Hypnotic
What attempts to be a cerebral thriller loses its mind halfway through.
All in the mind: Ben Affleck (pictured: Ionie Nieves)
And it all started so promisingly. Seldom has a thriller with so much early promise turned on its audience with such disregard for its integrity. There is a great movie in here – the application of hypnosis to pull off criminal acts – but this is not it. Daniel Leonard Rourke (Ben Affleck) wakes from a trance in the office of an occupational therapist (Nikki Dixon). He has just re-visited the worst episode of his life: when his seven-year-old daughter disappeared in a playground under his supervision – and who has never been seen again. He explains that now only his work keeps him sane. As it happens, he works in the Austin Police Department, and they have caught the main suspect, although the latter has no memory of what he did with Rourke’s daughter. Cut to another day at work, where Rourke is investigating a mysterious pattern of bank robberies in Texas occurring in the space of one week. Something’s just not adding up and the evidence points to inside help. Joining a stakeout in front of another large bank, Rourke watches as a man seems to exert total mind control over whoever he talks to…
The act of hypnotism is a fascinating if questionable art, depending on the susceptibility of the subject – or victim. Mind control was explored with chilling effect in The Manchurian Candidate films and is due for a reboot in another form or other. The dramatic potential is brain-watering, but only if treated with a degree of plausibility and intelligence. However, Hypnotic has other things on its mind and after a riveting start it jumps off the chart. By the time Rourke hooks up with Diana Cruz (Alice Braga), a tarot card reader and, apparently, “a two-bit con artist”, matters are still pretty interesting. She talks of “hypnotic constructs” and how “hypnotics” can log onto a person’s “psychic bandwidth” to manipulate their actions. But then it all goes pear-shaped.
On television, Derren Brown has shown how easy (ostensibly) it is to persuade a complete stranger to hand over their valuables. But what if one were not as benign at Mr Brown? Hypnotic, having cheated its audience once, then goes on to cheat and cheat again until we no longer believe what we’re seeing or care for anybody or anything. Initially, Ben Affleck gives a reasonable impression of a grieving parent but in the later scenes adopts an air of bemusement and confusion as if he’s suddenly remembered the future stages of the script. The rest of a respectable cast does the best it can under the circumstances, although they’re probably wishing that they could wake up from the nightmare dreamed up by the writer-director-producer-editor-cinematographer Robert Rodriguez. The 2021 Netflix thriller Hypnotic was better.
JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Cast: Ben Affleck, Alice Braga, J.D. Pardo, Hala Finley, Dayo Okeniyi, Jeff Fahey, Zane Holtz, Jackie Earle Haley, William Fichtner, Ruben Caballero, Ionie Nieves, Sandy Avila, Nikki Dixon.
Dir Robert Rodriguez, Pro Robert Rodriguez, Mark Gill, Guy Botham, Lisa Ellzey, Jeff Robinov, John Graham and Racer Max, Screenplay Robert Rodriguez and Max Borenstein, Ph Robert Rodriguez and Pablo Berron, Pro Des Caylah Eddleblute and Steve Joyner, Ed Robert Rodriguez, Music Rebel Rodriguez and John Debney, Costumes Nina Proctor, Sound Angelo Palazzo.
Solstice Studios/Ingenious Media/Studio 8/Double R Productions-Warner Bros.
93 mins. USA. 2023. US Rel: 12 May 2023. UK Rel: 26 May 2023. Cert. 15.
