Mindhunters (R)

Wannabe FBI profilers stalked by serial killer.

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About Our Ratings
Common Sense rates it
2
Seen the movie? Review it
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Movie details
  • Studio: Dimension, Dimension
  • Directed By: Renny Harlin
  • Cast: Jonny Lee Miller, LL Cool J, Kathryn Morris
  • Running Time: 105 minutes
  • Release Date: 05/13/2005
  • Video/DVD Release Date: 09/20/2005
  • Genre: Thriller
  • MPAA Rating: R
  • MPAA Explanation: violence/strong graphic images, language and sexual content

Parents need to know

Parents need to know that this movie includes strong language (especially "f--k") and sexual references and situations (including a sex scene that begins in a shower). Characters smoke and drink. The film includes gross-out scenes (maggots, roaches, blood) and gory, emphatic violence (assaults involve knives, guns, drowning, electrocution, acid-poisoning, liquid-nitrogen freezing, a head chopped off). A dead cat is left hanging in a bathroom. Almost all characters are killed.

Families can talk about the film's various and familiar competitions -- between teachers and students; men and women; white, black, and Latina characters; abled and disabled characters (Vince is in a wheelchair). The movie also raises questions about trust and loyalty, to a team, to friends, and to a law-and-order ideal.

Message

Social Behavior:

Serial killing.

Consumerism:

Drugs/Alcohol/Tobacco:

Characters drink and smoke cigarettes.

Violence

It's a grisly serial killer movie.

Sex

Brief sex scene in a shower; references to sexual desire and activity.

Language

Very strong language -- many f-words.

Common Sense says

What's the story?

Reviewed by Cynthia Fuchs

Student profiler Vince (Clifton Collins Jr.) and his fellow trainees are sent to an isolated island where they are surrounded by mannequins (used for the Navy’s shooting practice). Shortly after arriving, they learn that the test is for real: someone is profiling them, killing them off one by one, and leaving them in grotesque poses. According to trainer Harris (Val Kilmer), they must learn by doing, and so he sets out to scare and test them. Each has a particular fear to be exploited -- Vince fears being unarmed (in a wheelchair, his movement is limited), J.D. (Christian Slater) worries he's not a good leader; Sarah (Kathryn Morris) feels guilty over her sister's death; Nicole (Patricia Velasquez) has just quit smoking; Rafe (Will Kemp) worries he's not as smart as he thinks; and creepy Lucas (Jonny Lee Miller) resents Sarah's lack of interest in him. Also there is former Navy SEAL and Philadelphia detective Gabe (LL Cool J), who is enough of an outsider to concern the others, which leads to frequent confrontations.

Is it any good?

2
If profiling was once a mysterious, even respected career choice (at least in the movies, as in Silence of the Lambs), it has long since fallen prey to pop cultural overkill. Its release postponed for a couple of years, Renny Harlin's MINDHUNTERS is at once dated and so preposterous that it hardly matters. (Its unoriginal set-up recalls Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians, but with less British banter and more U.S.-style explosive action.)

As the survivors scramble to solve puzzles before each murder, the film frames repeated dilemmas concerning trust, deceit, and readability: even though the profilers are supposed to be able to read each other, their actual lack of vision stems from their own insecurities. The bodies pile up as any logic seeps away. As such generic exercises go, this one is seriously average.

Other choices

Parents and kids say

All Reviews

There are 3 reviews.

4


Posted on 07/17/07 by Curbspaget Kid contributor, age 16

Different

This movie had probably 3 or 4 twists in it, but was pretty good overall.
4


Posted on 02/11/07 by hArRy Kid contributor, age 12

Life's guilty pleasures

This is a great sadistic thriller similar to seven. You will feel very guilty watching this and excited a to see who dies and how as they are all very personal ingenious traps. there are some disturbing images and deaths but it's a great movie. The friendships and teamwork all play into the amazing inginuity of the killer. Great stuff
Age 11+
5

Posted on 10/10/05 by Anonymous Adult contributor

Smart & Ingenious Thriller

MindHunters is a modern day tale of the great Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Indians". It is a GREAT who-dun-it and you dont know & wont know who, up until the very, very end. It has suspense, thrills, laughs, ingenuity, keeps you guessing & is a very smart thriller. There is some language, a mild sex scene, violence and mild gore. In my opinion this should have been rated PG-13, simply because I dont think it warrants its R rating. There are plenty of PG-13 flicks worse that this, But, we do have too many PG-13 "wanna be suspense/horror" flicks out there now that & this is welcomed mid teen-adult thriller fare. I give the great action director Renny Harlin, 2 Big Thumbs Up & 5 Stars out of 5 Stars. Rent this today, you will not regret it.

Adult Reviews

There are 1 reviews.

Age 11+
5

Posted on 10/10/05 by Anonymous Adult contributor

Smart & Ingenious Thriller

MindHunters is a modern day tale of the great Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Indians". It is a GREAT who-dun-it and you dont know & wont know who, up until the very, very end. It has suspense, thrills, laughs, ingenuity, keeps you guessing & is a very smart thriller. There is some language, a mild sex scene, violence and mild gore. In my opinion this should have been rated PG-13, simply because I dont think it warrants its R rating. There are plenty of PG-13 flicks worse that this, But, we do have too many PG-13 "wanna be suspense/horror" flicks out there now that & this is welcomed mid teen-adult thriller fare. I give the great action director Renny Harlin, 2 Big Thumbs Up & 5 Stars out of 5 Stars. Rent this today, you will not regret it.

Kids Reviews

There are 2 reviews.

4


Posted on 07/17/07 by Curbspaget Kid contributor, age 16

Different

This movie had probably 3 or 4 twists in it, but was pretty good overall.
4


Posted on 02/11/07 by hArRy Kid contributor, age 12

Life's guilty pleasures

This is a great sadistic thriller similar to seven. You will feel very guilty watching this and excited a to see who dies and how as they are all very personal ingenious traps. there are some disturbing images and deaths but it's a great movie. The friendships and teamwork all play into the amazing inginuity of the killer. Great stuff
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