Hypnotic

Director: Robert Rodriguez

Cast: Ben Affleck, Alice Braga, William Fichtner, Hala Finley

Genre:  Mystery/Thriller

 

 

By the very first impression when I saw the trailer, I was touched & and very much excited to watch the movie because the trailer seemed to be quite unique. The idea of hypnotizing people and the ability to make them do whatever you want sounded crazy to me. The movie with cast like Ben Affleck, William Fichtner, and Alice Braga would compel anyone to experience the movie at least once.

 

The movie Hypnotic introduces us to the reticent Austin police detective Danny Rourke (Affleck), who is returning to work after taking a leave of absence due to his daughter's kidnapping (and assumed death). Rourke's marriage was destroyed by the crime, which happened while he was babysitting Minnie, and he was left searching for explanations. As a result of the unsolved mystery surrounding the child's body, he decides that returning to work is the only way to maintain his sanity.

 

In the course of looking into his first case, a bank heist, he discovers that there are persons known as "hypnotics" who have Jedi-like mind-control abilities and can implant "constructs" in the minds of their victims. They become pawns in that situation and may inadvertently commit crimes. Danny learns that he is at least somewhat immune to the effects of hypnotics after joining forces with strip mall psychic Diana Cruz (Alice Braga). The strongest and most dangerous of the hypnotics, Lev Dell Rayne (William Fichtner, whose career is riddled with these kinds of characters), is shortly pursued by him and Diana. And maybe connected to Minnie's disappearance.

The problem with the movie is it makes you feel sitting on a roller coaster. In 1.5 hour's run time, there are so many twists and turns. You don’t get even stable from one twist and there is another one waiting for you. When this happens in a movie you don’t care about the plot anymore. Such movies lose their essence and you would not feel like watching them again. Moreover, it has got an uncanny resemblance to Christopher Nolan’s movie “Inception”. I would rate this movie really high if it had been released before 2010. That could be the only case where you can say oh I like the idea of the movie! It is really unique! But nobody is going to buy this because you have already watched a movie like “Inception”.

 

The only positive aspect of the movie is its cast. One can go for the movie because of the cast (Ben Affleck) the actor did his role according to the character. The main lead and the other characters' performance try hard to fill up the hole. Directors like Robert Rodriguez have to think seriously that a preexisted plot with meaningless, unnecessary, multiple twists would not be sufficient enough to earn value in the movie market.

 

- Sajid Ali

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