Critical Condition: Mindhunter

Mindhunter | Netflix, from today

➢ “The first two episodes of Netflix’s FBI profiler drama are a prime showcase for director David Fincher. And it’s never less than engrossing … There’s no telling if the series can maintain this level of quality, though Fincher seems much more hands-on here (directing four episodes in total, and helping to pick the filmmakers—Andrew Douglas, Tobias Lindholm and Asif Kapadia—behind the other six) than he did with Netflix’s flagship original House of Cards. So there’s reason to hope this tale about the psychology of cut-throats won’t too quickly become cut-rate.” — The Hollywood Reporter.

➢ “Mindhunter is more academic than sensationalistic, at least in the two episodes made available to critics. Mr. Fincher may have shot one of cinema’s most famous head-in-a-box scenes, but Mindhunter thus far is more interested in the process of getting inside skulls than the process of removing them … Apart from a grisly early scene, there’s little onscreen violence. The talk is ghastly enough … It’s possible Mindhunter may settle into a more predictable monster chase. Let’s hope not; the chase after ideas here is more interesting.” — New York Times.

➢ “The first two episodes are immaculately shot – all sweeping Steadicam and symmetrical mise en scène (vintage Fincher) – and the dialogue falls somewhere between Sorkin and Hemingway in that it’s smart but terse … Feeling like True Detective if it had been chilled in the refrigerator for a few hours, Mindhunter shows a lot of promise in these first two episodes. As the season progresses (a potential Charles Manson interview is teased) we’ll find out whether it merely achieves ‘gripping, binge watch-able drama’ status or if it shoots for something more artful and original.” — The Independent.

➢ “Crime drama can, at its worst, revel in the grossest sort of spectatorship. Shows like CBS’s Criminal Minds, or ones that trade on the names of real-life murderers, can all too easily slip into gratuitousness for its own sake. (That programme’s star, Mandy Patinkin, quit after two seasons over its content.) But at its best, the genre tries to understand the roots of crime by investigating some of humanity’s most vexing paradoxes. Mindhunter, curious and thoughtful, is an example of the latter.” — Time.

➢ “While Mindhunter is yet another serial killer drama, it’s one with an intriguing angle. The emphasis isn’t on finding a killer; it’s on institutional reform. In 1977, the FBI is skeptical of psychology, deeming it effete and nerdy … Though the pilot’s tone is an intriguing combination of wry humor and ‘70s noir, it’s otherwise a slog of exposition and painfully on-the-nose scene-setting.” — Variety.