Masterminds (1997)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Masterminds (1997): Dir: Roger Christian / Cast: Vincent Kartheiser, Patrick Stewart, Brenda Fricker, Matt Craven, Bradley Whitford: Certainly not the work of a mastermind. It is a pitiful embarrassment about a battle of wills between a deviant kid and a security adviser. Patrick Stewart plays the security adviser who will take over a school with his ruthless recruits and hold an auditorium full of children hostage. While his troops hold off police he makes a demand for cash. A young computer hacker will damage those plans and the film along with it. Very stupid with director Roger Christian going totally overboard. Vincent Kartheiser comes off as a really bad Arnold Schwarzenegger impersonation as he repeatedly messes up the villain's plans. None of this is believable and Kartheiser's action scenes leave little to desire. Stewart is way too talented for this. His villain is reasonable but seems too intelligent for the foolish antics pitted against him here. Bad supporting performances by Brenda Fricker and Matt Craven who should regret this film decision. This is pretty much ranking as one of the dumbest ideas presented to viewers in a film all year. Fine location but story is pointless without a shred of realism but then again the film seems aimed full steam ahead at stupidity. The only hacker who will want any part of it is one carrying a hatchet. Score: 2 / 10

Like seriously this movie is SO bad this kid is such a plug like seriously cut your hair and how dumb can these bad guys be he walks onto coal and see the pull cord things right beside him and the kid wouldn't of had time to but the burner against the nob. Also Wtf is with the mine scene that was SO bad they some would have died and your going to jail for ever anyways you terrorists just kill someone seriously toy soldiers is Way better and they would of killed the cops when they shot like 1000 bullets and them like what the shiz what are the cops doing just charging thats so stupid i would just kill the children I'm not even and the terrible sewer scene yet that I've herd so much about. PS how the hell does the kid know how to do that impossible hack thing he did wow such a bad movie as if professor x is in this disgrace.

'No good kid' Ozzie takes his young stepsister to school, and winds up in a hostage of the school by head of security Rafe Bentley (Patrick Stewart from Startrek / X-men). As Ozzie says himself: We got a die hard situation here people!Thank goodness Ozzie is some sort of (computer)whizkid (apparently learned it from his dad) and sabotages the bad guys in many ways. Now, this computer thing is going way out of hand, with him infiltrating in the Pentagon (or something) in the beginning of the movie and his dad touching 2 keys and immediately infiltrates in the bad guys files... You also see the obligatory flickering 'NO ACCESS' and stuff like that... but who cares!Near the end the movie loses it's touch a bit with a chase in the sewers (or something) and Patrick Stewart claiming to be a Manchester United fan... one of the worst scenes in movie history, I must admit.But for 'one of the worst movies ever' (as it's sometimes called), I thought the movie was highly enjoyable. Flawed yes, far-fetched sure, but still...Final score: 5/10.

Yet another movie where the misfit juvenile delinquent is actually a brilliant strategist. Don't get me wrong. The movie is okay, I even gave it a 7, but it is lacking. The casting was pretty good with the exception of Annabelle Gurwitch, who in my opinion should retire and ask for a refund from S.A.G. I was left with a lot of questions after watching this movie, like Cactus-5, but I dismissed them as this is a teen movie and they generally don't make much sense. If you watch this movie and think it's ok or even garbage, then I recommend you watch Toy Soldiers. This movie is remarkably similar to that one but not nearly as good. I know this next statement will get me a bit of flak but in my opinion after the X-Men films and Star Trek: The Next Generation TV series (NOT the films), this is the best Patrick Stewart has done.