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There’s a lot of empty space in “ Hypnotic ,” a doofy, though never boring sci-fi thriller about a Texas cop, played by Ben Affleck , who stumbles upon a conspiracy of mind-controlling crooks. Or he seems to stumble upon them. Reality buckles and warps around our troubled hero, whose daughter has already gone missing before the movie starts.

Now Detective Daniel Rourke (Affleck) alternates between chasing after and running away from an elusive mind-controlling “hypnotic,” played by William Fichtner . Fichtner’s baddy is the prime (and only) suspect in a weird bank heist that leaves Rourke dazed and clutching at a Polaroid of his daughter Minnie ( Hala Finley ). Some mysterious handwriting on the photo tells Rourke to “Find Lev Dell Rayne.”

Wide-angle photography also helps viewers to distinguish between “reality” as Rourke knows it and the “ Inception ”-style delirium that warps his (and our) perspective, often shot with spherical camera lenses. If you squint hard enough at “Hypnotic,” past the obvious twists and embarrassing dialogue, you might see flashes of a deeper story, though only if you’re a fan of multihyphenate filmmaker Robert Rodriguez .

Rodriguez (“ Alita: Battle Angel ,” “ Four Rooms ”) directed, scripted, and edited “Hypnotic” in Austin, Texas, after three production breaks and an insurance lawsuit. Austin was not Rodriguez or his production’s first choice of location (Los Angeles), nor was it their second (Toronto). Still, it’s hard to imagine how Rodriguez could have shot “Hypnotic” anywhere but Austin, especially because he’s filmed most of his projects in Austin during his 30 years as a filmmaker. Moreover, when “Hypnotic” is more about ambiance than story, it seems to reflect a crisis of imagination: what happened to the weird and vibrant Austin of Rodriguez’s memory? Did it ever really exist?

I don’t mean to over-sell the personal qualities that often skirt the periphery of Rourke’s quest for answers, but “Hypnotic” does try to lull viewers into a suggestive frame of mind, primarily by over-stating the facts of Rourke’s investigation. He teams up with Diana Cruz ( Alice Braga ), a “dime store psychic” (his words) who ferries Rourke around Austin’s shadier corners. Rodriguez’s fans might recognize a few key locations, like the Bone Shack barbecue spot from “Planet Terror,” where truckers and Texas Rangers refuel with breakfast tacos. Other Austin locations are only familiar because of the character actors lurking inside, like Jeff Fahey and Jackie Earle Haley . There’s also an Alex Jones-type paranoiac ( Dayo Okeniyi ) hiding in a lavishly decorated bunker. He can see fine, but still wears an eyepatch that he shifts from eye to eye to avoid detection by security cameras, because of their facial recognition technology, right?

The prefab weird-ness of this secret Austin, the city that Rourke never thought to investigate, inevitably proves to be as substantial as the movie’s canned and by-now-stale remixing of the genre tics and tropes that Christopher Nolan previously claimed in signature movies like “ Memento ,” “Inception,” and “ Tenet .” “Hypnotic” isn’t as polished nor as thoughtful as Nolan’s trendsetters. It’s also often distractingly stiff in its over-inflated visual compositions and robotic dialogue. A game cast, led by the thanklessly charming Affleck, does not add much value to this bald caper.

Still, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy watching Rodriguez clumsily apply his signature fetishes to “Hypnotic,” a movie where Alice Braga offers Ben Affleck a glass of clear moonshine whiskey and an unnamed Texas Ranger, with a white cowboy hat and matching suit, takes his coffee “black ‘n sludgy.” If you’re a Rodriguez fan, you might be charmed by these clumsy and perhaps over-confident personal touches. His humor is certainly corny enough to be an acquired taste, like when River, Okeniyi’s paranoid hacker, offers Rourke some “homemade Mountain Dew” after showing him his disturbed mind corkboard, which connects everything to hypnotics, from Brexit to the Pope. “My own brew, all organic,” River boasts about his DIY Dew. Rourke still declines.

Fans will recognize and appreciate the well-worn pleasures of this lightly seasoned genre exercise. Others will understandably laugh at Ben Affleck when he says things like, “Hypnotics did all this?!” Rodriguez also tends to linger on shots and story beats a little too long, presumably to ensure distracted viewers cannot miss overt cues. It’s hard, though not impossible, to be seduced given these trying conditions.

Look, the dramatic stakes could be higher, but that’s part of the fun with “Hypnotic,” a bombastic, pseudo-mindbending chase movie where A-listers mosey into an underwhelming twist. Your enjoyment depends on how badly you want to watch Rodriguez and the gang struggle to pull a well-beaten rug out from under you. “Hypnotic” may not be clever or energetic enough to keep your mind from wandering, but it is charming in its own stumbling way.

In theaters now .

Simon Abrams

Simon Abrams is a native New Yorker and freelance film critic whose work has been featured in  The New York Times ,  Vanity Fair ,  The Village Voice,  and elsewhere.

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Hypnotic (2023)

Rated R for violence.

Ben Affleck as Daniel Rourke

Alice Braga as Diana Cruz

William Fichtner as Liv Del Rayne

J. D. Pardo

Hala Finley as Dominique Rourke

Dayo Okeniyi

Jackie Earle Haley

Kelly Frye as Vivian

Melanie Hawkins as Emily

Derek Russo as Tiny

Bonnie Discepolo

• Robert Rodriguez

Writer (story by)

• Max Borenstein

Cinematographer

• Pablo Berron
• Rebel Rodriguez

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‘Hypnotic’ Review: The Doctor Is Dangerous

In Netflix’s new thriller, a depressed woman gets more than she bargained for when she starts seeing a charismatic hypnotherapist.

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By Lena Wilson

In “Hypnotic,” Jenn (Kate Siegel) is a software engineer who has been dealing with depression and loss. She tells her new hypnotherapist, Dr. Meade (Jason O’Mara), that she’d like to “pass” on his specialized form of treatment. Still, he cajoles her into a session, and when she comes back from her hypnosis, he seems eerily pleased.

“I think you might be more open to suggestibility than you imagine,” he tells her.

Though this happens within the first 20 minutes of the film, directed by Suzanne Coote and Matt Angel and written by Richard D’Ovidio, it is hardly the first red flag against Dr. Meade. He has already courted Jenn at a house party for one of his other clients, allowed someone else to schedule Jenn’s first appointment for her without her consent, and set his therapy sessions in an office that makes the Death Star look like Disneyland. We get it: This guy is bad news, and Jenn is in trouble.

While the resulting cat-and-mouse dynamic is predictable, particularly if you’ve ever watched a Lifetime movie, “Hypnotic” takes its cartoonishness to admirable heights. Not only is Dr. Meade an unethical therapist, he is basically a supervillain, his nefarious practices blurring the line between hypnosis and outright mind control. Drop a lovable lead into that mix, and — as long as you don’t take anything too seriously — you’ve got a nice little popcorn flick.

And Jenn is certainly lovable. She is self-destructive but self-aware — she wants to sleep more, drink less, be happy. When she first sees Dr. Meade’s hostile office space, she jokingly calls it “cozy.” Siegel, who viewers might know from other Netflix chillers like “The Haunting of Hill House” and “Hush,” is notably more winsome here than in past roles. Her accessibility keeps the story from nose-diving into self-seriousness, a necessity in a film that tries to explain its villain’s own impossible powers by name-dropping the Central Intelligence Agency’s MK-Ultra experiments.

As Dr. Meade terrorizes Jenn and her allies, including her former fiancé (Jaime M. Callica), her best friend (Lucie Guest) and a shrewd detective (Dulé Hill), “Hypnotic” tiptoes on the line between enjoyable and ridiculous. It’s akin to — but definitely nimbler than — “Sightless,” another disempowered-woman thriller that was on Netflix earlier this year.

The twists in “Hypnotic” may not be brilliant, but they are abundant, making for the sort of straight-to-streaming treat best enjoyed on a couch, with company who will laugh with you and let you yell at the screen.

Hypnotic Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 28 minutes. Watch on Netflix.

Lena Wilson is a project manager at The New York Times and a freelance writer covering film, TV, technology and lesbian culture. More about Lena Wilson

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‘Hypnotic’ Review: For His Next Trick, Robert Rodriguez Will Pull Ben Affleck out of a Funk

Boasting imagination and pure filmmaking ingenuity, the 'El Mariachi' director's new mind-bender (screened as a work in progress at SXSW) reminds what fun it is to watch the 'Argo' star in action.

