Movie Reviews from Hell
Mind Storm
| Director: | Richard Pepin |
|---|---|
| Year: | 2002 |
| Rating: |
 |
I read a review or two earlier (after watching this movie) and I recently found out the movie was originally produced for TV, for a Sci-Fi channel. That does explain a few things.
Don't get me wrong, a movie doesn't need a huge budget to be good. Take a movie like Pi, directed by Darren Aronofski. It's one of my favorite films of all time, and it was created on a very modest budget (in comparison to bigger pictures) . That didn't get in the way of great lighting, acting, editing and most importantly - a great idea that captures your interest and has endless possibilities. For a Sci-Fi or Psychological thriller, that is one of the most important elements.
Mind Storm, as an idea, has a lot of potential. But I believe that this particular execution of it (on DVD) threw alot of the possibilities that are available out the window in favor of cheap hollywood cinematics. Two young children are featured in the movie who were part of a Black project by the NSA in a location that "doesn't exist". The project involved raising children and enhancing their psychic prowess (mind reading & control ability, specifically) for use in the Cold War.
After some mishaps, and the project being made to "disappear" by an involved Senator (I did not know Senators were informed of such operations), two of the children remain in the wild, one running a Cult and hoping for vengance and another helping the FBI solve missing persons cases - both with fairly strong psychic abilities, including mind control.
Anyway, events happen and it comes to the big showdown between good and evil. This whole scenario really broke down everything they spent the movie trying to make. They made it into a huge military gunfight, with FBI HRT squads (wearing belaclava's, they usually would wear helmets) and heavy weaponry assaulting the building, all the while the mindless minions of the cult (teenage girls in nighties) hold assault rifles, in a big explosive firefight.
Doesn't that deviate from the whole point of the movie? It would be much more interesting to see the game being played with the said psychic abilities, and not using them as a cheap explanation as to why 17 year old girls are holding AK-47's (firing with an improper stance I might add).
Why cheap out on the psychological value of the movie and buy in on pyrotechnics, props, blanks and sound effects (especially when you don't know how to set up a fight with those anyway)? That was a waste of budget.
I wouldn't mind seeing somebody a little more ambitious take on the direction and production of this movie, it could be pretty good with the basic idea behind it, but needs a little kick in the ass to get it going.