard 2" , "Cliffhanger" and "The long kiss for goodnight" .
A team of FBI agents training to profile serial killers gets put on an island for their final test.
this is a really good movie i would recommend it to anyone who likes a thriller and a mystery.
who?" Notable entertainers here are Johnny Lee Miller sporting his best Blanche DuBois, Christian Slater and Val Kilmer competing in their natural friendly-yet-suspicious-yet-bored acting styles, and LL Cool J acting as if he was John McClane in yet another preposterous scenario.Attempting to outdo predecessors with 'bigger is better', the story takes place on an isolated island complete with an entire city simulation for a training exercise.
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 ..
The acting is a mixed bag in 'Mindhunters', with top of the line performances from Kilmer and Slater, bottom of the barrel performances from Clifton Collins, Jr. and Patricia Velasquez, strictly average performances from Bailey and Kemp, a slightly above average performance from Kathryn Morris (the hero of the story), a more or less good performance from rapper turned actor LL Cool J and a beyond disappointing performance from the great British actor Jonny Lee Miller (once married to Hollywood psychopath Angelina Jolie) who provides us with an embarrassingly bad American accent that drifts from American to British to Southern to various unintelligible accents.
This movie really isn't that good for a theatrical film, if it had just gone directly to DVD it would've been alright, as it's the best the best Renny Harlin directed film since 1993's "Cliffhanger", keep in mind that those intervening years brought as such travesties as "Cutthroat Island", "Long Kiss Goodnight", "Deep Blue Sea" and "Driven", so being better than those isn't exactly hard to do.
With MINDHUNTERS, director Renny Harlin gives the serial killer thriller an edge-of-your-seat whodunit twist.
Very good concept, a director, who's full of experience in making such thrilling atmosphere in his own movies, and a pretty good casting role made of actors,who obviously have accent on good teamwork, instead of solo playing.Great triller, full of surprises, unexpected places, then, there is a plenty of action and very dramatic situations, which is normally to be contained by a triller, and a real one.Maybe some of the elements in this movie, already have been seen in some other movies, but that doesn't make this movie worth a less.The plot itself is about FBI's psychological profiling program and several people, working as a crew, who's trying to become an elite FBI profilers trough training and practice.
this type of thriller and it isn't half bad.What makes it fun is some effective death scenes and at least one good surprise early in the movie (when the first of the team is killed off on the island).
Like the trailer said, it is a team of new FBI agents set off on an island for a simulation that simply turns into a nightmare.People start to die at defined timing, and each death is quite similar to Final Destination 1 or 2.
Stars: LL Cool J, Kathryn Morris, Bobby Lee Miller, Patricia Velasquez, Will Kemp, Val Kilmer and Christian Slater.For a movie called Mindhunters, this film really isn't very smart...however it is very entertaining.
I guess the main purpose of this film is to have people say, "Oh good, he/she didn't die." and to say, "Ew, what a gruesome death!!!" This movie is very violent with dismemberment and all kinds of nasty ways to die.
There are lots of plot twists of course but I found the identity of the killer rather easy to guess if you were paying attention and "profiling" throughout the movie.
unlike many other serial killer whodunnits this one keeps you guessing right up till the very end and it wasn't afraid to kill-off a major star or 2 to throw you from the usual "murder she wrote" style casting.it's slick filming , gripping storyline and clever direction makes me wonder why this didn't go to theaters.
Val Kilmer and Christian Slater are at their 'bad boy' best until they pull a DEEP BLUE SEA on us, while Johnny Lee Miller, LL Cool J and Patricia Velasquez keep the kettle boiling until the end.MINDHUNTERS' greatest strengh is Renny Harlin's storytelling.
Mindhunters is an entertaining thriller with some flaws by director Renny Harlin the man behind films like Deep Blue Sea, The Covenant, and Cliffhanger.
In the beginning if Mindhunters director Renny Harlin does what he's best at: he creates some pretty nice images to hide the fact, that the story his unfolding before our eyes is done hundreds of times before and will be done a couple of hundreds times more.The story is simple enough: a group of people, this time FBI profilers, are on an isolated place, in this case an island meant for training people to handle situations like epidemic outbreaks.
I had read several bad reviews about Mindhunters but was happy to find a movie that held my interest throughout and was filled with enough red herrings and well thought out deaths to raise it above most other thrillers in my eyes.I genuinely enjoyed watching this film and, though I thought I had guessed the person behind the killings, the ending was a pleasant and unpredictable surprise!
Seemed like an innovative plot, a movie with a real twist..Well then I started guessing who the killer is.