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Don’t trust anything you see or hear in “ Hypnotic ,” a noggin-jogging thriller with more twists than Minnie’s tightly braided ponytail. Who’s Minnie? She’s the girl who goes missing in the movie’s opening scene when police detective dad Daniel Rourke ( Ben Affleck ) looks away for a second. Or does she? Depending how your mind works, there’s a chance Minnie doesn’t even exist. The perp was caught, but Minnie’s body was never found — which is a clue that this wasn’t a typical disappearance.

One minute, Rourke’s chasing a bank robber with the power to bend people’s brains, the next he’s on the run from the very same psychic. Keeping up is like working out in a gym where gravity keeps changing. Just when things start to get heavy, the floor drops out from under you.

This much is fairly constant for most of the film, which premiered at SXSW as a “work in progress”: Affleck plays a shallow film noir archetype, the damaged detective, leaning more on his chiseled cheekbones than on deep character work, which is just as well, since the only psychology audiences need from Rourke is (a) that he misses Minnie and (b) that he’s a pit bull on any case, willing to ignore orders and endanger himself for whatever cause he believes in. Rodriguez and co-writer Max Borenstein (who penned the last few “Godzilla” movies) make that clear in the first reel, as he watches an impossible bank robbery unfold from a surveillance van.

The less you know going in, the more fun the movie will be. Hypnotics wear scarlet red coats, while the film’s more subtly clad femme fatale is a psychic named Diana Cruz (Alice Braga), who has special powers as well. Rourke’s right not to trust her at first, although Fichtner’s character — who might be this Dellrayne fellow — seems determined to kill her and Rourke, so sticking with her seems the better move for the time being. Fueled by a score from Rodriguez’s son Rebel, “Hypnotic” races along fast enough that audiences don’t have much time to dwell on the not-inconsiderable inconsistencies, though Rodriguez approaches the whole endeavor with a pure sense of filmmaking-as-play that won this critic over.

At a certain point, Rourke discovers (spoiler alert in this paragraph) that some of his experiences are “hypnotic constructs” — which means people aren’t who they appear to be, and entire situations that he (and we) have witnessed might have been no more than the power of suggestion. He might even be able to do these tricks as well, which puts “Hypnotic” in a very fun place (for most, and frustrating for others) where pretty much anything can happen. In some scenes, the horizon lifts and folds over on itself, à la “Inception.” In another, the camera cranes out to reveal that Rodriguez has repurposed a back alley from “Alita: Battle Angel,” and that everything’s a film set, though why that is and what it all means is best discovered on-screen.

The movie’s one-word title is a hat tip to Hitchcock, and the movie’s MacGuffin (that is, the thing everyone wants, while audiences amuse themselves with its pursuit) is an all-powerful hypnotic called “Domino.” The goal is first to find the puzzle pieces and then to assemble them into something resembling a coherent picture. While that plot engine is spinning overtime, Rodriguez returns to the matter of Minnie, whom Rourke never forgot about, and whose fate brings everything else into focus for a climactic surprise — namely, that for all the pyrotechnics and rug pulls, “Hypnotic” has mesmerized us into caring about these characters.

Rodriguez knows better than practically any filmmaker out there that movies are a form of hypnosis. It’s all sleight of hand, designed to make us care about a story and characters that don’t exist, so why not embrace that spirit in the execution? Most of the time, “Hypnotic” looks great (embracing the widescreen format, Rodriguez shared cinematography duties with Pablo Berron, who lit the atmospheric scissors scene), but occasionally, you can see the seams — which is fine, since it’s all a construct anyway. And just when you think the ride is over, along comes a last surprise in the credits, suggesting where a sequel might pick up.

Reviewed at SXSW (Narrative Spotlight), March 12, 2023. Running time: 89 MIN.

• Production: A Ketchup Entertainment release of a Solstice Studios, Ingenious, Studio 8 presentation of a Double R production. Producers: Jeff Robinov, John Graham, Racer Max Rodriguez, Robert Rodriguez, Guy Botham, Lisa Ellzey, Mark Gill. Executive prodcuers: Crystal Bourbeau, Vincent Bruzzese, Christelle Conan, Walter Josten, Christopher Milburn, Ben Ormand, James Portolese, Joshua Throne, Peter Touche, Jordan Wagner, Gareth West, Maitreya Yasuda. Co-producer: Justin Moritt. Co-executive producers: Ryan Basford, Court Coursey, Caylee Cowan.
• Crew: Director: Robert Rodriguez. Screenplay: Robert Rodriguez, Max Borenstein; story: Robert Rodriguez. Camera: Robert Rodriguez, Pablo Berron. Editor: Robert Rodriguez. Music: Rebel Rodriguez.
• With: Ben Affleck, Alice Braga, William Fichtner, JD Pardo, Jeff Fahey, Sandy Avila, Hala Finley, Ionie Nieves, Nikki Dixon.

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Hypnotic review: Robert Rodriguez directs Ben Affleck in a pleasant Christopher Nolan homage

For director known for ambitious highs like sin city and alita: battle angel , it's a surprisingly normal but welcome departure.

Hypnotic may be Robert Rodriguez’s most conventional movie since 1998's The Faculty , and that’s not at all a bad thing. While his ambition can lead him to delirious highs like Sin City and Alita: Battle Angel , the writer-director-excess-multitasker is also extremely prone to over-rushed, half-assitude like Machete Kills , or near-endless failed attempts to make another kids’ movie as great as the first Spy Kids . His proposed remakes of Heavy Metal , Fire And Ice , and Red Sonja may remain in development hell, but instead he’s done the most surprising thing that he could. And that’s to make a star-driven cop/heist/chase movie with a sci-fi twist. It’s his version of a Christopher Nolan original, except for the fact that it costs far less and everything gets explained by the end.

The movie begins, like the TV show Lost , with an opening eye. A pen taps rhythmically, like a metronome. Ben Affleck is in therapy. He’s Rourke, a cop attempting to prove he’s fit for duty again following the disappearance—likely abduction—of his daughter. Ready or not, the events of the day suck him in regardless, as his partner Nicks (J.D. Pardo) just got a mysterious tip about a bank that’s about to be robbed of exactly one safe deposit box. Since that would follow a recent pattern of similar crimes, it seems legit.

Just like every audience member who’s ever seen a cop movie before, Rourke almost immediately fingers William Fichtner as a primary suspect the moment the latter walks onscreen. But he can’t bust him without proof, and all Fichtner’s mysterious character seems to be doing is walking up to people and making post-hypnotic suggestions. They’re powerless to stop from acting on his command, and he seems to have beautifully choreographed every person he meets to thwart Rourke on a large scale. But not before Rourke finds a clue that his daughter may be involved, and his opponent’s name is apparently Dellrayne.

The less said about what ensues, the better, beyond the fact that Rourke teams up with a former associate of Dellrayne’s named Diana (Alice Braga), who moonlights as a scammy faux-psychic. Mysteries unfold, and like Inception and Tenet , the story has something of a symmetrical structure. Anyone familiar with twisty thrillers may see a thing or two coming, but probably not the full picture.

Rodriguez isn’t generally a filmmaker big on ambiguity; nor is his co-writer Max Borenstein, who’s responsible for the recent Godzilla and King Kong movies. Much to the likely relief of many, they don’t just throw out an obvious red herring and call it a day. Once it’s established that the primary antagonist can forcibly hypnotize anyone, nothing we see is entirely trustworthy. Even as he plays around with this conceit, however, Rodriguez appears to mostly play by his own rules. And he throws in a few visual effects, though they aren’t really needed, just to show he can do the Nolan scenery folding trick, too. Perhaps as counterbalance, he lets at least one scene of pure exposition in a drab setting go on longer than it ought.

Hypnotic isn’t just refreshingly straightforward for Rodriguez, but for Ben Affleck too. Traditionally, the actor has fared less well in generic leading-man parts than in character roles. Here, growling out the last vestiges of his Batman voice, he convincingly comes off like a guy who’s seen some stuff and come out maybe slightly the rougher for it. Never much of a convincing action hero back when Michael Bay was pushing him to the moon as one, Affleck today falls more naturally into the Danny Glover-ish “gettin’ too old for this shit” space. Which, of course, means he’s not actually too old for it.

