Murderous Intent (2006)

Thrilling psychological murder mystery starring Toni Collette as a police psychologist trying to solve a series of murders at an all-boys prep school.

A Labyrinthine Leopold and Loeb

The Director of this film said it started out as a documentary about the dynamics that come into play when two sociopaths join forces to produce one truly dangerous uber sociopath. As he went along though, he found that his material was better presented in the form of fiction.

I don't see how this film could ever have been a documentary. As one English schoolboy leads another into complicity, their rationales grow just too far-fetched and elaborate. They invoke texts from the ancient Knights Templar and their modern Masonic brethren. It's almost a sort of Da Vinci Code conspiracy theory that drives them. The viewer is even left with an implication that a Masonic conspiracy might actually be at work. This caroms the film off into extreme improbability. Homicidal duos such as Leopold and Loeb usually just operate under simpler principles of gang psychology, with two being emboldened to do what one alone wouldn't dare.

Also, the Director/Writer makes this an example of "Gestalt" psychology, where the whole becomes larger than the sum of the parts. The principles of Gestalt psychology though apply more to how an individual perceives his world, and aren't applicable here. So this principle is really just dragged in by the ear to lend a note of serious scholarship to the film.

However, the movie is well-acted and brilliantly photographed. Half of it was filmed on location in Yorkshire settings and it takes us into the still starched, ordered, and pervasively sadistic world of the English schoolboy. The Director said he didn't want to pin down the year of the movie's action, allowing it to be anywhere from the 1970s to the present. We see the actual interiors of places with Dickensian (or Harry Potter-like) names such as "Giggleswick." It's a visual feast.

You will also incidentally and painlessly learn some history from this film, as much as that history turns out to be irrelevant to most real-life psychological motivation. And the movie will probably impel you to look more closely at your standard deck of playing cards. Why is the jack holding a deadly spear? And who is that creeping up behind the King with a knife?
March 22, 2008

amazing acting..

I have read a lot of things online about people not understanding the ending of this movie, and I'm not positive I fully grasp it myself. I will assure you that you should watch it at least twice, I caught many things I didn't the first time.

I think a few things in this movie were a bit rushed, for instance the gestalt theory which this entire film is essentially based on is not fully explained and is hard to understand, making the movie difficult to grasp since it is so central to the whole thing.
In addition, I don't believe they developed Alex's character enough to fit the sociopathic tendencies they were claiming he had. The whole point of the movie was that both of these boys had these tendencies, but would not have acted upon them had they not met each other. That they fueled each other. It is obvious Nigel leaned toward the sociopath description, with the animals and the fascination with death etc. But where did Alex fit in? So he was troubled, his mother died and he dad didn't pay attention to him, this means he has sociopath tendencies? I just don't see it.
I think they may have missed the mark by a bit, but the overall idea is very interesting and original. The acting is superb and Tom Sturridge (Nigel) is absolutely gorgeous and..freaky..

I overall enjoyed the film.
I may have missed the mark on the interpretation as well, who knows? many have said this is one of those movies that was meant to be pondered, leaving you empty and trying to figure out what it all meant. I'm not so sure, but I say its worth buying used and finding out for yourself. January 22, 2008

It was all I could do to make it thorugh the thing

I did not like this film. It seemed that there was simply too much emphasis on making the film and the characters as dark as possible. I especially did not care for what they did with the character of the police detective, making him not only seemingly incompetent but uninterested in getting to the real truth of a matter and totally without any redeeming qualities. His was a cardboard caricature portrayal which was put in solely for the purpose of making the boys more sympathetic. I found no sympathetic characters in this film and no one to really care about one way or the other. I think to have an interest in a movie, one must have someone to root for, hoping they resolve their situation or someone to root against, hoping they get their just reward. This film had none of that. The scenes on the train were, well, to be blunt, they were silly. What kind of a stupid game was that and who could not see the eventual consequences coming (no pun there if you've seen the film)? I would not recommend this film to anyone. It failed as a thriller and it failed at being cerebral. Fortunately, it was a rental and it is now safely back on the shelf. September 15, 2007

A Dark, Finely Wrought Mystery of the Highest Caliber!

For some strange reason the very fine Australian/British film LIKE MINDS underwent a name change and hit the US market as MURDEROUS INTENT. The original title is so much more apropos of the story: the alternate title tends to make the audience pass over 'just another death film' category that prevents this excellent little film from appealing to a wide audience. Writer/Director Gregory J. Reed and his talented cast and production staff deserve better as this is a stunning psychological drama well worth seeing.

The setting is an all boys' prep school and among the students is Alex (a very fine young Eddie Redmayne) who happens to be the son of the headmaster (Patrick Malahide) and is a brilliant scholar - if somewhat of a troublemaker at the same time. Into this setting arrives a new student Nigel (an equally fine young Tom Sturridge) who is a darkly quiet, malevolent, bright lad preoccupied with history and necrophilia. The two boys are placed together as roommates, much to Alex's objections, and gradually secrets are unraveled that show how the two boys become, via gestalt, a sum of evil greater than its parts. Alex is horrified and yet fascinated with the ritual-influenced deaths that begin to occur and when Nigel himself is murdered, Alex is the blamed.

Enter the police: McKenzie (Richard Roxburgh) arrests and charges Alex with murder, but requires substantiation from a forensic psychologist Sally (the always superb Toni Collette). Sally interviews Alex, observes his behavior and manages to get inside his mind, learn about the historical data that has directed the evil from her astute questioning sessions with Alex, and begins to follow her own intuition about the case. There are twists and turns, flashbacks to incidents, investigation details, and discoveries bordering on the occult that spin this dark yarn like a helix of fear. The ending will surprise the viewer.

The script is superb, the acting is top notch, the production design is accomplished and the musical score by Carlo Giacco is simply brilliant. This is a fine art film, graced by the quality of superior acting set by Collette, and is a tense drama that will keep an audience thinking and involved to the final credits. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, August 07 August 17, 2007

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