A girl in high school starts hearing voices and is committed... Until a mysterious government recruiter finds her and teaches her that the voices are other people's thoughts and trains her to control and focus her gifts, for the greater good.
The good: The acting is very good across the board, including Rawat as the girl suffering from her gifts, and Flanigan as her NSA partner who's life was controlled until now by picture-perfect memory and logic. The way people's random thoughts bubble up or are provoked and used for missions is good and fun, and the creative use of her telepathic abilities is nicely done as well.
The movie seems surprisingly good, until you actually think about it. The writing flaws (spoilers):
In addition, the movie feels like a TV pilot whether they intended it as one or not. She suddenly turns from a sweet normal girl into a way-too-full-of-herself girl-hero at the end which promises more heroics to come.
The good: The acting is very good across the board, including Rawat as the girl suffering from her gifts, and Flanigan as her NSA partner who's life was controlled until now by picture-perfect memory and logic. The way people's random thoughts bubble up or are provoked and used for missions is good and fun, and the creative use of her telepathic abilities is nicely done as well.
The movie seems surprisingly good, until you actually think about it. The writing flaws (spoilers):
- They figured she was a schizo because she hears voices but she never realized she was hearing real thoughts from the people around her? How does that work? How can you not tell the difference between thoughts from the people you are interacting with in front of you, and random voices?
- Eight years in a mental hospital and she never developed any control techniques beyond reading a book? Constant noise in her head and her brain didn't develop any filters? And suddenly the recruiting guy says 'focus' and it all goes away in a second? And now that she is with him, she picks up on new tricks with full control within seconds?
- The terrorist plan doesn't make any sense if you think about it. The decoy is way too elaborate, their plan depends on the agency finding out about the decoy, and yet the agency never even knew about the decoy without her abilities. And why did they try to kill the agents if they were following the decoy plan as planned? And why was the guy in prison thinking about going to his ultrasound weapon if it was a decoy to begin with? And why would the Ukrainian woman reveal to her that she knows nothing to clue her in that it was a decoy? And so on...
- How did they know he would be released just in time to get the gun from the water fountain and also walk him by the fountain to begin with?
- Why would she risk the young neighbour's life? Couldn't she make up a simpler lie like: 'They gave me the information at the office'? And why did the Ukrainian stop and walk back without killing the neighbour?
In addition, the movie feels like a TV pilot whether they intended it as one or not. She suddenly turns from a sweet normal girl into a way-too-full-of-herself girl-hero at the end which promises more heroics to come.