On a deeper level, one could consider the hypnosis at work in the story a metaphor for the filmmaking process itself, and especially Rodriguez’s particular process of working with his family on his own virtual stages. Like Dellrayne, he’s doing it to put images into your head, and immerse you in a new reality. Watch it alone, and that reality will even be uniquely yours for a while. Watch it with an audience, and others may see things in different ways. Actors might play multiple parts. Sometimes, as with the insufferable We Can Be Heroes , the man behind the curtain will be the villain in your story. With Hypnotic , he earns a bit of redemption. Let’s just all agree to forget that mid-credits sequel tease. For now, anyway.

( Hypnotic arrives in theaters on May 12, 2023)

In Theaters and Digital

Hypnotic (2023) - movie review.

In 2002, inspired by a restoration of Hitchcock ’s 1958 classic Vertigo , filmmaker Robert Rodriguez set out to craft his own Hitchcockian thriller. Rodriguez does Hitchcock? Count me in!

Some 20 years later, that passion project has come to fruition in the form of Hypnotic , a twisty-turney thriller that stars Ben Affleck as Danny Rourke, an Austin-based detective determined to find his missing daughter with the help of a local psychic Diana Cruz ( Alice Braga ).

While the film suggests an attempt to capture the essence of his earlier works by promising an intriguing cat-and-mouse game with hypnotherapy, shady characters, and reality-bending bank robberies in its DNA, in reality it ends up drowning in a sea of convoluted twists and turns that ultimately lead to an absolute mind-bending mess.

While on one of his stakeouts following a spate of bank robberies in Houston and Amarillo, Rourke suspects an inside job involving the theft of a single safe deposit box in an Austin bank. Close observation reveals an increasingly suspicious figure (played perfectly by William Fichtner ) who may be at the heart of the robberies.

Thinking he may be onto a lead in the case, Rourke unexpectedly breaks the stakeout and enters the bank, beating the mysterious figure to the vault and its contents that prove to be far more valuable than anything they could have imagined. As the robbery unfolds, all hell breaks loose in gunfire and chaos as we see the mysterious figure seemingly manipulate the actions of everyone around him. Everyone but Rourke.

Who is this mystery man, what exactly are his powers, and why does Rourke seem to be unaffected by them? With the help of the psychic Cruz, Rourke navigates the perilous shadow world in which nothing is as it seems.

One of the biggest issues with Hypnotic is something that also plagues many superhero movies; the lack of a tether to reality. Say what you will about that notion, but although Rodriguez , who also co-writes the film, has proven himself capable of creating fantastical worlds that exist in various states of reality, Hypnotic takes it to a whole new level of implausibility. Sure, reality – or the lack thereof – serves a critical function here, but the plot becomes so tangled and far-fetched that it becomes difficult to fully invest in the story.

Furthermore, the mind-bending, shape-shifting elements of the film, around which the entire plot is built, are way too forced and contrived. As executed, the attempts to delve into the depths of the human psyche and explore the power of hypnosis come across as shallow and insufficient. Instead of provoking thought and challenging our perception, these elements simply add to the confusion and contribute to the overall sense of disbelief.

Even the performances from the usually reliable Affleck and Braga ( The Suicide Squad ), fail to salvage the film. Affleck 's protagonist is annoyingly one dimensional and fails to elicit any emotional connection with the audience. Braga , despite her talent, is given little to work with and ends up underutilized despite her ample screen time.

Ultimately, Hypnotic falls way short of its potential. While it shows flashes of Rodriguez 's earlier, more successful works, it fails to capture any of the magic that made those films special. The lack of grounding in reality, the convoluted plot, and the forced mind-bending elements all contribute to a disappointing and frustrating viewer experience. Certainly not the steroid-fueled Hitchcockian thriller Rodriguez was going for. You’ll forget this one before you hit the parking lot.

MPAA Rating: R for violence. Runtime: 93 mins Director : Robert Rodriguez Writer: Robert Rodriguez; Max Borenstein Cast: Ben Affleck; Alice Braga; JD Pardo Genre : Mystery | Thriller Tagline: Control is an illusion. Memorable Movie Quote: Theatrical Distributor: Ketchup Entertainment Official Site: https://www.hypnoticthemovie.com/ Release Date: May 14, 2023 DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: Synopsis : A detective investigates a mystery involving his missing daughter and a secret government program.

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Movie Review – Hypnotic (2023)

June 26, 2023 by Robert Kojder

Hypnotic , 2023.

Directed by Robert Rodriguez. Starring Ben Affleck, Alice Braga, William Fichtner, J. D. Pardo, Jeff Fahey, Hala Finley, Dayo Okeniyi, Jackie Earle Haley, Kelly Frye, Melanie Hawkins, Derek Russo, Zane Holtz, Ruben Javier Caballero, Ryan Ryusaki, Sandy Avila, Ionie Olivia Nieves, Corina Calderon, Nikki Dixon, and Bonnie Discepolo.

A detective investigates a mystery involving his missing daughter and a secret government program.

Hypnotic is what happens when a filmmaker – in this case, writer/director Robert Rodriguez – known for style and almost no substance, let alone over substance, attempts to craft a mindbending thriller that, more than anything, feels like he binged Christopher Nolan’s filmography and tried to cram as many of those elements into his hypnosis centered action mystery.

A more direct assessment is simply saying that Hypnotic is lousy; it’s a true mess that is so determined to fake viewers out and pull the floorboards from underneath them that by the time the film reaches its third act, the only question worth asking is how anyone is supposed to care about any of this considering that every grand reveal somehow undercuts a sense of danger, logic, coherence, and fun.

It would be one thing if those twists were bonkers enough to the degree that all of the above doesn’t matter. However, nearly everything in Hypnotic is derivative of something better. What’s more frustrating is that Robert Rodriguez doesn’t even seem interested in putting his stylistic flair on the proceedings. Of all the things I could rip on Hypnotic for, that might be the most disappointing aspect; I wouldn’t even believe someone who told me Robert Rodriguez wrote (okay, Max Borenstein was also a co-writer) and directed this before being made aware of the fact.

The thriller stars Ben Affleck as Detective Danny Rourke (delivering a performance as confused as everyone watching), investigating a string of bank robberies connected to the kidnapping of his young daughter (Hala Finley). The man responsible for snatching her in broad daylight at the park has no recollection of ever doing so. Meanwhile, the shady government agent Dellrayne (a somewhat intimidating William Fichtner, which is about the most praise I can give anything here) appears to be hypnotizing others to either enter the bank vaults or cause distractions (a woman starts undressing and walks into traffic for just one of many unintentionally hilarious moments).

The puzzle brings Rourke to fortune-teller Diana Cruz (Alice Braga), who explains that telepathy is merely reading minds, whereas hypnosis involves staring at someone and unlocking someone with them (either through emotions or trauma) and then being able to manipulate them into doing one’s bidding. Cinematically, it amounts to goofy stares and characters unnaturally suddenly complying (also for reasons that will make your eyes roll into the back of your skull). Aside from one day leaning into some gnarly gore, Robert Rodriguez seems actively disinterested in giving these mechanics visual excitement or even a sense of humor. Nevertheless, they team up as she explains to Rourke that he is a dangerous agent in charge of an advanced mind control program. Throughout all this, Rourke also discovers he knows the power of hypnosis.

Robert Rodriguez does attempt to stylize hypnotizing by presenting it as an alternate reality construct, but the dark and muddled visuals are unpleasant to look at, while the creative art direction itself reminds one of a bootleg Mirror Dimension from Doctor Strange or a Christopher Nolan movie without a moderate budget. Still, that would be forgivable if the plot had something going for it beyond recycled clichés, predictability, actors who seemed to care about the material (to be fair, they were probably lost during shooting), or a single memorable bombastic set piece.

There is also no way to recommend Hypnotic for people to simply see the twists since they aren’t that clever and, more than anything, somehow water down whatever small reason there is to care about anything. The real power of hypnosis comes from Robert Rodriguez being able to get this movie made.

Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★  / Movie: ★ ★

Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check  here  for new reviews, follow my  Twitter  or  Letterboxd , or email me at [email protected]

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Review: The ridiculous ‘Hypnotic’ allows Robert Rodriguez to play in his cinematic sandbox

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There’s something strange about “Hypnotic,” the new action thriller from writer-director Robert Rodriguez . There’s a sheen of inauthenticity to the trailer for this film, which stars Ben Affleck as a detective working a bank robbery while wracked with guilt over the kidnapping of his young daughter. Indeed, for the first 30 minutes or so of “Hypnotic,” something rings false — it feels like Rodriguez sloppily executing a sketchy exercise in the tropes and aesthetics of a detective noir. But then you realize that’s by design.

Because things aren’t what they seem in “Hypnotic,” as Det. Danny Rourke (Affleck) discovers when he descends down the rabbit hole of this inexplicable bank robbery, one that ends with him finding a Polaroid of his missing daughter in a safe deposit box. He follows the signs to a local psychic, Diana Cruz ( Alice Braga ), who unloads a baffling spiel about the “hypnotic constructs” weaponized by a mysterious man at the scene of the robbery whom they’re calling Dellrayne (William Fichtner), based on an inscription found on the Polaroid.

Thus unfolds Rodriguez’s “Hypnotic,” a mashup of “Inception,” “The Truman Show,” “Rashomon” and “X-Men.” After a few years directing TV and music videos, the film feels like Rodriguez getting back to his genre and indie roots, while working in his backyard of Austin, Texas, serving as director of photography (with Pablo Berron), editor and producer alongside his writing and directing duties, as he frequently does.

Review: If you could take a movie to the beach, ‘Book Club: The Next Chapter’ might be it

Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen and Mary Steenburgen return in this sequel to the 2018 hit, this time reading Paulo Coelho’s “The Alchemist” and heading to Italy for wine-soaked fun.

May 10, 2023

Some three decades after his breakout feature, “El Mariachi,” Rodriguez is still making films with the same run-and-gun indie ethos, and “Hypnotic” is indeed a refreshing reminder of that, as well as of his innate facility with cinematic style. “Hypnotic” sees Rodriguez playing with discrete aesthetics for the different spaces of this story, shooting on location and utilizing distinct lighting schemes and color-grading, demonstrating his ability with camera movements and shot compositions that signify a true filmmaker behind the lens.

But then there’s the matter of the script, co-written with Max Borenstein. The writing can only be described as complete mumbo-jumbo — there’s so much explaining, truly reams of exposition, and yet not nearly enough. Poor Braga is left to rattle off absolute nonsense regarding a secret government program to develop “hypnotic constructs” and the psychically gifted people being turned into weapons. And yet, there is little attention paid to the emotional underpinning of the story that would make us care enough about these people, and without that, it all feels so flimsy. The story is insanely, and impossibly, twisty, extending even after the credits have started to roll (please, no “Hypnotic 2”).

Affleck also seems completely at loose ends here. Perhaps he just wanted to go play in Rodriguez’s sandbox for a bit, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but his performance is utterly inert. He employs his gravelly Batman voice to mutter the noir-ish one-liners given to the grieving, grizzled, hollow-cheeked Det. Rourke. He’s not a man of action, but rather reaction, haplessly buffeted by the forces around him, expressionless, arms akimbo, standing around like a character in “The Sims” — which should be a tell as to which way the wind blows in “Hypnotic.”

As a film fan, you have to respect the continued indie spirit with which Rodriguez works, grinding out these projects outside of the traditional Hollywood system and forging his own path in the industry. It’s fun to see him color in new shades of film genre, but the script and performances in “Hypnotic” are too laughably absurd to take seriously.

Walsh is a Tribune News Service film critic.

Rating: R, for violence Running time: 1 hour, 32 minutes Playing: Starts May 12 in general release

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Hypnotic [2023] – Movie Review (2/5)

Posted by Karina "ScreamQueen" Adelgaard | May 11, 2023 | 4 minutes

HYPNOTIC (2023) is a new mystery thriller starring Ben Affleck. The runtime is at 93 minutes which might not be optimal. The story moves very quickly and really isn’t very elegant. In fact, I was a bit shocked by this. Read our full Hypnotic movie review here!

HYPNOTIC (2023) is a new mystery thriller starring Ben Affleck. He plays a classic broody guy with a huge chip on his shoulders and a Batman-voice. With a runtime of 93 minutes, the story has a lot of ground to cover and doesn’t work very well. It’s all quite “paint by numbers” with plenty of twists but no wild surprises.

ALSO READ Our review of the Netflix movie HYPNOTIC from 2021 >

There’s even an end-credit scene that could lead you to believe a sequel is in the works. Well, if this first movie had worked better, I would be all for it. As it stands now, I’m bound to forget it within a week or so. I was actually a bit shocked by how off the overall production quality was. And no, I don’t feel the twists can excuse any of it!

Continue reading our Hypnotic movie review below. Out in theaters from May 12, 2023.

A simple story made complex

There are quite a few twists along the short runtime of just around an hour and a half. I won’t reveal any of these twists here, but I will say that you can probably guess some of them. Also, while I did like the actual twists, I didn’t feel they were utilized very well here.

The actual story is very simple so that obviously makes the short runtime seem like a good choice. So far, so good. And then comes all the twists, but we’ll get to that.

We meet the Austin detective Danny Rourke (Ben Affleck) who is determined to find his missing daughter. However, as he tries to go back to work, he finds himself spiraling down a rabbit hole.

Everything get’s much worse when he’s investigating a series of reality-bending bank robberies. With the help of the gifted psychic, Diana Cruz (Alice Braga), Detective Rourke tries to hunt down the one man he believes can help find his daughter.

The cast of  Hypnotic

The absolute star of Hypnotic is Ben Affleck ( Deep Water ). He’s the kind of actor that has done lots of interesting movies and also quite a lot of subpar movies. This is not one of his better performances but it’s hard to tell if this is intentional. I feel like he’s playing this character exactly as if he was Bruce Wayne in a Batman movie.

In fact, even his voice sounds as if he’s portraying that iconic character. It’s strange to me, but – as already mentioned – it may very well be intentional. I just don’t see the point if this is the case!

Aside from Ben Affleck, the actors in this cast deliver quite good performances. In particular, I found Alice Braga ( The New Mutants ) delivered a very strong performance. So did William Fichtner ( Crash ), JD Pardo ( Mayans M.C. ), Jeff Fahey ( The Long Night ), and Jackie Earle Haley ( Alita ). However, many of them are only in the movie for a few scenes.

And yet, they still made a bigger and better impression than Ben Affleck.

Watch Hypnotic in movie theaters now – later on VOD!

This new action, mystery, thriller was directed by Robert Rodriguez who also co-wrote the screenplay with Max Borenstein. It’s all based on a story by Robert Rodriguez, who also edited the movie while his son, Rebel Rodriguez, has done the music for the film.

In other words,  Hypnotic  is very much a Robert Rodriguez movie. It just doesn’t feel like a very new movie from him. As in, this one feels strangely dated. Like an action movie that could’ve been made in the 1990s.

I can’t quite put my finger on why this didn’t work as well as it could have. However, I can say that the special effects felt like a light version of what we’ve seen in movies such as Christopher Nolan ‘s Inception  or The Wachowski’s Matrix movies. Also, the storyline plays out like a mini-series that has been forced into a feature film.

Both of these specific elements – familiar visuals that aren’t as good as in other movies and a forced storyline – certainly can’t help a movie.

Hypnotic  is out in US theaters from May 12, 2023. From May 30, 2023, the movie will also be out on Digital.

Director: Robert Rodriguez Script: Robert Rodriguez, Max Borenstein Cast: Ben Affleck, Alice Braga, JD Pardo, Hala Finley, Dayo Okeniyi, Jeff Fahey, with Jackie Earle Haley and William Fichtner

Determined to find his missing daughter, Austin detective Danny Rourke instead finds himself spiraling down a rabbit hole while investigating a series of reality-bending bank robberies where he will ultimately call into question his most basic assumptions about everything and everyone in his world. Aided by Diana Cruz, an unnervingly gifted psychic, Rourke simultaneously pursues and is pursued by a lethal specter – the one man he believes holds the key to finding the missing girl – only to discover more than he ever bargained for.

