So, I like the actor Oliver Stark. He’s pretty talented, and he’s one of the stars of 9-1-1. Obviously that means that I’m going to go looking to see what else he has made in the entertainment industry.
Today on Discord, a group of us got together to watch one of his films. It was a trip, and that’s putting it mildly. We decided to do this because this week there isn’t a new episode of 9-1-1, but because of time zones and people’s schedules, we’re watching the same film three times.
We watched 2017’s MindGamers.
Let me start by making it very clear that this is an R-Rated film., for violence, language, some minor sexuality, and drug use. Also, there is some visible animal injury, though it was done in CGI. Be forewarned, it’s something I wish I could have known about because I would have probably skipped this film if I had a clue. So, under seventeens, stay away. Over seventeens should also stay away, because I literally just watched the thing and I can’t tell you what the hell I just watched. It’s a mind screw, easy.
MindGamers tells the tale of a group of students who make an amazing scientific breakthrough. They discover how to link people’s minds through a quantum computer. Unfortunately, this discovery leads them down a series of events that doesn’t quite end well for the gifted students.
Oliver Stark plays Dylan, one of the students. He’s portrayed as a young and free man, taking some fun drugs, but is also exceptionally smart. He dresses in an alternative style which sticks out in most scenes. No, serious, he sticks out. Most everyone else is wearing normal clothes. But he’s hot, even before he started working out for 9-1-1 and bulking up.
The thing about MindGamers is that it’s trying too hard to be too many things. There subtle references to many of the popular Sci-Fi films of the decade. On top of that, but religion plays a surprising role, both as a good thing, and a bad.
Another big issue I had was in the editing. It was hard to figure out what was considered reality and what was in the characters’ heads at many points. I get that they were trying to do something interesting, but it missed it’s mark several times. At one point on Discord, the group of us watching together (six I believe), all said at the same time that we had no fucking idea what we were watching. I swear several scenes were edited out of the final release.
The cast was… fine I guess. Oliver got to show off his parkour abilities at one point. Sam Neill was in this, to my great surprise, and I may have wept for his career for a moment. (Not Oliver’s, he was just getting started at this point.) The only other person who stuck out was Tom Payne, because he landed the lead role of Malcolm Bright on Prodigal Son, and I saw beyond too many promos for that show when I was blasting through 9-1-1 earlier this year.
I think this film was trying to be smart and trying to say something. Unfortunately, whatever it was trying to say got lost in translation, at least to me. You may enjoy it, but the only time I’ll pick this one up on my own is when I’m having a wine night. Watching it tipsy may change my opinion.
Until next time!
