Hypnotic

 This review may contain spoilers!

 

Hypnotic is a science-fiction thriller which sees Detective Danny Rourke pulled into a mystery around a series of bank robberies conducted by an individual with special powers of hypnosis. I genuinely thought the film laid out the concept very succintly in the first opening minutes. I was invested in the tilt as the plot took a turn for the strange and supernatural, watching our main antagonists start to unwind our protagonist's sense of control was wonderful. Equally as we geared towards the last act and were dealt the first major plot twist I was actually impressed; not necessarily because it was unpredictable, but I enjoyed how both Danny and Diana were redefined by the moment.

 

William Fichtner, who played Dellrayne, is a fantastic antagonist for this feature; Fichtner seems almost unearthly in his manner and so crafts the menace of this mysterious psychological element well. Hala Finley, who played Minnie, might just be one of the best aspects of the final act; Finley doesn't share the screen with Affleck for long but their reunion scene is one of the most emotional moments of the feature.

 

However, the best performance came from Ben Affleck, who played Danny Rourke. The choice here wasn't a very difficult one to make, Affleck is the draw for this movie. If the name being plastered on everything isn't Robert Rodriguez then it's probably Ben Affleck. Danny is introduced as a haunted individual, this is someone who feels like they have equally failed and lost everything. Yet I liked how Affleck bent a sort of serious determination and capability into the character, it's a very intuitive role who is clearly someone better at unravelling mystery than most. I loved watching Affleck portray those moments where he couldn't reconcile doing a bad thing for the right reasons or the moments where he felt entirely manipulated by the Hypnotics case. There is a scene in this film where we think Affleck might be under the sway of someone else and about to kill someone; watching that grapple of murderous intent and fear of self marked it as a great scene. However, there is a key moment in the film in which Danny gains power and control back over his world, and gets to watch with true satisfaction as he takes back his identity and Affleck made the final act work because of that. Overall this is a film with a poor script and supporting cast so there is no surprise that such a veteran performer leads it so well.

 

It is very clear from the beginning when the massive block letter title plug of the director's name is given more of a spotlight than the actual film title that this is going to be something disappointing. A lot of Hypnotic tries to dress itself as a very intelligent and surprising sort of thriller but lots of extreme close ups on eyes and out of sequence cutting coupled with copious flashback scenes would've made this a C-lister in the early 2000s. Ironically, right back when Robert Rodriguez peaked as a filmmaker. The lead protagonist is extremely dull, a family man who failed at being a family man and a detective who is so damn good that even the hypnotic psychics can't break his stupendous brain. The fact this film pushes the two leads together so awkwardly and then has them engage in really boring to watch action or chase scenes for most of the first hour is disappointing. But not more disappointing than the fact I had to listen to monologue length exposition pieces about what Hypnotics are, how they can create false realities, the Division that used to control them, Dellrayne's whole life story, the psychic barriers explanation and an entire secret project with an innocuous codename. The film kept pushing us to understand the 'big mystery' while also really being quite heavy handed with how Danny Rourke ties into things. For that reason alone the plot twists in the final act come as no surprise, I just wish I didn't have to watch them replay so much of the first act to really have the point driven home. The film also shoehorns in another unnecessary and predictable plot twist to craft a happily ever after ending that really doesn't feel deserved at all. The way characters connect in this film barely feel reasonable and there is often massive disconnect in chemistry between roles. I despise products like this that give a really empty plot to us as if it is some kind of glorious meal and then push a sequel bait tease as their way to cap off the ending. 

 

The cinematography within this film is just further proof that Robert Rodriguez hasn't progressed as a film director, the feature has a number of shots that should frame the same and bleed into one another well and they never do. This mismatched sense of capturing big moments or just plain blocky wides for the big action sequences just feels like there wasn't much money nor creativity put into this thing. The special effects are somehow even worse, there is a clear desire that it wants to be a bit like Inception or Doctor Strange with some of those effects visuals, but the way they bleed into a scene feels so fake and poorly rendered that it becomes difficult to take these moments seriously. The lack of talent on display by Rebel Rodriguez as the composer behind this films score is pretty noteworthy, the music is really forgettable and just feels vaguely the same in how it felivers a flat tone across this piece. 

Alice Braga, who played Diana Cruz, keeps getting attached to some really awful leads roles; the real problem I had with Braga's role is her constant monotonous delivery of exposition heavy dialogue. JD Pardo, who played Nicks, is the detective partner of Affleck in this and I don't think the two could have less chemistry with one another; Pardo is the type of performer who looks like he is always trying to make the audience believe it rather than find his way to inhabiting the role. Dayo Okeniyi, who played River, decides the best way to portray the quirky character is just to go over the top and deliver his lines rapidly; I think Okeniyi decided to play with this role but in doing so he was quite aimless and it showed. Jeff Fahey and Sandy Avila, who played Carl and Thelma respectively, were really jarring new roles introduced far too late in the game; these characters were actually important to the story of our leads but had no time to actually make the mark that was clearly required of them. Jackie Earle Haley, who played Jeremiah, has a major scene in this film that fails to evoke the talent this performer is capable of; slumping Haley in a chair to rattle off exposition was boring and didn't up the stakes of the feature at all.

It has been a long time since Robert Rodriguez has created something genuinely good and this is one of his very worst yet. I would give Hypnotic a 3.5/10.