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About The Author

Karina "ScreamQueen" Adelgaard

I write reviews and recaps on Heaven of Horror. And yes, it does happen that I find myself screaming, when watching a good horror movie. I love psychological horror, survival horror and kick-ass women. Also, I have a huge soft spot for a good horror-comedy. Oh yeah, and I absolutely HATE when animals are harmed in movies, so I will immediately think less of any movie, where animals are harmed for entertainment (even if the animals are just really good actors). Fortunately, horror doesn't use this nearly as much as comedy. And people assume horror lovers are the messed up ones. Go figure!

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• DVD & Streaming
• Comedy , Drama

Content Caution

In Theaters

• May 11, 2023
• Ben Affleck as Danny Rourke; Alice Braga as Diana Cruz; JD Pardo as Randy Nicks; Dayo Okeniyi as River; Jackie Earle Haley as Jeremiah; William Fichtner as Dell Rayne; Jeff Fahey as Carl; Zane Holtz as Trout; Ruben Javier Caballero as Watkins; Kelly Frye as Viv; Sandy Avila as Thelma; Ryan Ryusaki as Bong; Hala Finley as Minnie; Corina Calderon as Maria

Home Release Date

• May 30, 2023
• Robert Rodriguez

Distributor

• Ketchup Entertainment

Movie Review

Police Det. Danny Rourke only looked away for a second. But it was long enough: Minnie, his daughter, was gone.

They said that a man named Lyle Terry did it. But authorities detain and question Terry about Minnie’s whereabouts, he claims no recollection of kidnapping anyone. No one believes him. And sure, Rourke blames Terry. Ultimately, though, he blames himself for that mere moment he looked away.

The only thing Rourke can do is focus on what he can fix right now, which happens to involve a call to stakeout for an impending bank robbery. The hidden officers focus on an older man who seems to be the ringleader of the heist, a guy leading people who seem to be total strangers to each other in order pull off the crime.  

Soon, Rourke discovers that the man is after a safe deposit box. And all it contains is a photo of Rourke’s daughter with the phrase “Find Lev Dell Rayne” on it. He and two officers chase after the ringleader, cornering him on the roof of a parking garage. But the two officers hesitate when the man looks at them.

“What are you waiting for—cuff him!” Rourke yells.

“They’re no more conscious than Lyle Terry was,” the man says, before commanding the two officers to shoot one another to death, which they do without hesitation. And then, the man is gone, and Rourke is left with more questions than ever before.

Who is Lev Dell Rayne? How did the robber force complete strangers to do his bidding—even to the point of death?

And why is this man after his daughter?

Positive Elements

Ultimately, Rourke does most of what he does in order to discover where his kidnapped daughter is. Though he doesn’t understand much of what is happening, he continues to fight and search for answers, hoping that each clue will bring him back to his daughter. Some other people help Rourke in his pursuit, too.

Spiritual Elements

The movie suggests that there are many people known as hypnotics : individuals with the ability to “influence the brains of others,” forcing them to do whatever is commanded of them.

While this hypnotic ability is generally explained as little more than a genetic trait, there’s certainly a supernatural element that comes with their influence on others. For instance, hypnotized people can be commanded to kill themselves or others against their will, and we’re told that they can’t emerge from that hypnosis until they complete the command that’s been given to them.

We see a psychic who offers hypnosis and tarot card readings. She uses a crystal ball to perform a reading. Something is described as a “Holy Grail.”

Sexual Content

A woman is hypnotized to believe that it’s extremely hot outside, and she strips to her bra to try to cool down. A man and woman kiss, and the next scene implies that the two of them went quite further. Rourke is seen shirtless. A woman showers, but nothing is seen.

Violent Content

Many people die in Hypnotic , and some of those deaths are the reason for this film’s R rating.

A hypnotized man is commanded to kill someone. When he’s handcuffed to a bar, he tears at the cuffs to try to get to his target, and we see his hand being almost entirely severed in his attempt to get out of the handcuffs—all in gory detail. Another hypnotized man violently jams his head into a metal spike in order to kill himself.

Plenty of people are shot and killed—and some are hypnotized to kill themselves or others around them. Many headshots are shown, complete with a spray of blood and a camera shot focusing on the resulting wound. We also see people get hit by cars, and other cars crash into each other. One of those car accidents hurls a person through the windshield and onto the pavement. Someone blows up a couple people with a bomb.

Rourke’s daughter, Minnie, is kidnapped. Rourke fights against an angry mob of people, and one person is hit with a bat. Someone is tased.

Crude or Profane Language

The s-word is used five times. “H—” is uttered nearly 10 times. We also hear the occasional uses of “a–,” “b–ch,” “b–tard,” “p-ss” and “d–n.”

Drug and Alcohol Content

Rourke drinks moonshine.

Other Negative Elements

We hear a joke about urination.

Hypnotic is frustrating.

The film establishes an interesting premise: a criminal using hypnosis in order to compel others to assist him in his nefarious schemes. The problem, however, is that much like the victims in this story have no recollection of what happens following the crimes they’re induced to commit, Hypnotic likewise leaves its viewers feeling confused after a viewing, too.

Many plot twists occur during the film’s hour-and-a-half runtime. Almost all of them are explained away with a half-hearted, “Oh, what you saw earlier was actually hypnosis, so ignore that.” And though I’m sure the plot twists were supposed to make me feel as paranoid as anyone would be when dealing with someone who can influence your perception of reality, instead they left me frustrated and waiting for the next time the movie would tell me that what I just watched didn’t actually happen.

But that’s just the plot. I also need to mention the content-based issues. Most of those come from the film’s violent scenes, where we see plenty of hypnotized people forced to severely injure or kill themselves or others around them. Some of those deaths are quite gruesome. Swearing (primarily in the form of the s-word and “h—“) is also present, and there’s brief sexual content, too.

The hypnotics in the film might be able to compel others to do whatever they desire. But Hypnotic simply couldn’t hold my attention.

Kennedy Unthank

Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He doesn’t think the ending of Lost was “that bad.”

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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Hypnotic’ on Peacock, in Which Poor Ben Affleck is Trapped in a Miserable Sci-Fi Thriller

Where to stream:.

• Hypnotic (2023)

• Ben Affleck

Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Accountant’ on Netflix, with Ben Affleck Doing Math and Murder

‘the accountant 2:’ release date, plot, and everything we know about the ben affleck sequel, ‘the accountant’ ending explained: why does ben affleck send anna kendrick a painting, how did ‘the accountant’ become ben affleck’s biggest movie of the past decade.

Ben Affleck is in full mope-and-mutter mode in Hypnotic ( now streaming on Peacock ), a sci-fi thriller about high-powered mind-control agents who are part of a conspiracy to, I believe, make Affleck even more glum. The film is from director Robert Rodriguez, whose stock has been on a general decline since he jumped the Sharkboy 18 years ago, although he remains fairly prolific, perhaps because he doesn’t vet the pile of screenplays in his drawer for quality. Case in point, this ridiculous thing, which functions better as an Affleck meme factory than a comprehensible story. 

HYPNOTIC : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: It’s notable that the Wikipedia entry for Hypnotic warns us that its plot summary may be “too long or excessively detailed,” but that seems necessary considering how absurdly twist-riddled and overcomplicated this story is. I hereby pledge to do my best not to spoil anything or make it sound more interesting than it really is. We open in the midst of a therapy session where Austin Police Detective Danny Rourke (Affleck) goes over with the shrink how traumatized he is by that one fateful day when he briefly looked away from his daughter Minnie (Ionie Olivia) while she played in the park, and then never saw her again. He blames himself, and his marriage fell apart in the wake of the apparent abduction and likely murder. A suspect was lassoed but no body was ever found. The girl has been gone for a few years, and now Rourke never ever ever ever ever ever smiles – or poops, it seems.

The only thing Rourke does is throw himself into his work, and much to my dismay, we never get to see his apartment, which I imagine adheres to the Depressed Movie Detective Template and is therefore furniture-deficient but cluttered with Chinese-takeout boxes and half-empty beer bottles. All the more reason to just put in a zillion hours of work every week, I guess. He and his partner Nicks (J.D. Pardo) get a tip that a safe deposit box is about to get stolen, so they pile into a surveillance truck and stake out the bank. Rourke spots a gentleman outside the bank and immediately identifies him as suspicious, likely because he’s played by notable character actor William Fichtner with a big scar running down his face (and here I’d assert that it doesn’t take a big-shot cop to assume that notable character actor William Fichtner with a big scar running down his face is a suspicious gent). Rourke makes his way into the bank and beats notable character actor William Fichtner with a big scar running down his face to the safe deposit box, which contains only a polaroid of Minnie in it. The plot, it thicks!

