Mindhunters (2004)

Brain Drain!

The Mindhunters of the title are a group of FBI profilers who as part of their training are sent to a remote island to solve a mock crime in a mock town. Their mission is to form a profile of a serial killer known as The Puppeteer, trouble is, is that The Puppeteer turns out to be real and starts picking them off one by one.

Directed by Renny Harlin and featuring a bonkers story written by Wayne Kramer, it doesn't take an FBI profiler to know what sort of film this is going to be. Featuring a cast that contains LL Cool J, Jonny Lee Miller, Patricia Velásquez, Val Kilmer and Christian Slater, Mindhunters is undeniably preposterous cinema for the easily pleased masses, and yet it's still hugely enjoyable and isn't found wanting in the ingenuity stakes.

The killers secret is closely guarded, which keeps the Ten Little Indians (yes this is another Agatha cover version) like mystery going, and the manner of the deaths have a morbid freshness about them - with one in particular being outrageously thrilling. A few scenes are neatly crafted by Harlin, who is after all is no slouch in the action genre (Die Hard 2, Cliffhanger, The Long Kiss Goodnight), while the swimming pool finale is taut and tight and the killer reveal genuinely a surprise.

Yes there's problems abound in the film, but isn't there always in this kind of "B" movie hogwash? The cast do what is required as they work through some pretty naff dialogue, and any expectation about caring for any of these characters should be set at option zero. However, it's a nice fit for Harlin, as it finds him comfortable in the knowledge that we want whizz bang murder death kill, and thus he delivers. Expectation of anything else is pure folly and one directs you towards René Clair's excellent 1945 film, And Then There Were None if you need something a bit more solid in your murder mystery diet. 7/10