Mindcage is a thriller movie starring John Malkovich and Martin Lawrence. It is directed by Mauro Borrelli.
Are you in the mood for a movie with in line with ‘Knight Moves’ (1992), ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ (1991)or ‘Se7en’ (1995)? ‘Mindcage’ offers you the perfect opportunity to relive the 90’s-style “charming” thrillers about psychopaths that leave a trail of corpses and intricate clues, which they themselves consider an art form (in this occasion religious art).
Premise
A copycat murderer is on the loose, and detectives Jake Doyle and Mary Kelly are put on the case. This will invariably mean that must seek help from an incarcerated serial killer called “the Artist”. As Mary delves deep into the Artist’s brilliant but twisted psyche, she and Jake get lured into a diabolical game of cat and mouse, racing against time to stay one step ahead of both criminals.
Movie Review
It is not innovative in its premise, but it is a good thriller that has the familiarity of those 90’s iconic feature films, with eccentric characters behind bars, who are oh, so clever, and always give for a good story. True, we have seen this before, but we keep on being captivated and intrigued, especially when the production quality is high and the cast is excellent.
Is it a guilty pleasure? Absolutely. We are allow ourselves to a bout of nostalgia for the era when cinema was better (a twee bit better) and we give into following a script that might seem borrowed from other films, but films that left such mark in us filmlovers, so we are prone to exhibit some largess.
On a different and facetious note, we would like to suggest that an Academy Award be given to any one film critic who does not make mention of Jonathan Demme in their commentary of this film! Of course there are differences to his remarkable thriller, but the similarities are all to overt that they impossible not to notice.
Does ‘Mindcage’ work? Perfectly, although we cannot ignore the gears its borrows, this feature is a product that is, without a doubt, perfectly elaborated in structure, tempo, style – visual and in dialogue – and performances, following the recipe of master artisans of thrillers. Should we say it is formulaic? Perhaps, but without the negative connotation, for the movie manages to engage us, and experience the thrill of a good story told.
Our Opinion
Lecter is back, in a different character and story, of course, and to top it off played by an extraordinary actor, in this entertaining thriller that proves the genre is alive and kicking.
Release Date
December 16, 2022
Cast
 Martin Lawrence / Jake Doyle |  Melissa Roxburgh / Mary Kelly |  John Malkovich / The Artist |
 Aiden Turner / Dale |  Jacob Grodnik / Dutch |  Chris Mullinax / Homeless Man |
 Ritchie Montgomery / Father Linares |  Kira Reed Lorsch / Detective Kayne | Jeremy Turner / The Copycat Cassandra Gava / Voodoo Priestess |
See full credits >>
