Intense 'Game' of Profiling Minds / Crash-Course to clear the FBI Profiling Exam:-)
Snip-in:
The couple of DVD shops in the neighborhood had been closed for more than 2 months, since June 2010, which prompted me to opt for BigFlix. NetFlix experience I had in the US was just great and BigFlix barring a few exceptions, is pretty close to the same during last 6+ weeks. After watching a few movies, after a month, I ordered 'MindHunters' with recommendations from welcome movie buffs. It turned out be a great pick.
The story is about the group of FBI junior folks who are attempting a 'so called final examination' to be selected as 'Serial Killer Profilers'. The trainer is Jake (Val Kilmer) who is supposedly having a very distinct selection procedure. He sends the group of 8 odd junior folks and Captain Dave (LL Cool J) as 'External Observer' to an island for a weekend task. The completely deserted but fully functional town on the Island is used by the US Navy for certain trainings and Jake usually loans it from the Navy to carry out his discrete trainings. Over this weekend in a mock set-up these FBI folks are supposed to be creating and tracking a 'Serial Killer Profile'.
Being a suspense thriller no awards to guess that 1 amongst these 10 odd folks is the serial killer. And the suspense is very nicely built-up by showing how someone in the group cleverly uses the detailed psyche of each one of the 8 folks, how they think and respond to certain situations, how to instigate them to make mistakes and succumb to the death trap, that is laid out differently for each one of them. The plot is great but the key success of the movie (director) is keeping the suspense a mystery towards the very end.
Snip-out
Well the suspense is outstanding but the script is woven of situations and incidences which are super-coincidental and its a more than perfect plot. Profiling and riding on peoples psyche is fine, but even by FBI standards:-) making a group of 8 FBI students act/do what 1 person wants is actually unrealistic. But the same perfect plot is usually the core of any suspense thriller and one can definitely ignore that, considering the very edgy movie.
Snip-O-Meter
This is purely a directors movie, built on a very tight and fast paced script, which doesn't give viewers the time to think. Christian Slater is a nice surprise in a more than a cameo role - I guess we all have forgotten him. I almost have become his fan after watching his stunning performance in 'Broken Arrow', when he nearly outplayed John Travolta. Val Kilmer is Val Kilmer :-)! - You get to see it in the movie. LL Cool J is fine as well. Even though a bit violent can be watched in one of the Saturday afternoons, so as to relish on the plot for next 1.5 days ;)
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Snipper: Lucky # Slevin
As enthralling and enigmatic as the name Slevin! / Cult is the #Slevin
Snip-in:
I came across the promos / posters of this movie, when I was about to be returning back from Los Angeles/Pasadena around mid 2006. I almost have forgotten about the movie, but I could recently order the same due to strong recommendations by ornate movie fans and it being on top of my list, of must-watch movies. And…. it indeed came out as a super-chic flick. (Trivia - Well I watched this movie almost 3 weeks back and am writing most part of the review at the airport / in a flight on a Sunny Saturday.)
The story-line appears very simple and straight-forward till the 3/4th of the movie. The titles/credits are shown along side the 2 gun-firings taking place at 2 different locales, which gives a sufficient enough dash of bizarre and cult aspect of the movie. Well it doesn't talk about the 2 people shot-down in immediate sequences, but moves on with very distinct characters, the first one being Mr. Goodkat (Bruce 'the' Willis;)) who disappears after giving explanation (eye-popping? Naahhh- it's Neck-twisting!) about 'Kansas City Shuffle' in the opening sequence. The next one is the protagonist Slevin (Josh Hartnett) who's seen talking to his friend (Nick) on cell phone, taking a flight to NYC to meet him, with the ONLY intent to have a rendezvous with his luck which is long abandoned him. And then what happens has to be only watched on the screen. The last 30 minutes come across as huge twist in the story.
As it moves on, the 3 other important characters pop-in, played by Morgan Freeman (The Boss), Sir Ben Kinsley (The Rabbi) and Lucy Liu (Lindsey). And that's a more than perfect star cast and setting for the movie. And a cameo played by a Sidekick of 'The Boss' (Elvis - Dorian Missick?) is truly awesome - with a heavy New Yorker 'Tapori' and 'Dark Grey :-)' accent. The beauty of the movie is most of the characters are having varied degrees of negative shades, but ironically everyone's shown very calm, quite and chill, at least they do everything in that fashion.
Snip-Out:
I might have missed out an important link (I just watched it once, like most of the other movies), but I couldn't understand why the revenge is to be taken almost after 20 years? Also Mr. Goodkat merrily shuffling across 'The Boss' and 'The Rabbi's' 'Offices' (dens) also appears weird at times. Similar is the case with the mistaken identity of Slevin - it becomes little hard to digest that both the Dons and their sidekicks are so dumb who are chasing and picking the wrong Nick. It also has a downside of having a super perfect plot, which in real life actually may not work. The Rabbi's son falling for Slevin so quickly :-) also is a little hard to digest. But these are just small aspects and can be very easily ignored.
