Alfred Hitchcock forever staked a claim to our fears with a slashingly edited murder in a shower. The jitterbugging feet of one of Leatherface’s early chain-sawed victims remains miserably embedded in my brain, a nasty shard of pop-culture shrapnel.
“Mindhunters” showcases a string of dismayingly creative murders. This film is all about our view to a kill – and another and another.
Director Renny Harlin’s thriller is inspired by Agatha Christie’s “Ten Little Indians.” In 1945’s “And Then There Were None,” the best book-to-screen adaptation of her 1939 mystery novel (directed by René Clair), 10 criminals are marooned on an island by a judge who believes they had not received punishments befitting their crimes.
The seven FBI agents in “Mindhunters” haven’t committed crimes. Under the smug tutelage of agent Jake Harris (Val Kilmer), they are vying to become profilers.
When Harris ships them off to a remote island for a last simulated exercise before graduating, they become the targets of an unknown serial killer.
But before they head off to meet the “puppeteer,” the movie fleshes out their personalities with a couple of scenes. One has alpha-dog agent J.D. (Christian Slater) and his nervous partner Sara (Kathryn Morris) botching an assignment.
In a more cordial scene, we get to profile the profilers when the group of FBI hotties go out for a drink. They begin to profile a woman sitting at the bar – who will get her number first? (All the best skill sets come down to whose digits you can get.)
In Harlin’s 1999 “Deep Blue Sea,” a lead character meets an unexpectedly early demise when he’s big-gulped by a super-intelligent shark.
A similarly surprising dispatch begins the mayhem in “Mindhunters.” Killing off one of your more intriguing characters is a cheeky enough start. But it’s how each character meets his or her end that is diabolical. (Hint: The anti-tobacco lobby will rejoice.)
“Mindhunters” is more punishing than profound. But then, the unknown subject’s elaborately crafted murders are the stars here. Nothing tops the first killing for sheer stagecraft. In a variation on a Rube Goldberg contraption, J.D. sets off a machine so mesmerizing no one has the sense to be freaked. From then on, they will be.
Since they are the only people on the island, the dwindling group is sure one of them is the killer. But who: Bobby, the mechanical whiz? Vince (Clifton Collins Jr.), the disabled guy who knows he won’t make profiler? Has mentor Harris returned to put the final in their final exam?
Their mistrust goes ballistic. Adding to the rampant paranoia is the presence of a Philly homicide detective (or is he?) played by James Todd Smith (a.k.a. former rapper LL Cool J).
When the killer’s identity is revealed, it doesn’t quite ring true. Somewhere along the way, the movie painted itself into a logistical corner. But on the way to its finale, there’s plenty of mayhem to keep you guessing.
“Mindhunters”
**½
R for violence/strong graphic images, language and sexual content|1 hour, 45 minutes|THRILLER |Directed by Renny Harlin; written by Wayne Kramer and Kevin Brodbin; photography by Robert Ganz; starring James Todd Smith (a.k.a. LL Cool J), Jonny Lee Miller, Kathryn Morris, Patricia Velasquez, Clifton Collins Jr., Eion Bailey, Will Kemp, with Val Kilmer and Christian Slater |Opens today at area theaters.
