sol1218 ***SPOILERS*** What looks like an Australian version of the notorious 1924 Loab & Leopold case the film "Like Minds" has non conformist prep religious school student Alex Forbes, Eddie Redmayne, get matched up as roommates with this freaked out and blood obsessed weirdo Nigel Colbie, Tom Sturridge, who he's now,at the start of the movie,accused of murdering.Being interviewed by top police psychiatrist Sally Rowe, Toni Collette, Alex staunchly maintains his innocence and claims that it was the dead Nigel's fault in that he desperately wanted it,to get murdered in life, so he can have eternal life after death! I told you the guy was weird! At first Sally feels that Alex is just pulling her leg but as he brings out the relationship he had with Nigel she starts to have second thoughts. It turns out that Nigel was as nutty as a Mediterranean fruit fly and that nuttiness stemmed with his obsession with the 12th Century Knights Temple's that he claims that both he and Alex are direct descendants of!Alex who at first tried to distance himself for Nigel, who for some strange reason called him Jack throughout the movie, slowly gravities towards him and his crazy ideas about the two being some kind of blood brothers who have a secret and holy mission to fulfill in life! Revive the ancient order of the Knight Templers by among other things offering up human sacrifices to them every now and then when the time is right! This murderous as well as idiotic idea on Nigel's part takes root when after getting the two together Nigel murders Susan Mueller, Kate Maberly, and frames her boyfriend Alex for it! Now in a real pickle Alex is forced to do Nigel's bidding in that he's got something, Susan's murder,over his head. Meanwhile later in the movie Nigel is caught in bed with his mom Helen Colbie,Cathryn Bradshaw, by his both shocked and outraged dad John Colbie,David Threfall,and in all the confusion the two, mom & Dad, end up dead both blasted by the family shotgun with poor Nigel at age 17 left orphaned!***SPOILERS*** The conclusion to this sad and crazy story has Nigel get himself shot by his good and reluctant friend Alex on the railroad tracks outside the prep school that the two attended! By now with no real evidence against him murdering Nigel Alex is set free and to do as he pleases. Which turns out to continue the dead Nigel's insane and evil plan to consummate his mock marriage with the late Susam Muller who's been dead & buried for over a year! In the end Nigel got his wish in getting the by now totally deranged Alex to see things his way even if he's not around to see them himself!

dazski I've ticked the 'may contain spoilers' box to cover myself but to be honest there is very little I could do to spoil this film any further than the makers already have.....This fill is dull – but it doesn't have the decency to admit it! Full of cliché, it has the vibe of an A-level film project, or a 2 part drama for ITV2.With Relgious connections, Knights Templars, implied/eluded homo-eroticism, and the oh so obvious twist its as if somebody got a little over excited when creating/writing this.I'm a Toni Collete fan – she's a great actress, however she was sorely misused in this dull piece of predictability and her part could have been played by almost anyone.Please stop suggesting this is destined for cult status - its not.Really, its not.

JonathanDent48 The film starts out very simple, a dead body and a kid as the most likely suspect. Toni Collette plays a psychologist trying to get an idea of whether or not he is guilty. The rest of the film is told in flashback, starting with Alex, the kid suspected, being introduced to the world of Nigel, his new roommate, who believes that he is something more than what people see him as, and he wonders if Alex may be a part of it. From there, the events leading up to Nigel's death is unraveled, leading up to the final climatic ending.This film tries to do what several successful films have done in the past by posing a semi-twist ending. Unfortunately it falls a little short of getting there, and becoming more of an open-ended film to think about, open to your own interpretation.

gradyharp 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