Mindhunters

Mindhunters is one of those psycho-killer thrillers in which the ever-shrinking cast of characters dies one by one because they're too stupid to stick together and stay somewhere safe. But while the fear and naiveté of the usual nubile teenagers might account for such stupidity, there's no excuse for the FBI agents training to be criminal profilers here. Trapped alone on a military staging island where they're supposed to be undergoing a field test, the group realizes--after a couple of gruesome murders--that there's a bloodthirsty nutjob among them. Do they load up on food and go outside to sit on a hill where they can keep an eye on each other? Of course not: these clowns (including Christian Slater, LL Cool J, Jonny Lee Miller, Kathryn Morris, and Patricia Velasquez) wander around the dark bowels of abandoned buildings, usually alone, while the killer sets preposterously elaborate death traps. A veritable catalog of commonsense blunders (these people couldn't get jobs as dogcatchers, let alone FBI agents) served up with banal filmmaking that hack director Renny Harlin (The Exorcist: The Beginning) tries to cover up with hyperactive editing and handheld cam overkill, this is not recommended. [Note: DVD extras include audio commentary by director Renny Harlin, a behind the scenes featurette called “Profiling Mindhunters” (8 min.), the “Stunts of Mindhunters” (5 min.), a director’s walkthrough of the film’s Crime Town location (4 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a decent extras package for an absurd thriller.] (R. Blackwelder)