I don’t say this lightly, but MINDGAMERS may be one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. In most cases, I wouldn’t admit this because it could reflect poorly on me as a reviewer and writer, but it took me three times to finish this film. The first time I made the executive decision in my living room to do something else because I was getting headache from its philosophical jargon. The second time I fell asleep and awoke to the menu screen yelling at me. By the third and final attempt, I completed my obligatory mission so that I can officially tell you to avoid this travesty of cinema.
Alarm bells should have automatically gone off in my head when there was very little information on the Internet about MINDGAMERS. There wasn’t even a blurb in the press, a review in sight, or a completed cast and crew list on IMDB, unless I am to believe MINDGAMERS didn’t have a writer. While that’s not completely out of the realm of possibilities, there are legitimate religious, psychological and technological discussions had in this film, so someone must have copy and pasted the most boring college lecturer on the planet at some point.
MINDGAMERS is exactly that though, a boring lecture. Technothrillers, like THE MATRIX, TRANSCENDENCE, and even LIMITLESS have the know-how to package complex ideas into mindless action films or intellectual think pieces. What MINDGAMERS mistakes for action is parkour and what it mistakes for grandiose speeches about mankind’s existence and the brains within our skulls is hiring Sam Neill to yell at unknown actors and actresses while wearing a PHANTOM OF THE OPERA mask they bought at the dollar store.
MINDGAMERS is about a group of students at a newly created quantum university. They’re tasked with creating a wireless, collective consciousness of humans, which on paper sounds like the schemes of a Bond villain or an actual stepping stone to artificial intelligence. In reality, there is a movement, albeit small right now, that wants to digitize the human essence. But if the religious overtones and Sam Neill committing murder within the first minute wasn’t enough to alert you, there’s an odious plot at work behind the scenes of this fictional landfill fire out of control.
MINDGAMERS dialogue is the definition of esoteric and confusing to those with even the slightest scientific inclinations. The crib notes required to understand this movie are probably 100 times longer than the actual script. It’s insulting to believe that there’s any entertainment value or logical merits to MINDGAMERS. Watching characters interact is like being thrown into the middle of an argument in a foreign country where you don’t know the language.
MINDGAMERS appears to be speculating that religion is the only truth path to enlightenment, but it’s never clear because the acting is wooden, the script is illogical, the direction is lost, the graphics were bought at a movie studio garage sale and nothing, absolutely nothing, makes sense. On an entertainment scale, MINDGAMERS is about as exciting as a funeral and as thrilling as a watching a family member on life support. Everyone who was a part of this cinematic abortion, including actors paid in change found in couch cushions to the great Sam Neill, should be ashamed of themselves.
BLU RAY REVIEW
Video: (1080p HD Widescreen 2:39:1) The CGI is on par with any late night sci-fi movie, but it comes thoroughly clearly.
Audio: (English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1) The soundtrack is loud and annoying, but it comes through clearly.
The Making of MINDGAMERS (44:41): This feature is a frustrating long justification for a bad movie. There are some behind the scenes parts, like filming various stunts, the movie’s visuals and the shooting locations for the movie. But overall this is a slap in the face to other filmmakers working hard to get their vision realized. There are discussions with the director who voiced concerns about whether or not his film will be dated in a decade. He should be more worried about whether it makes a lick of sense.
