Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
When a devious plot separates CIA agent Peter Sandza from his son, Robin, the distraught father manages to see through the ruse. Taken because of his psychic abilities, Robin is being held by Ben Childress, who is studying people with supernatural powers in hopes of developing their talents as weapons. Soon Peter pairs up with Gillian, a teen who has telekinesis, to find and rescue Robin.
Brian De Palma's follow-up to Carrie is a stylish but narratively messy psychic-thriller. The plot is convoluted and struggles to balance its espionage and supernatural elements coherently. Acting is serviceable with Kirk Douglas bringing energy and Amy Irving doing solid work, though the ensemble is uneven. De Palma's cinematography has moments of flair — slow-motion sequences and split diopter shots — but feels less inspired than his best work. The film is fairly derivative of the psychic-powers subgenre it helped establish, borrowing heavily from its own predecessor. However, the finale — one of cinema's most audaciously excessive exploding-body climaxes — is genuinely memorable and earns a well-above-average Ending score for sheer bravado.