Mindhunters 2004

Critics score:
25 / 100

Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes

Detroit Free Press: Read more

Allison Benedikt, Chicago Tribune: Mark my words: Mindhunters will do for psycho-thrillers what Showgirls did for stripper movies. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: It was supposed to open in the spring of 2003, but they kept pushing back the release date. They should have kept pushing. Read more

AV Club: Read more

Richard Nilsen, Arizona Republic: Primarily, the film is an exercise in stupidity. You don't have to be an Einstein for it to insult your intelligence. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: The movie can't even have campy fun with the foolishness in Wayne Kramer and Kevin Brodbin's script. Read more

Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times: A thudding dud, crammed with clunky dialogue, bad acting and gruesome but unpersuasive gore. Mindhunters will pass muster with only the most undemanding horror fans. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: Mindhunters has the dumbest whodunit thriller plot and the least plausible moves of any film I can think of. Read more

Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle: You'd think these agents' training would kick in, that they'd analyze the situation, deduce who is behind the killings and put a plan in place to stop it. You'd be wrong. They panic like ants after their hill has been stepped on. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: On the way to its finale, there's plenty of mayhem to keep you guessing. Read more

Scott Brown, Entertainment Weekly: The revelations bring no more satisfaction than consulting an answer key. Read more

Dallas Morning News: Read more

Robert Abele, L.A. Weekly: A tiring exercise in time-biding sadism (versus wit or suspense), inflated with shock editing, noisy effects and an angry score, like a thriller with road rage. Read more

Jan Stuart, Newsday: Manages to be expertly ghoulish and exceptionally dumb at the same time. Even your goosebumps will feel a bit stupid before the end. Read more

Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger: In a way, the movie title refers not only to the characters, but also the audience. Enduring this harrowingly derivative tale, viewers will wonder where the filmmakers' minds were. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: The murderer may not be obvious because the script breaks every law of probability, and 'ridiculous' is too mild a word to apply to the deaths. Read more

Dana Stevens, New York Times: Mindhunters is a quintessential Renny Harlin film: a big, dumb, loud action movie. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: [Miller's accent] isn't Sir Michael Caine in Hurry Sundown bad -- still the worst Southern accent ever attempted by a future Oscar winner and knight. But it's awful enough to call attention to itself in the middle of a movie smothered in awfulness. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: It's not hard to see why this movie lingered on Dimension's shelves for long. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: The mystery, when it is solved, is both arbitrary and explained at great length. The killer gives a speech justifying his actions, which is scant comfort for those already dead. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: As effective as a movie can be and yet still be 100 percent forgettable. Read more

Jeff Strickler, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Profilers are supposed to outsmart their foes. But the only brains in evidence are the ones oozing out of head wounds. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Jennie Punter, Globe and Mail: There is something inherently mindless and preposterously silly about the whole exercise. Read more

Susan Walker, Toronto Star: It didn't take much mental power to come up with the plot. Read more

Time Out: Read more

Dave Calhoun, Time Out: Read more

Time Out: Read more

Mike Clark, USA Today: A contrived, unpleasant and very drawn-out affair. Read more

Robert Koehler, Variety: The illogic of the situation is so extreme that the final confrontation plays like an afterthought. Read more

David Ng, Village Voice: In an era of wall-to-wall CSI, Mindhunters' ghoulish forensic hubbub not only feels tiring but hopelessly redundant. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: Corny? Oh, yeah. But it's also reasonably good fun. Read more

Stephen Hunter, Washington Post: Evidently, these young FBI geniuses were just on a collective undercover assignment to infiltrate the Melrose Avenue club scene, because their disguise consists of half-grown (or half-ungrown) beards, shaggy hair, [and] insouciant wisecracking attitudes. Read more