Mindcage

Sure, this appears to be a total ripoff of many well known thrillers that have already been mentioned in many reviews here ad nauseum. I mean, yeah, we get it, you've seen this before. But, you haven't, really, and that's why I liked it and even gave it more stars than it deserves, just to balance out the extremely negative reviews. The script was a bit lacking, but it was understandable, logical and the story moved along without a lot of wasted time. The production values were acceptable. Makeup was good. In other words, nothing great or awful. I have no idea what Martin Lawrence is doing in this film, anyone could have played his part; in fact, anyone could have played almost any part in this film, although Malkovich was just fine, because he is always fine. And I didn't dislike the intrepid female detective either, I thought she did well enough with what she was given. At a certain point you are going to say, "oh no, this is gonna go there?" and it does, but I wound up not minding at all, and I actually liked the ending. There are far worse ways to waste your time than watching this movie.

Calling this a weak copy of the Silence of the Lambs would be an understatement. As a movie it sort of worked, it was okay-ish. Watchable. Proper production value, acceptable to moderately good acting. Semi decent script. But in general, it's a textbook illustration for the word "derivative". If it was a high school production from amateur film enthusiasts, I'd give it a stranding ovation. Really not even one original idea, just a collection of bits from much better works. Still, as I said, it was not horrible. Certainly not good either. Martin Lawrence was definitely a miscast. It was a commendable effort on his part to try and be serious, but he really could not pull it off. He has a great talent for comedy, but this just wasn't his cup of tea. Luckily, his shortcomings could not ruin the film much.

Only John Malkovich is worth mentioning in this bad, very bad, copycating. Thoroughly unconvincing, badly written and amateurish! I have read that Lawrence gained some weight for this !? Why oh why he bothered. He is especially unconvincing along with the female leading role. I had a notion from the very beginning of the movie that everything will collapse at some time. Crumbling started even before. The story unfolding is hilarious, plot childish like everything else. Do actors have regrets for taking part in flicks like this or the money is good consolation for taking part in this ridicule!?

Straight out of the gate, this movie isn't worth watching at all, and was even worse than I expected! It might even be considered insulting. This is a poor take on one of Hannibal's stories, with a dumb twist even Shyamalan would be embarrassed to include. The high quality production of the visual elements employed on the Trailers (the impressive looking Angels) are the only remarkable part of the movie. Sadly, the movie is riddled with problems.. from the terrible casting of every part, flat dialogue, poor audio quality, slow pacing, to rushed scene transitions. Then the content and execution leave a lot to be desired. And the "revelation" is so late in the game, you can't even muster the energy to care. It is quite ironic to open IMDB and check the movie's description, only to find the words "when a copycat strikes". Would not recommend anyone waste their time on this.