Masterminds

"We've got a definite Die Hard situation here," says young Ozzie Paxton (Vincent Kartheiser) when he is trapped in a private school where terrorists have taken hundreds of rich kids hostage. It's the moment which is supposed to tell the audience that the film-makers are hip to their own derivativeness, that it's pointless to expect more than recycled genre conventions. Actually, the reference is a clever diversion to distract viewers from all the other antecedents, including 1991's Toy Soldiers, 1983's WarGames and even 1990's Home Alone. This is strictly a youth fantasy for viewers who haven't been watching movies at all for the past twenty years, and it will be a fairly satisfying and safe diversion for that young audience. For all the bullets that fly in Masterminds, not one of them ever hits a human being. It's unlikely that adults will find much worthwhile, unless it's Patrick Stewart's jolly performance as the leader of the terrorists. A playful, harmless goof, this is a very optional purchase. (S. Renshaw)