History Film / MindHunters

* TheTeam: JD is TheLeader, Sara is TheHeart and Gabe is the SixthRanger. Elsewhere Bobby is TheAce, Nicole shares TheSmartGuy role with him and also TheBigGuy with Vince. Lucas claims to be the best driver and Rafe isn't really developed enough to slot into a role.

* GutturalGrowler: J.D.

* AchillesHeel: [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] and overdone ad nauseum. The plot of the movie rests on a FBI profiler killer killing other FBI profilers by presenting them in situations where they will have to fall for traps he's devised, because said trap is their weakness. [[spoiler: In the end, he dies by getting shot in the head, causing LL Cool J's character to quip "I guess we found out his weakness. Bullets."]]. However, the killer's true Achilles Heel is [[spoiler: time. Everything has to happen on his schedule.]]

* AttentionWhore: [[spoiler: Lucas killed his parents and continues his rampage over nothing more than infamy. Hell, the only real thing he was troubled by in his parents' murder is the cops not thinking he was the one who did it, unaware that the kid they handed gum to was the AxCrazy {{Sociopath}} behind the familicide.]]

** [[spoiler: J.D.]] getting his lower extremities practically flash frozen couldn't have felt that great. It fact he even exclaims that it's burning him.

* AxCrazy: [[spoiler: Lucas Harper is one twisted son of a bitch, if his affinity for killing people both ForTheEvulz and in a way to prove his "superiority". His profile even says he's ''addicted to killing.'']]

** Nicole's gun becomes a literal example. [[spoiler: Vince's]] gun, on the other hand...

* ClockDiscrepancy: The heroine re-sets the clock so the villain will misjudge when he's due to strike again. This also played on the villain's obsession with precise timing. She knew that he would reset the clock to the correct time, [[spoiler: which would cause the phosphorous powder she coated it with to get on his hands]], allowing him to be exposed by a special light.
* ClosedCircle: After [[spoiler:the boat gets blown up.]]

** Anyone familiar with [[spoiler:Christian Slater's]] usual roles would not expect him to get taken out at all, let alone be the first to die.
** Ditto for [[spoiler: Creator/ValKilmer]]'s character, who doesn't much screen time either, dies offscreen, and gets unceremoniously posed like a puppet afterward.

* ForcedToWatch: [[spoiler: The killer ties Harris and forced him to watch his recruits die on the monitors before torturing him and killing him.]]

* GambitRoulette: [[spoiler: How did the killer know they'd all decide to drink coffee, all at the same time, and all drink enough of it so they'd remain asleep for the same length of time (see OneDoseFitsAll below)? How did the killer know that Nicole would pass a cigarette machine and then give in to her craving? How did the killer know that JD or Bobby wouldn't simply get out of the way of their respective traps? etc., etc., etc.]]

** There's also [[spoiler: Nicole's decision to take the cigarettes despite the entire island being on giant death trap.]]

* ItGetsEasier: The killer compares killing to a drug - with each successive kill one builds up a tolerance, requiring ever more extreme acts of violence to achieve a "high".

* PoisonIsCorrosive: Invoked during the HollywoodAcid (see above) sequence. [[spoiler: The cigarette reveals its potency first by blistering Nicole's fingers, and then we see several drops from it burn through her boot-clad foot. Right before the horror ensues, we see the cig itself melting into the floor.]]
* PoorCommunicationKills: At the climax, after it seems like [[spoiler: Gabe]] has killed [[spoiler: Lucas]], he looks for Sara and calls her name in a really creepy tone. Then he finds her and says things like, "Guess we have answers now, don't we?" and, "I'm the profiler! You're the victim!" while roughing her up. [[spoiler: It's important to note that neither of them is the killer. And Lucas is still alive. This would be a good time to try working this out and working together. Granted, Gabe's conclusion that Sara is the killer after all is not entirely without merit.]]
* TheProfiler: Only Harris is an actual profiler, the rest are trainees. Also inverted - every person on the island is a profiler, and the murderer seems to know his victims quite well, enabling some particularly karmic deaths for the flawed criminologists.

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Attempted twice: First by the entire team after [[spoiler: J.D.]] is killed; tried later by Nicole. It doesn't work either time.

** JD represents Greed, with his desire to take the lead and be the best. [[spoiler: Were he not so desperate to take the lead and be the leader, he wouldn't have been the first victim]].
** Nicole represents Lust in the form of addiction - as she has recently tried to give up smoking. She's also sleeping with JD. [[spoiler: Her desire for cigarettes overcomes her common sense]].
** Vince represents a different sort of Sloth; being injured in the line of duty and left wheechair bound has caused him to be overly reliant on his gun. The trap with the water pipe banks on him not trusting anyone with it, which is moral laziness. [[spoiler: In this case he overcomes it and trusts Gabe]]. [[spoiler:It still comes back to bite him in the butt(or rather, the face) later.]]
** Rafe represents Gluttony in the form of his coffee addiction [[spoiler: which gives the killer an easy opportunity to poison everyone]].
** Bobby represents Pride, with his know-it-all attitude and desire to show off. [[spoiler: This gets him killed]].
** Lucas represents Wrath in the form of his addictive personality and competitive streak. [[spoiler: And y'know, being the killer]].
** Sarah represents Envy, as she faces not making profiler, which is listed as a possible motive for her being the killer. [[spoiler: In this case it's subverted with her]].

* TheSociopath: [[spoiler: Harper, having killed his parents when he was younger for attention, no less. He's then dedicated his life to killing others all for the sake of attention. Plus he's got a severe LackOfEmpathy, taking outright glee in torturing and killing his victims, as well as testing out his traps on animals before trying them on people.]]

* SlasherSmile: [[spoiler: Harper flashes quite a few demented ones after TheReveal.]]

* SpannerInTheWorks: [[spoiler: Gabe Jensen]]
* SpinningClockHands: Used briefly to show time's passage when everyone [[spoiler: is knocked out by the drugged coffee]]. As the camera is watching the clock, we don't get to see the killer's activities during this interlude.

* TooDumbToLive: When you're in the ''death house'', a place that is clearly booby-trapped that has already killed two people (and tried to kill more), under no circumstances do you pick up a random pack of cigarettes you find lying around. You also probably shouldn't be wandering around said death house alone, either, nor should you desert the only other people in the place, considering one of the people you're leaving behind is trying to kill you and knows where the next trap is. Whatever [[spoiler: Nicole's]] strong points are, GenreSavvy is definitely not one of them.

* VasquezAlwaysDies: [[spoiler:Nicole Willis is the tougher and more aggressive of the two women and she is killed off]].

-->'''Sarah:''' Then how could we have saved the girls at the old hotel?
-->'''Harris:''' You couldn't. They were dead no matter what you did.
-->'''Sarah:''' What's the point if we couldn't have saved them?
-->'''Harris:''' The point is [[ItGetsEasier to get used to it.]]

Not to be confused with ''Series/{{Mindhunter}}''.

* DaylightHorror: [[spoiler: J.D.]]'s death happens at day.