Snip-O-Meter:
It's a great dark movie with a pinch of comedy. Josh Hearnett almost outperforms all the biggies including Ben Kingsley, Morgan Freeman and Bruce Willis. He also looks stunning, gives a lot of required cult texture to the movie and must have become an instant heart-throb in the 'Global-neighborhood'. Ben Kingsley is the least impactful, as I guess he has 'overly underplayed' the character. Bruce is the second best (after Josh and above Morgan and Ben) playing the very mysterious Mr.Goodkat - he has struck the right balance of being subtle yet very impactful. Lucy Liu is in a welcome supporting role (it can feel to have someone like her in the 'local-neighborhood';)). She has not done any Kill-Bill stunts here, but comes wrapped in a nutty-naughty, and playful role.
Apart from the great characters and sets, the biggest plus of the movie is a water-tight script, driving in a fast lane - even though there are no car chases:-), nor the horrendous gun-fights, nor the action sequences filmed using the multi-camera array techniques (360 degree views as in 'Matrix'). And keeping the pace without having all this is really commendable - Hat's off to the directorial, writing, and editing efforts. It's an out and out cult movie and can be a personal collection, so as to always remind you, that there's nothing called as Luck (as incidentally Slevin doesn't exist as a number :-)). So if you 'gotta get what you wanna get' - you shouldn’t be waiting for any lucky charm to shower, but just create your own destiny. Is that a lot of preaching from a cult movie?- Now are you feeling lucky :-) - Well you should as long as you are not taking the 'Kansas City Shuffle' ;)
Snip-in:
I came across the promos / posters of this movie, when I was about to be returning back from Los Angeles/Pasadena around mid 2006. I almost have forgotten about the movie, but I could recently order the same due to strong recommendations by ornate movie fans and it being on top of my list, of must-watch movies. And…. it indeed came out as a super-chic flick. (Trivia - Well I watched this movie almost 3 weeks back and am writing most part of the review at the airport / in a flight on a Sunny Saturday.)
The story-line appears very simple and straight-forward till the 3/4th of the movie. The titles/credits are shown along side the 2 gun-firings taking place at 2 different locales, which gives a sufficient enough dash of bizarre and cult aspect of the movie. Well it doesn't talk about the 2 people shot-down in immediate sequences, but moves on with very distinct characters, the first one being Mr. Goodkat (Bruce 'the' Willis;)) who disappears after giving explanation (eye-popping? Naahhh- it's Neck-twisting!) about 'Kansas City Shuffle' in the opening sequence. The next one is the protagonist Slevin (Josh Hartnett) who's seen talking to his friend (Nick) on cell phone, taking a flight to NYC to meet him, with the ONLY intent to have a rendezvous with his luck which is long abandoned him. And then what happens has to be only watched on the screen. The last 30 minutes come across as huge twist in the story.
As it moves on, the 3 other important characters pop-in, played by Morgan Freeman (The Boss), Sir Ben Kinsley (The Rabbi) and Lucy Liu (Lindsey). And that's a more than perfect star cast and setting for the movie. And a cameo played by a Sidekick of 'The Boss' (Elvis - Dorian Missick?) is truly awesome - with a heavy New Yorker 'Tapori' and 'Dark Grey :-)' accent. The beauty of the movie is most of the characters are having varied degrees of negative shades, but ironically everyone's shown very calm, quite and chill, at least they do everything in that fashion.
Snip-Out:
I might have missed out an important link (I just watched it once, like most of the other movies), but I couldn't understand why the revenge is to be taken almost after 20 years? Also Mr. Goodkat merrily shuffling across 'The Boss' and 'The Rabbi's' 'Offices' (dens) also appears weird at times. Similar is the case with the mistaken identity of Slevin - it becomes little hard to digest that both the Dons and their sidekicks are so dumb who are chasing and picking the wrong Nick. It also has a downside of having a super perfect plot, which in real life actually may not work. The Rabbi's son falling for Slevin so quickly :-) also is a little hard to digest. But these are just small aspects and can be very easily ignored.
Snip-O-Meter:
It's a great dark movie with a pinch of comedy. Josh Hearnett almost outperforms all the biggies including Ben Kingsley, Morgan Freeman and Bruce Willis. He also looks stunning, gives a lot of required cult texture to the movie and must have become an instant heart-throb in the 'Global-neighborhood'. Ben Kingsley is the least impactful, as I guess he has 'overly underplayed' the character. Bruce is the second best (after Josh and above Morgan and Ben) playing the very mysterious Mr.Goodkat - he has struck the right balance of being subtle yet very impactful. Lucy Liu is in a welcome supporting role (it can feel to have someone like her in the 'local-neighborhood';)). She has not done any Kill-Bill stunts here, but comes wrapped in a nutty-naughty, and playful role.
Apart from the great characters and sets, the biggest plus of the movie is a water-tight script, driving in a fast lane - even though there are no car chases:-), nor the horrendous gun-fights, nor the action sequences filmed using the multi-camera array techniques (360 degree views as in 'Matrix'). And keeping the pace without having all this is really commendable - Hat's off to the directorial, writing, and editing efforts. It's an out and out cult movie and can be a personal collection, so as to always remind you, that there's nothing called as Luck (as incidentally Slevin doesn't exist as a number :-)). So if you 'gotta get what you wanna get' - you shouldn’t be waiting for any lucky charm to shower, but just create your own destiny. Is that a lot of preaching from a cult movie?- Now are you feeling lucky :-) - Well you should as long as you are not taking the 'Kansas City Shuffle' ;)
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