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CUTTHROAT ISLAND OF A DIFFERENT KIND.


Byline: Evan Henerson Staff Writer

MINIMALISM minimalism, schools of contemporary art and music, with their origins in the 1960s, that have emphasized simplicity and objectivity. Minimalism in the Visual Arts
 WILL likely never be Renny Harlin's forte, but the director of ``Cliffhanger cliff·hang·er  
n.
1. A melodramatic serial in which each episode ends in suspense.

2. A suspenseful situation occurring at the end of a chapter, scene, or episode.

3.
,'' ``Die Hard 2'' and the genius shark bloodbath blood·bath also blood bath  
n.
Savage, indiscriminate killing; a massacre.

Noun 1. bloodbath - indiscriminate slaughter; "a bloodbath took place when the leaders of the plot surrendered"; "ten days after the
 ``Deep Blue Sea'' certainly knows how to set a pot boiling.

With ``Mindhunters,'' a ``Ten Little Indians''-inspired thriller set among FBI profilers on a deserted island
For the island off the coast of Maine, see Mount Desert Island.


A deserted island (also known as a 'desert island') is simply any uninhabited island: the word "desert" in this context is an adjective meaning "desolate and sparsely occupied or
, Harlin ratchets up both the action and the ``Boo!'' scares, and happens upon some of the more creative uses of intense gore in recent thrillerdom memory. It figures to be awhile before any character played by Christian Slater Christian Slater (born August 18, 1969) is an American actor. Biography
Early life
Slater was born Christian Michael Leonard Hawkins in New York, New York, the son of Mary Jo Slater, a casting executive, and Michael Hawkins, an actor who was also known as
 will find himself so ingeniously offed.

Oops! Did this critic just commit a plot revelation breach? Well, for pity's sake, please consider ... if you're placing your locked-door mystery on an island, if a serial killer serial killer Forensic psychiatry A person who commits serial murders Prototypic SK White ♂ age 30; 97% are ♂; 80% are sociopaths. See Dahmer, Depraved heart murder, Ice Man. Cf Megan's law, Son of Sam law.  has to make his way through eight victims, if the script only has nine characters, then a few semi-starry names are going to get whacked. The only significant questions remaining are: 1) Who goes in what order? 2) Who appears to be dead/gone but isn't? 3) How'd the killer pull it off, and why? Oh, and did we see the twist coming from somewhere back 70 minutes ago?

Happily, the plot here - credited to Wayne Kramer and Kevin Brodbin - manages to follow a certain logical path. Granted, our unknown assassin has to demonstrate extreme cleverness extremely quickly to pull off this megillah, and perhaps a few too many circumstances need to line up just so. Even so, credibility - or lack thereof - isn't of too much concern in ``Mindhunters.'' Line this movie up against the far-inferior ``Identity'' (2004), which twisted every bit of fairness out of its surprise gotchas, and ``Mindhunters'' is the clear winner. This is a roller coaster What a bad CD-R disc is often called. See CD-R and underrun.  that's actually fun to ride.

You'll need a stomach for it, though. Our brainiac victims check out relatively quickly, but they go gruesomely. Acid-laced cigarettes, blood draining, liquid nitrogen Noun 1. liquid nitrogen - nitrogen in a liquid state
atomic number 7, N, nitrogen - a common nonmetallic element that is normally a colorless odorless tasteless inert diatomic gas; constitutes 78 percent of the atmosphere by volume; a constituent of all living
, sharp projectiles ... all decidedly yucky and slickly filmed.

The unfortunate octet An eight-bit storage unit. In the international community, octet is often used instead of byte.

(jargon, networking) octet - Eight bits. This term is used in networking, in preference to byte, because some systems use the term "byte" for things that are not 8 bits long.
 - who are barely given names before they get toe tags - are placed on the abandoned U.S. Navy-operated island Oniega for a final training exercise before graduation, even though chief administrator Jake Harris (played by Val Kilmer in full arrogance mode) has already decided which of his candidates don't have a future in the bureau. A made-up killer who goes by ``the Puppeteer'' is scheduled to leave a body and assorted clues requiring the profilers to solve the case in 48 hours. They can't leave the island, have no contact with the outside world, yada, yada, yada.

Once the profilers start getting snuffed, they begin turning on each other. Who's doing this? Could it be the smartest guy in the room? The weak link? The interloper? The one with the family skeletons? The one in the wheelchair?

There are, surprisingly, more painful ways to spend a couple of hours than finding out the answer.

Evan Henerson, (818) 713-3651

evan.henerson(at)dailynews.com

MINDHUNTERS - Three stars

(R: graphic violence, language)

Starring: LL Cool J, Christian Slater, Kathryn Morris Kathryn Morris (born January 28, 1969) is an American actress, perhaps best known for her lead role in the CBS series Cold Case. Biography
Career
Her first role was a minor part in the 1991 telemovie Long Road Home.
, Jonny Lee Miller, Val Kilmer.

Director: Renny Harlin.

Running time: 1 hr. 48 min.

Playing: In wide release.

In a nutshell: A better-than-average - albeit rather gross - spin on Agatha Christie's ``10 Little Indians.''

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

LL Cool J is in a group of the FBI profilers on a deserted island being killed one by one in ``Mindhunters.''
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No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
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Publication:Daily News (Los Angeles, CA)
Date:May 13, 2005
Words:562
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