Also notable about notable character actor William Fichtner with a big scar running down his face? He has the crazy ability to look at a person and manipulate their perception of reality. For example: He looks at a woman and says it’s really hot out here when it’s not really hot out here, and the next thing you know, she’s pulling off her top and cracking open a hydrant to cool off. As you’d imagine, this complicates things a bit. Rourke gets to investigatin’, and his investigatin’ leads him to a psychic-readings storefront where he meets Diana (Alice Braga), a Person Of Interest, and they barely introduce themselves to each other before notable character actor William Fichtner with a big scar running down his face mind-controls a dude to crash through the building on a motorcycle, which is just a terrible way to attempted-murder someone. This sets off a series of events that I won’t get into, because NO SPOILERS and all that, but I will say, after a while, it makes you feel like you’re trying to capture every member of a flock of wild geese as they flap and squawk and scatter in all directions.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Nothing like ripping off Inception 13 years after Inception , possibly with the hope that it’s been so long, nobody will notice that it’s a ripoff of Inception . But I noticed! I also noticed that it kinda rips off The Game , too!

Performance Worth Watching: If you watch Affleck closely while he’s being deadly serious, you might see him trying really hard not to laugh.  

Memorable Dialogue: Diana crafts a metaphor to describe where Rourke’s emotions exist in his brain: “Yours are locked inside a vault buried in a bunker 10 feet deep.”

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: Hypnotic is a classic cheater plot where the concept can be used to explain away whatever chintzy-ass lame-o random sorry excuse for a twist Rodriguez dreams up. See, this is a movie where Nothing Is As It Seems, where sometimes what a character sees is All inside His Head, narrative chicanery that’s sub-It Was All A Dream dreck. Give it to the movie for being unpredictable; take it away for being nonsensical and arbitrary, as if Rodriguez is making up the internal “rules” of this world as he goes along.

All this would be less maddening if the movie gave us more than a few nifty shots – Rodriguez’s directorial style seems to emphasize visual efficiency over crafting any memorable sequences, whether they’re rooted in action or character development. It doesn’t even lean into its absurdity, blowing an opportunity to pitch a tent in Campville and inspire a few hoots. And Affleck – well, he looks profoundly uncomfortable with the material, donning a mean mug that’s possibly the funniest in Hollywood, intentionally or otherwise. The film’s visual effects look incredibly cheap, especially considering its reported $65 million budget; for some sequences where the mind-controllers eff with reality, the edges of the screen warp and distort like we’re watching high-school a/v interns gussy up a public-access television broadcast. There’s a low-angle shot where Affleck concentrates really really hard in an attempt to use some super brain powers, and his forehead balloons until he looks like a bulb-headed Karloff Frankenstein. It was the only time Hypnotic inspired a response other than restless indifference – I laughed my ass off.

Our Call: I’m afraid Ben Affleck is more meme than man now. SKIP IT.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

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Common sense media reviewers.

Slick but shallow thriller has violence, peril, language.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Overcome hardships with help from friends and good

Jenn wants to get her life back on track, feel bet

The main character is a White woman, and the villa

Lots of fear, moments of peril, and some violence.

A man and a woman sleep together, but only the mor

Strong language includes a few instances of "f--ki

References to Uber and Apple iPhones.

Adults drink alcohol, wine, beer, whiskey.

Parents need to know that Hypnotic is a thriller about a depressed woman looking for help getting her life back on track. Having experienced a devastating loss, Jenn (Kate Siegel) agrees to see a therapist (Jason O'Mara) who specializes in hypnosis. But this therapist is not all that he seems. In this…

Positive Messages

Overcome hardships with help from friends and good therapy.

Positive Role Models

Jenn wants to get her life back on track, feel better, and forgive herself. She's open to therapy and help. Once she realizes her danger, she does seek help from a police officer, detective Wade Rollins. Wade is a hero, looks into Jenn's case, and even kind of saves the day. A woman therapist offers the kind of help Jenn should have received in the first place.

Diverse Representations

The main character is a White woman, and the villain is a White man, but both of the primary male significant others and the detective are Black men.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

Lots of fear, moments of peril, and some violence. Two men get into a fight, punches are thrown, and one attempts to choke the other. A man hits another man with a crowbar. A woman imagines being crushed to death by enclosing elevator walls. A woman stabs a man in the arm, slashes his side, and gets thrown off into a coffee table, hitting her head. A woman shoots a man in the torso, and police shoot a man in the chest multiple times until he's dead. A man is put into the hospital after eating a food he's allergic to. He chokes and passes out in the bathroom. A woman imagines a spider on her while driving, speeds into a red light and intersection, and gets hit by a semi-truck, killing her and her husband. A man dresses and applies make up to a woman without her consent. Many women black out, hurt others, and hurt themselves without wanting to. One woman imagines she's being choked to death. A woman shares her story of losing her child to stillbirth at 6 months old. Mention of suicide.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

A man and a woman sleep together, but only the morning after is shown with the woman still in bed under covers. The man left a note. A woman has sensual and romantic dreams about a man. One dream shows a man and a woman cuddling in a bed, half-naked (no nudity is shown). A woman shows cleavage while doing some yoga. Romantic relationships are discussed and referenced.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Strong language includes a few instances of "f--king," "s--t," and "bitch."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Drinking, drugs & smoking.

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Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Hypnotic is a thriller about a depressed woman looking for help getting her life back on track. Having experienced a devastating loss, Jenn ( Kate Siegel ) agrees to see a therapist ( Jason O'Mara ) who specializes in hypnosis. But this therapist is not all that he seems. In this occasionally violent movie, women are hypnotized and then do things they don't consent to (and have no recollection of). Women pass out, have strange dreams about the man hypnotizing them, and imagine things (often terrifying things) that aren't there. Expect a fair amount of psychological and physical violence, psychological torment, moments of fear and peril, women behaving and doing things without their consent, gun violence, and stories of murder. There are some gruesome deaths, fist fights, stabbings, chokings, and mention of suicide. A woman discusses losing her child to a stillbirth at 6 months old. Some scenes feature rhythmic and bright flashing lights. Sex and intimate relationships are briefly talked about and referenced, and adults drink wine, beer, and whiskey. Strong language includes a few instances of "f--king," "s--t," and "bitch." To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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What's the Story?

In HYPNOTIC, Jenn Tompson ( Kate Siegel ) is a smart but sad woman who is between jobs and relationships. Because of a traumatic incident from her recent past, Jenn is depressed and can't see a way out. But a friend suggests Jenn see her therapist, who did wonders for her. Jenn agrees, and immediately the therapist offers to hypnotize her. Jenn hesitates, but after just one session, she feels better. The only problem is that she can't remember anything. And what is up with her passing out? Her therapist tells her not to worry, but scary things start happening. How can she escape her predicament when she can't even control her own mind?

Is It Any Good?

The performances from this wonderful cast go well beyond the shallow script and illogical story. Slickly produced and coolly shot, Hypnotic is all surface. Without any depth to the characters or story, things seem to just happen, one after the next, rather than develop naturally. This lack of depth also makes the film feel like a connect-the-dots moving picture. No surprises here, no red herrings, subterfuge, no twists and turns. Further, the characters never complicate or go beyond their initial framework: sad/scared woman, best friend, scary doctor, good cop. Unfortunately, and despite Kate Siegel's great efforts otherwise, Jenn just never comes across as believable, likable, or interesting.

