Rent Hypnotic on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: Robert Rodriguez and Max Borenstein (screenplay by), Robert Rodriguez (story by)
Directed by: Robert Rodriguez
Starring: Ben Affleck, Alice Braga, JD Pardo, Jeff Fahey, Jackie Earle Haley, William Fichtner
Rated: R
Watch the trailer
Plot
A detective investigates a mystery involving his missing daughter and a secret government program.
Verdict
It's complicated or layered depending on how much you like it. It's a wild movie that keeps getting more ridiculous but eventually provides some explanations. It's not good, but it's entertaining enough while you try to figure out the mystery. The difficulty is that this misleads you just to surprise you later.
Skip it.
Review
A mid-tier Affleck thriller? Sure, why not. We might get The Accountant or Triple Frontier, though it's possible we get Live By Night or Deep Water.
This starts with cop Danny Rourke (Ben Affleck) in therapy talking about the day his daughter was abducted. Then he's cleared for duty without any paperwork, he ignores all orders while on a stakeout, and the suspect can hypnotize people. What is this? This is wild on all accounts and I'm only ten minutes in. Being told it's late afternoon is enough to hypnotize the teller and have her leave her station, know the right safe deposit box, and crash a truck. That statement did a lot of work. This is zany b-movie nonsense, but it is kind of fun.
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| Ben Affleck plays Danny Rourke |
Of course hypnotism doesn't work on Danny. Big surprise. Danny ends up seeing a fortune teller who provides a surprisingly long and detailed exposition dump.
I still don't understand how a few words can give people so much instruction. Is it telepathy? This movie is some Inception level nonsense. The X-files had an episode with a character with a similar effect on people, though that was much more grounded and believable.
Rourke is a natural, willing his power into existence during a time of need and developing mental powers.
This movie is silly. It keeps escalating with Rourke's wife being an agent, the psychic helping him throughout the movie for no real reason. The psychic also has all the connections he needs, and she develops romantic feelings. I began to wonder if this is a movie where we just don't know what's real or imagined.
Just as am wondering whether we'll ever get an explanation, we do. It answers my questions, but it doesn't make this movie any better. The explanation for what's going on addresses all of my complaints about how silly this is, but this movie is too far fetched. It's an idea that isn't fully developed.
We have hypnotics with their special powers, and their purpose is to hassle Rourke. This movie is a trip, adding layers to mask and confuse the lack of thought. It's an Inception knock off that's intentionally misleading just so it can pull the rug out from under you later.
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