Mind Blown is a 2016 American science fiction thriller film that was directed by Christian Sesma and features starts like Jessica Uberuaga, Michael Marinaccio and Luke Goss. Brought together by a high-tech military organization, a group of telekinetic agree to use their powers for the good of humanity. But, when they discover that they’ve been tricked into destroying cities and killing innocent civilians, one team member decides to take matters into their own hands.
Imagine the ability to create an earthquake, summon tornadoes or raise a firestorm. But now, imagine that power being under the control of the United States Military. Sensing foul play and after gaining that understanding that their powers are being used for negative effects against humanity, Project Mind Blown team member Jennifer Gaines escapes the base and is on the hunt for a survivor of one of the disasters that she feels that she may have been involved with. Using her powers, Jennifer discovers that the survivor, who is named Adam, join forces and ultimately hope to bring an end to the foul play that’s been at hand. While Adam is barely in touch with his telekinetic super-abilities, he and the other team members work together to reach their common goal, using their abilities like summoning earthquakes, floods, tornados and firestorms and the dynamic duo must uncover their true potential if they wish to ultimately dismantle the project and uncover the secrets that lie beneath the growing disasters before it ends up being too late.
Originally making its debut on the Syfy channel, “Mind Blown” has received similar criticism as other television films that have made their premier on the popular science fiction television channel. Often hailed as low-budget action flicks or as some have called it, a more serious play on the cheesiness that accompanies films like this, you are sure in for one strange ride with this made for TV movie.
The Film Itself (3/5):
After doing my usual round of preliminary research for Mind Blown, I wasn’t sure of what to expect; aside from the obvious feeling that this synopsis has been done countless times in the past. While the film itself felt considerably predictable throughout, it does present the story in a nice enough manner that allows for those who are unfamiliar with other films of this nature to enjoy the story at hand. There really isn’t a lot in terms of production value with this movie, but then again, films that make their premier on the Syfy channel often do not.
Picture Quality (3.75/5):
Mind Blown is a film that presents itself with characters making use of telekinetic powers, however visually speaking, appear to be somewhat more supernatural. That said, the overall appearance of the special effects are definitely cheaply done and obviously fake; whereas, with other films that have been produced in a similar manner have offered more of a natural appearance for similar visuals. That said, the film being only made available on DVD does look really well done for a film released in this format. As my wife and I watched through, we were able to visually see and understand everything as the movie played onward. However, I would’ve rather seen this film get a Blu-ray release to offer a significantly cleaner view into the world of this special government program and their fight to eventually do good with their abilities.
Audio Quality (4/5):
For being a DVD release, Mind Blown does everything that it can do within the restrictions of the technology at offering an all out immersive experience for viewers. Packaged with a Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track, the DVD does an absolutely fantastic job at making use of all of the available channels within the format and technology. While it is unfortunate that the only aspect of the audio track that stood out was the films musical score and its use of appropriation for a given sequence as it progressed, the overall audio quality was clean and clear and my wife and I were able to hear everything, both dialogue and ambient sounds, without having to manually adjust our volume levels to compensate for lower levels. And with something like that, especially for a DVD release, I can’t complain all that too much.
The Packaging (2.5/5):
Mind Blown comes packaged in your standard single-disc DVD amaray case. Within that case is the standard DVD copy of the film, the disc featuring no artwork whatsoever aside from the standard text that is used to differentiate the film from the others within your collection. There are no digital copy redemption pamphlets included with this release, however a slipcover has been made available during the initial pressing of this release.
Special Features:
Unfortunately, there are no special features included on the DVD release of Mind Blown. As a result of this, there is no rating assigned to this section.
Technical Specs:
Video
Codec: MPEG-2
Original Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Audio
English: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles
English SDH, Spanish
Runtime
Original Film: 88 minutes
Final Thoughts:
Overall, the experience with Mind Blown wasn’t too bad. While the film itself was very predictable throughout, I found the story to be decently done and maintained very well throughout. A premise like this something that I’d personally like to see gain traction like the Sharknado films have done, allowing the production crew to expand the universe. The overall visual and audible presentation of this release were really good, despite this release only being made available on DVD. Sadly, there are no additional features made available on this release. As much as I would like to see this film get a Blu-ray release, this is something that I honestly doubt will happen. I can only recommend picking this title up if you, like myself, are a collector of Syfy films and that you enjoy the subject matter at hand. It will be available for immediate pickup on October 24.
Note: This DVD was sent to us for review. This has not affected our judgement or editorial process in any way. Please contact us if you have any questions regarding this process.