HYPNOTIC (2023) - Mark Reviews Movies

Hypnotic, Ketchup Entertainment

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Review by Mark Dujsik | May 11, 2023

What we see in Hypnotic isn't necessarily what's actually happening, but that's easy enough to figure out pretty early in co-writer/director Robert Rodriguez's underwhelming thriller. The initial premise, which imagines something akin to a modern-day film noir with a science-fiction twist for a hook, holds some promise. It's clear, though, that Rodriguez and co-screenwriter Max Borenstein have no interest in developing that particular premise, because they have other, far-less-convincing ideas in mind for this story.

Without wasting any time, the script introduces us to Danny Rourke (Ben Affleck), a city police detective who's reeling with guilt and regret over the abduction and subsequent disappearance of his daughter. The man who took her from a park while Danny's attention was momentarily distracted claims to have no memory of kidnapping the girl, and the guy also says he has no idea where she or her remains could be.

It's fine enough as the background for a bigger idea, and this movie at least has one in the form of Dellrayne (William Fichtner), a criminal mastermind who's capable of creating a major distraction, enlisting a series of insiders, and robbing a bank without so much as lifting a finger. The man possesses the power of telepathy, which this movie doesn't believe sounds quite different enough, so it invents the idea of a "hypnotic," a person who possesses the power of telepathy but with a term that probably sounded cooler or good-enough upon coming up with it in the first draft of the script.

Fichtner is quietly menacing here in a way that makes one appreciate how much a properly seasoned character actor can bring to such a shallow villain—especially one who only exists to showcase the story's main gimmick. The gimmick itself is intriguing, too, although there are plenty of questions about the apparent rules and limitations of the hypnotic powers on display here. Most of those questions are answered with the shrug of the limitations being necessary for the plot to move forward and the rules needing to be established so that the third act makes some sense (One of the more amusing rules is that, apparently, some good, off-screen sex can undo the power of suggestion).

They're explained by Diana (Alice Braga), another hypnotic whom Danny finds while investigating Dellrayne's most recent robbery. For some reason, the guy was after a safe deposit box in a bank—a box that mysteriously contained a photo of Danny's daughter. He's convinced Dellrayne is behind the abduction and seeks Diana's help to find the villain.

Mostly, she exists here to explain the workings of a hypnotic's power and offer little hints about Danny, the back story of some secret government agency that tried to harness these powers, and the actual plot behind the apparent plot. As soon as Diana starts talking about these things (after she and Danny have to go on the run and don some laughably unpersuasive, wholly unnecessary disguises), Rodriguez and Borenstein basically set us up to do most of the deduction of the central mystery here on our own. The plot itself, with its bland chases and dumps of exposition and a couple of tricks in which Dellrayne can make the world appear as it isn't, begs us to do so, because it's primarily interested in getting us to the big twist.

As a result, it's not much of one, and indeed, the whole notion betrays some of what could have worked and reveals far too many weaknesses here. Without saying too much about the specifics of how things turn, the look of the movie, which is filled with at least some sense of gritty ambiance as a detective thriller, becomes as bland as the plotting. Meanwhile, the effect of those hypnotic powers are technically expanded, as we realize just how potent they can be, but mostly undermined for an assortment of reasons—mainly because any kind of rationale behind the powers disappears for some trickery but also because one threatening figure is replaced by dozens with the very unthreatening appearance of bellhops.

Affleck's performance opens up as events unfolds, but that only makes us realize how intentionally hindered the actor has been by the constraints of Rodriguez's game. There's an especially funny moment in which a major discovery for Danny almost looks like a case of gastric distress—although that might just be on account of how emotionally constipated the character comes across for most of the movie.

Nothing is as it seems with Hypnotic. That's mostly pertinent, though, in a how the movie's simple, slightly clever premise gradually and finally collapses.

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