I saw Mindhunters last night and am in awe of how far and how fast a good director can fall. It seems like he doesn't even know how to direct a scene anymore without having everyone in seems like complete amateurs. With a few exceptions, Mindhunters had me whincing the whole way through. The delivery of lines, the pauses, the pacing, the whole look of the film reminds me of Albert Pyun's work. And like Pyun, Harlin has also fallen in love with a rapper and casts him in every film no matter how wrong they are for the part. LL Cool J was SO out of place in Mindhunters but then again so was everyone else. They all seemed like tourists who just signed up for a Whodunnit Mystery Weekend, completely unprofessional. If they can't profile someone committing elaborate murders 2 ft from them, how in the world can they be trusted to solve normal FBI cases out in the real world.
If the victims are smart, and the killer is smarter, you can have a great story. Not so here. Since the killer is only as smart as the man who writes him, and this killer is pretty dumb, the victims have to be demoted to the intelligence level "retard" or the story won't work. And for us as the audience to respect and care about these characters, the filmmakers have to assume that WE are about as smart a bag of wet hair. What a slap in the face.
Can somebody out there please make a smart thriller that actually respects the audience??
If the victims are smart, and the killer is smarter, you can have a great story. Not so here. Since the killer is only as smart as the man who writes him, and this killer is pretty dumb, the victims have to be demoted to the intelligence level "retard" or the story won't work. And for us as the audience to respect and care about these characters, the filmmakers have to assume that WE are about as smart a bag of wet hair. What a slap in the face.
Can somebody out there please make a smart thriller that actually respects the audience??