But most of this has to do with the writing of her character as completely useless, inept, and dumb. For example, comparing Jenn to Maddie from Hush (co-written by Siegel), provides stark contrast. While not a great movie either, at least Siegel's written work better realizes a woman protagonist who organically acts and reacts to a terrifying situation. It's shocking how little agency Jenn is given or has in this movie. When she does make a decision, it's almost always the wrong one, and often it's incredibly stupid, and particularly so because she is smart. But is she ? Yes, a male character does say Jenn is smart, but this seems to be the only evidence on offer, if, indeed, that itself even counts. For instance, once knowing how the villain triggers his victims, multiple women freely answer their phones, and always after clearly seeing "UNKNOWN CALLER" on their screens before answering. Further, once Jenn knows everything, not only does she go to "the cops" (quickly getting a meeting with a detective, who also, insanely, freely shares everything he knows about an old case that was never solved) successfully, she also (by herself and without protection or a plan) goes to the home of the villain to... who knows what the plan was. The villain is also a disappointment, primarily because of, again, his lack of depth. There's just not much to him.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about violence in thriller movies. Was the violence in Hypnotic realistic and believable? What was scarier or more thrilling: the physical violence or psychological violence?

What would you have done differently in Jenn's shoes?

Have you ever been hypnotized? If so, what was your experience like? If not, do you think you might ever try it? Why or why not?

Movie Details

• On DVD or streaming : October 27, 2021
• Cast : Kate Siegel , Jason O'Mara , Dule Hill , Lucie Guest
• Directors : Matt Angel , Suzanne Coote
• Inclusion Information : Female actors, Bisexual actors, Black actors
• Studio : Netflix
• Genre : Thriller
• Run time : 89 minutes
• MPAA rating : NR
• Last updated : February 17, 2023

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‘Ripley’ Review: Andrew Scott’s Striking Netflix Series Pulls Off Its Own ‘Talented’ Twist

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This “Ripley” is a different animal. Related Stories David Lynch Didn’t Want ‘Twin Peaks’ Murder Solved, but the Network ‘Had a Gun to Our Head’ to Deliver a Resolution 2024 Emmy Predictions: Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series

First introduced in Highsmith’s 1955 novel “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” the title character is perhaps best known today (with apologies to bibliophiles with fond memories of the books and cinephiles who prefer “The American Friend” or “Purple Noon”) from Anthony Minghella’s 1999 film of the same name. Matt Damon stars as an American sent to Italy to retrieve a wealthy Manhattanite’s wayward son, but once he steps foot on the Boot’s sandy shores, the posh life in front of him proves irresistible, as does the golden boy (a positively gleaming Jude Law) he’s meant to bring home. A life of boating and beaching (or is it just beach ?) tantalize our New York lonely boy, but that’s before his deceitful seeds are given too much sun, and a crime of passion pushes him to seize increasingly illicit opportunities in order to maintain the life he covets.

Enter Herbert Greenleaf, the owner of a Long Island shipping company and a twice-too-trusting fool. Mr. Greenleaf’s son, Dickie (Johnny Flynn), has been living in Italy off a trust now inaccessible to his father, which poses a problem because the young man is simply too… happy. Boating by day, drinking by night, taking week-long trips to Rome, Naples, or wherever the wind carries him, Dickie is making the most of the life his father afforded him. Well, dear old dad has decided it’s time for the son he named after his penis to get back to work: He wants Dickie to return to New York and put in a few hours behind a desk by the docks, so he can take over the business when Herbie retires, thus preserving the family riches well into the future.

OK, Herbie didn’t say all that , but it’s not far off from what Tom hears — if he hears anything beyond “a paid trip to Italy where a minted mark awaits.” The narrative tracks established beats from there, albeit with a few twists. Unlike other tellings, this Tom always plans on stealing Dickie’s identity. That’s just who he is: A lifetime of lawbreaking keeps him on constant lookout for potential scores (like ripping off an affluent American abroad), just as it removes him from the practical sensibilities of upright citizens. While palling around with his “old friend” Dickie, Tom is quick to spot a fellow charlatan, yet he can’t comprehend why his well-off buddy might balk at, say, working with the Italian mob. Such a disconnect from reality applies to his personal life, as well, which is all but nonexistent. Tom’s sexual preferences, which were boiling over in Minghella’s searingly sexy “Talented Mr. Ripley,” play a part here, but as the series rolls out, they’re far less of an incentive.

Zaillian’s meticulous telling emphasizes the significance of key details. Everything from a streak of blood in a bathtub to an old pair of shoes is given ample weight almost entirely through the camera’s eye. But the approach also acknowledges the impact of sheer luck. Lingering close-ups build tension around possible oversights that could get Ripley caught, but they also show that no matter how well prepared you are, the actions of others are often indeterminable. So it helps that, aside from one eye-rolling reach near the end of the season, the cat-and-mouse game plays out convincingly, and each character is written in a way that feels true; their behavior as believable as it needs to be for you to go along with Ripley’s improbable gambits.

The term “cinematic” gets tossed around a lot these days, but “Ripley” provides the ideal interpretation: visual storytelling with a purpose, aided greatly by its hypnotic pacing, impeccable style, and a morbid sense of humor. There’s a sequence where Ripley is desperate for a hard day to finally end (a hard day, mind you, for a moneyed murderer). Each time he thinks it’s over, there’s another task to endure: a talkative boat owner with one eye out for Tom, a window cleaner slamming his sopping loofah into the glass by Tom’s head, a train conductor checking for tickets. All of these events are captured sans dialogue, and the unique mixture of tension and laughs evoked from Tom’s prolonged suffering is a credit to Zaillian’s symphonic compositions. On a broad level, his set-ups are smart. Shot by shot, the execution is methodical. All together, the splendor — which is doubly apparent in how “Ripley” captures Italy, from sculptures and paintings to vistas and beyond — is undeniable.

Ultimately, “Ripley” is a story of survival made possible by ruthlessness, cunning, and the privilege presumptions can afford. How Tom wields his identity as a handsome, white, American man is key to him getting away with everything he does. Some of what separates “Ripley” from other adaptations is obvious: its inspirations in Italian neorealism, its eight-hour runtime, Scott’s desensitized stare, etc. But another stroke of individuality — the empty interiority of our main character — at first feels like a glaring absence before becoming an inspiring twist. Zaillian’s telling may not feel as intensely alive as Minghella’s, but the cool disposition he brings to Ripley’s cynical, self-serving brutality — all so he can lead an empty life that only looks rich — speaks to the story’s sneakiest interpretation: the dangers of the disillusioned white man. And isn’t that the most dangerous animal of all?

“Ripley” premieres Thursday, April 4 on Netflix . All eight episodes will be available at once.

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2021, Horror/Mystery & thriller, 1h 29m

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Hypnotic videos, hypnotic   photos.

A young woman seeking self-improvement enlists the help of a hypnotist.

Genre: Horror, Mystery & thriller

Original Language: English

Director: Matt Angel , Suzanne Coote

Producer: Michael J. Luisi

Writer: Richard D'Ovidio

Release Date (Streaming): Oct 27, 2021

Runtime: 1h 29m

Production Co: The Long Game

Sound Mix: Dolby Digital

Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

Cast & Crew

Kate Siegel

Jason O'Mara

Dr. Collin Meade

Lucie Guest

Jaime M. Callica

Darien Martin

Squad Leader

Luc Roderique

Suzanne Coote

Richard D'Ovidio

Screenwriter

Michael J. Luisi

John S. Bartley

Cinematographer

Roger Fires

Production Design

Brad Karsgaard

Art Director

Set Decoration

Ariana Preece

Costume Design

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Warning: with Back to Black and four Beatles movies, Hollywood’s most cliched genre isn’t going away

From Amy Winehouse to Elvis, musical biopics are ubiquitous – but it’s only the fake ones that are really worth watching

W ith each passing year, it becomes harder to deny that Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story , Jake Kasdan’s 2007 cult comedy about a fictitious rocker’s rise and drug-addled fall, might be the most prescient Hollywood film of the 21st century.

Borrowing liberally from the 2005 Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line the film skewers rock biopic cliches as mercilessly as Airplane! lampooned disaster movie tropes. Its hero, Dewey (John C Reilly) blames himself for his brother’s death, ascends to fame, falls for a singer who isn’t his wife, rubs shoulders with the Beatles, descends into drugs, goes to rehab, gets clean, and – by the film’s end – makes a triumphant return to the stage.

Though it bombed on release, Walk Hard feels more potent each year, pre-emptively ridiculing the endlessly proliferating music biopics that walk straight-faced into the cliches it mocked. (“Haven’t these people seen Walk Hard?” critics reflexively ask.) Lately, the genre seems to be in full bloom: Back to Black , Sam Taylor-Johnson’s profile of Amy Winehouse, is hitting UK cinemas this week, with a cloud of controversy swirling around its portrayal of the late star’s troubled life . Now comes news that The Bear star Jeremy Allen White will fit his chiseled abs into Bruce Springsteen’s white tees for a film about the making of his album Nebraska .

