Hypnotic review review – slice of Nolan-esque hokum is too twisty for its own good

If you’re one of the, presumably few, people for whom the premise “super-hypnotists rob banks” sounds just too grounded and familiar, then Robert Rodriguez’s Hypnotic is the film for you. Kicking off with Ben Affleck attempting to foil a heist performed by a brainwashed crew, it only ups the ante from there, diving ever deeper into convoluted sci-fi lore and dropping twist after twist to keep you on your toes. It’s an intermittently effective technique, with some undeniably fun set-pieces and reveals, but one that eventually just ends up building a house of cards that collapses the instant you’re asked to actually care about these characters.

Leading us on this wild goose chase is Austin detective Danny Rourke (Affleck, giving his jawline-iest performance in a good while), haunted by the kidnapping of his daughter by a man who claims to have no memory of committing the crime. Having not believed the perpetrator, Rourke’s bearing witness to the hypno-heist – commanded by the menacing and ultra-powerful Dellrayne (William Fichtner) – pulls him into a rabbit hole of superpowers and conspiracies, guided by middlingly powerful psychic Diana (Alice Braga) who may not be exactly who she seems.

In having the central conceit be that the villains of the piece can completely alter your perception with a mere glance into your eyes, Rodriguez and co-writer Max Borenstein swiftly teach you to mistrust everything you’re seeing, from objects to people to entire buildings – we even get some Inception-lite world-bending when things get extra trippy. At points it’s a lot of fun, but it also means that it’s hard for anything to have much weight or impact when you’re just waiting for it to be debunked in the next scene’s twists. Running at just over 90 minutes, Hypnotic keeps its foot on the pedal throughout, and it’s nice to see something lean and propulsive in an ever-more bloated blockbuster market, but the emotional investment is essentially nil, which undoes the ambitious finale.

Affleck is a stern if not entirely compelling presence in the lead (none of the charm or sparkle of his performances in Air or The Last Duel here), whilst most of the other cast are just “functional,” but special mention has to go to Fichtner, who almost earns the film another star on his villainous turn alone. He’s coldly nasty in his line reads, but silly and impish in his physicality – the first time I saw Dellrayne’s funny little way of running I laughed out loud, and found myself wanting a little more of this playfulness throughout.

Rodriguez is also saying something interesting here about the process of filmmaking itself, a collection of lies told to an audience in an attempt to reach a greater truth, but the way he goes about it is eventually just a bit tiring. Especially in the final third, a lot of the twists feel like they’re there just for the sake of being twists, plot moves straight out of a video game or Stephen King having a particularly wacky week. As a sub-Nolan slice of hokum, Hypnotic is diverting enough, but it never quite gets you completely under its spell.

Hypnotic is released in UK cinemas on 26 May.