Film Review: "Hypnotic" (2023).

"Control is an illusion" in Hypnotic. This science fiction thriller film directed by Robert Rodriguez, and written by Rodriguez and Max Borenstein. 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.

In 2002, Rodriguez had written the initial screenplay for the film, calling it "one of my favorite stories". In November 2018, Rodriguez was confirmed to direct, with Borenstein rewriting the original script. By late September 2021, Ben Affleck, Alice Braga, J. D. Pardo, Dayo Okeniyi, Jeff Fahey, Jackie Earle Haley, William Fichtner, and Zane Holtz. At the same time, principal photography commenced and wrapped in late November. Filming took place in Austin, Texas. The film was originally scheduled to be filmed in Los Angeles and throughout California in 2020, all locations were scouted and sets were built at Santa Clarita Studios when the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown halted production and did not resume until the following year in Texas.

The film stars Affleck, Braga, Pardo, Okeniyi, Fahey, Haley, Fichtner, and Holtz. Affleck and the cast couldn't, however, make the movie into the good movie it might have been. That would have required a director more interested in ideas and less interested in things that go boom.

A rubbish script, terrible acting from all concerned -- including, I regret to say, Affleck -- and Rodriguez's action histrionics uneasily confined to science lab interiors, all conspire to produce a movie of utter redundancy. Most of it is very predictable and so obvious and instantly draws us away from the characters because everything here feels very artificial and very staged. Coming up short on just about everything - from the casting and dialog to the action sequences - Woo rides the high of a strong story into the ground. The one thing we cannot forgive in a would-be thriller is boredom. Even Rodriguez's trademarks, the crazy camera work and editing style, as well as the two-gun stand-off, feel perfunctory. Just add an underwritten love interest, a scruffy yet lovable sidekick, stir violently and overcook action sequences. Serves millions, but tastes bland. How appropriate that Rodriguez's awkward sci-fi nutty narrative is about hypnotism seeing as though this convoluted clunker is utterly forgettable. While the tautly paced film succeeds at keeping your attention, it offers nothing at all to think about or even remember once its two hours have run their course. From El Mariachi to We Can Be Heroes, only moments of Woo's pyrotechnic talent is evident, working in the corporate Hollywood world stifling the maestro's more go-for-broke tendencies.

Simon says Hypnotic receives:

Also, see my review for We Can Be Heroes.