Hypnotic cannot be said to feel like a film by competent director Robert Rodriguez, responsible for Sin City, neither does it look like deserving of caliber the star Ben Affleck. The film runs out of plots about superhero hypnotists. A science fiction thriller that lacks both science and thrilling experience is what Hypnotic remains at its best. The story’s many twists and turns never seem weighty enough because of its poor quality script and they are not gonzo in the proper sense because this movie is too tame in terms of style. Although this feature lacks a gripping ever-shifting point of view, maybe you can wonder if any sort of hypnosis was involved in deciding to release this picture since it is the most mid-2000s “direct to video” looking flick that has hit cinemas all year.
Like Blade Runner, Ridley Scott’s sci-fi classic about implanted memories, Hypnotic begins with an extreme close up on Ben Affleck’s iris as if paying homage to Blade Runner. The role that Affleck portrays is Danny Rourke who is a grieving Austin police detective attending therapy after his daughter disappeared mysteriously several years ago (and his marriage broke down as well). Soon after responding to a report of armed robbery being carried out in one bank branch, there are things happening without any reasonable explanations: such as Dellrayne (William Fichtner) whose motive is unknown but starts using few words making crowds join him in looting; think Killgrave from Jessica Jones only he does not wear nice suits and has more “street magicanry”. This kind of concept looks more suitable for broadcast television programming but Fichtner plays his part quite chilling.
Even stranger still is how Dellrayne intends the targeted object for Rourke putting another mysterious clue together. Then comes an adventure involving thought transferal, bad government entities and some hints pertaining to bending physics that have been seen in many other better science fiction stories.
The way the heist crumbs are followed by Affleck to fortune teller Diana Cruz (Alice Braga) is just a set up for her to seriously try and act as if she believes that there is another group called Division that teaches Dellrayne, etc. how to manipulate others through nightmares. The acting of Braga and Affleck is good enough for the moments, but their words have become very repetitive and meaningless thus taking most of the screen time reserved for scenes where actual action should have taken place.
Several shots attempt to present Inception-like bending streets and shifting architecture but this lasts only a few shots long enough to make it into the trailer. At the same time, other concepts such as self-mind-wipes, subsequent breadcrumb chases ala Paycheck starring him also show up briefly before being abandoned or buried beneath piles of stuff constantly moved by never-ending rug-pulls that alter Hypnotic’s apparent premise. That happens every couple of scenes during stands at one hour throughout its total running time which adds up to 93 minutes.
In theory, adding all these twists upon twists can be shocking and disorienting; after all, it is a movie about illusions. However, this cinematic idea fails to hold water since there is no film that takes advantage of such limitless possibilities as infrequently as this one does. Very rarely do Rodriguez and his co-writer Max Borenstein (of Godzilla vs Kong fame) effectively establish the story with ideas that are either emotionally convincing enough to make their subversion have any long-term effect or eerie enough for one to question them. These exact frames could be found in an average episode of CBS’ procedural crime drama.
Moreover, instead of gonzo violence usually associated with Rodriguez’s works, he uses rather stereotyped genres of acting that defined the action movies which made him a star by turning their narrative structure around, fast cuts and lack of bloodiness reduce each chase and gunfight into very passive actions without real oomph.
Affleck may bring a requisite amount of brooding to his role, but Rourke ends up being a fundamentally broken concept for a protagonist – a man who acts out exclusively on the flimsiest incarnation of “where’s my daughter?!?” If he was sure she was alive it wouldn’t make his beliefs stronger or incinerate his anger even hotter. He probably only just questions the claim; Hypnotic dearly wants a clean break from any emotional journey so its plot may proceed uninterrupted.
Affleck and Braga aren’t so much “too good” for the material as they are too finely honed for something that should be looser and more melodramatic. J.D Pardo playing Nicks Rourke’s buddy at Austin PD is likely one actor who perfectly fits his role though not many others seem know what sort movie they are in. In other words, Hypnotic looks cheap and sickly due to Rodriguez’s poorly applied yellow wash, just like any low-budget crime thriller that relies on momentum more than the characters’ emotions. And if Hypnotic is a bit of a misnomer for a movie with such broad conception, Pardo, who has been on various CSI franchises and joined the Fast family in F9 is therefore designed to be comfortable enough for functional dialogue that advances the plot (“Mind control? Bank accounts? Sounds more like my ex-wife,” he notes). Yet, his part is short.
Conclusion
Hypnotic’s constant bait-and-switching makes it opaque not only about Ben Affleck’s journey as a grieving father but also about how its convoluted plot works. In principle, its writing can be flimsy as one might argue it could be excused since it is after all a story full of narrative trickery; however, this remains entirely baffling throughout too much of its run time—too long to create any meaningful connections or smart pre-planting because they are subversive twists at all. It can often be difficult to differentiate between what was intentional and what just came out of haphazard filmmaking and this hardly helps achieve the aim of an immersive ride that seems to have been intended. It’s almost as waiting in line at the amusement park for an hour while animatronic characters explain why you’re going to get on the rollercoaster soon only there isn’t even a ride at end.
Also Read: Boogeyman Review
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