Meanwhile, in February this year, Sam Mendes announced that he’s at work on a Beatles biopic. Except it’s not just one biopic; Mendes plans to direct four feature-length films – one from each Beatle’s point of view – all for release in 2027. Even the most devout Beatles obsessives have strained to consider this a good idea.

It’s time to admit: we’ve reached Peak Music Biopic. Let’s give it a rest. With the exception of Maestro (which, despite its flaws, surely reflects Bradley Cooper’s vision and artistry), these movies feel less like auteur-driven cinema than estate-sanctioned exercises in brand management, with their easy, IP-adjacent appeal juiced by access to renowned songbooks. Just as Heaven’s Gate now epitomises the hubris of the New Hollywood era, this quadrupedal Beatles project may come to symbolise the indulgent excess of today’s musical biopics.

Rock biopics weren’t always a sure bet for Hollywood. Thirty-plus years ago, Great Balls of Fire! and The Doors underperformed at the box office and yielded mixed reviews. But in the mid-2000s, Ray and Walk the Line proved that a good biopic could transcend its formula, attract a multigenerational audience and win Oscars. (Cynically speaking, both films were also aided by the then-recent deaths of their subjects, though both were sturdily made and well-acted despite their boilerplate arcs.)

That one-two punch ushered in the new age of rock biopics, and set the template for Walk Hard to skewer: young rocker rises from poverty, becomes a sensation, falls into drugs and temptation. “We tried to kill the musical biopic with this movie,” Reilly later reflected . “It turns out it’s a very resilient cliche.”

Resilient indeed. The genre only proliferated. Some specimens were more interesting than others: Todd Haynes eschewed the usual cliches with his 2007 biopic-as-collage I’m Not There , a deliberately obfuscating portrait of the deliberately obfuscating Bob Dylan.

Alas, the recent crop of biopics has been far worse. Bohemian Rhapsody squandered an impressive Rami Malek performance by egregiously rearranging the facts of Freddie Mercury’s life (no, he wasn’t diagnosed with HIV before Live Aid). Rocketman leaned on cornball fantasy sequences and whimsical flourishes to disguise what is, at core, a formulaic Elton John biopic. Its messy hybrid of jukebox musical and biopic also muddles up the chronology of John’s career.

And yet these movies remain profitable. This year’s Bob Marley: One Love is a fitfully interesting, overly reverent portrait of the reggae singer that struggles to articulate Marley’s political consciousness beyond a feelgood haze of pot smoke and peace platitudes, but it was a box-office success. Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis , an overwrought, razzle-dazzle fever dream, narrated by Tom Hanks sounding like a Southern-fried Werner Herzog, took in $288m in 2022.

Interestingly, that film’s sanitised narrative – obscuring the fact that Priscilla Presley was a minor when Elvis romanced her – created an opening for Sofia Coppola to make a far more complex film centred around Priscilla herself.

The glut of biopics feels emblematic of an era in which we refuse to let dead celebrities remain dead. Any deceased star is just waiting to be reanimated for posthumous profit. Consider the morbid spectacle of the hologram tour , which has turned 3D avatars of Frank Zappa, Whitney Houston and others into undead attractions. Artificial intelligence promises more grotesque resurrections. A meditation app recently released a bedtime story “narrated” by an AI-generated Jimmy Stewart voice, while George Carlin’s estate sued a podcast that claimed to have used AI to mimic the comedian’s voice and standup style.

The irony is that the best music movies of the past decade aren’t really biopics at all. They’re fictitious character studies, like the Coen brothers’ Inside Llewyn Davis , a mordant, richly detailed portrait of a 1960s folksinger struggling to make it, or Tár , Todd Field’s hypnotic examination of a world-renowned conductor’s unravelling. Like Walk Hard, these films crackle with verve and imagination, depict actual milieux, and make their titular heroes seem as real as Dylan or Leonard Bernstein.

But because they aren’t rooted in familiar stories and pre-existing back catalogues, such movies tend to make studios nervous. They’re riskier than a Marley biopic, or a Springsteen one, or a Winehouse one. They’re works of the imagination, a resource Hollywood should focus on cultivating. As John Lennon famously said, “With meditation, there’s no limit to what we can … imagine.”

Oh wait, that’s just a Walk Hard quote .

Zach Schonfeld is a freelance journalist and critic

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here .

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Screen Rant

Robert pattinson's upcoming movie looks even trippier than his last sci-fi film.

The footage from Robert Pattinson's upcoming movie establishes that it will be even trippier and mind-bending than his last science fiction film.

• Robert Pattinson's upcoming film, Mickey 17, will offer an incredibly mind-bending experience.
• Scheduled for release in 2025, the movie is written and directed by Bong Joon-ho, promising a trippy ride.
• The film's footage hints at a deep exploration of cloning and the cyclical nature of Pattinson's character's life and death.

As mind-bending as Robert Pattinson 's last sci-fi film might have seemed, his upcoming movie looks even trippier. After starting his acting career with fantasy movies like Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and The Twilight Saga , Pattinson has dabbled with several different genres. From romantic dramas like Remember Me and Water For Elephants to psychological thrillers like The Lighthouse and Cosmopolis , the actor has a variety of films on his acting resume. Even when it comes to sci-fi, Robert Pattinson has not held himself back from playing characters in abstract but compelling dramas.

Speaking of the abstract, Robert Pattinson's last sci-fi movie explored some of the most bizarre sci-fi concepts portrayed on the big screen. However, as the footage from his upcoming film reveals, he will be playing a character in an even more complex and surreal drama that will likely push and bend the boundaries of what cinematic sci-fi has previously explored. Scheduled for release on 31 January 2025, Pattinson's next film is written, directed, and co-produced by Academy Award winner Bong Joon-ho. It is based on a 2022 novel by Edward Ashton.

Robert Pattinson's Upcoming Movie Can Redeem His Most Underrated Sci-Fi Role

Mickey 17's first footage is even trippier than robert pattinson's last sci-fi film, a lot goes on in mickey 17's first footage, hinting at how surreal the film will be.

The sci-fi film in which Robert Pattinson last starred was Christopher Nolan's Tenet , which left viewers baffled and overwhelmed with its riveting exploration of entropy. The film's labyrinthine logic and timelines still confuse many, making it hard not to wonder if anyone has fully grasped its complex storyline. However, CinemaCon footage from Bong Joon-ho's Mickey 17 suggests that its portrayal of cloning and the cyclical nature of Robert Pattinson's character's life and death will be even tripper than Tenet 's sci-fi drama.

In the footage, Pattinson's titular character, Mickey, seems to live in a life-and-death loop. The footage walks through the many unique ways in which he dies, only to return as a clone and repeat the cycle. In an intriguing scene, he even plays a game of rock, paper, scissors with Steven Yeun's character, Berto, to determine whether he gets to die again or live and shoot Berto dead. The trailer gets even tripper when Mickey sees other versions of himself, as if he is caught in a kaleidoscope of identities and dopplegangers .

Tenet & Mickey 17 Prove Robert Pattinson Should Make More Sci-Fi Movies

The two movies prove robert pattinson's potential as a sci-fi star.

Although Robert Pattinson does justice to every character he plays, he seems to hit a home run every time he stars in complex sci-fi movies. Long before he played characters in Tenet and Mickey 17 , he was one of the leads in Claire Denis' High Life , which is another hypnotic, highly-acclaimed sci-fi flick. Tenet may not have garnered the same level of success and appreciation as Christopher Nolan's other movies, but it perfectly showcased Robert Pattinson's ability to excel in intricate and thought-provoking sci-fi films .

With his acting forte and proven ability to engage viewers in cerebral storytelling, it would be great to see Robert Pattinson ascend even further as a sci-fi movie star.

As Mickey 17 's lead, he will further cement himself as a go-to versatile actor who can embody characters grappling with complex existential questions and unconventional realities. This should pave the way for him to land more sci-fi roles in the future. With his acting forte and proven ability to engage viewers in cerebral storytelling, it would be great to see Robert Pattinson ascend even further as a sci-fi movie star.