Filmmaker Robert Rodriguez broke out in the ‘90s with pulpy action thrillers and horror hits Desperado and From Dusk Till Dawn. The premise for his latest, Hypnotic, suggests a return to his early works in attitude and scale. Instead, Rodriguez forgoes his usual playfulness and sense of rebellious fun in favor of a Christopher Nolan-like mind-bender, complete with an overly serious approach and convoluted storytelling.
Austin detective Danny Rourke (Ben Affleck) recklessly throws himself into work as a coping mechanism over his missing daughter. Danny completes his latest therapy session that explores the fateful trip to the park where his daughter disappeared, then immediately gets picked up by his partner, Nicks (JD Pardo), to investigate an anonymous tip for an impending bank robbery. As the heist seems to begin, Danny spies a suspicious man, Dellrayne (William Fichtner), enter the equation.
Danny discovers the man’s bizarre ability to hypnotize people around them, forcing them to commit acts of violence. When Danny finds a Polaroid of his daughter while pursuing Dellrayne, a twisty cat-and-mouse game between them prompts Danny to enlist another hypnotic, Diana Cruz (Alice Braga), to help him survive and find the truth.
Rodriguez, who co-wrote the script with Max Borenstein, based on his own story, wastes no time at all with preamble. The opening therapy session presents Danny’s overarching motivation. The subsequent action-heavy bank heist plunges the beleaguered detective into a mind-bending journey in which reality ceases to hold meaning. As intriguing as this setup is, Rodriguez and Borenstein over plot it to death. Forward momentum gets ground to a halt at every turn by dense exposition and narrative reveals that undermine or undo plot points introduced mere scenes before. Danny and reluctant ally Diana may run from thrilling set piece to set piece, taking from Austin to Mexico, unsure who they can trust. Still, Hypnotic overextends itself with its Inception-like layers of narrative twists.
It’s difficult to get wowed by the reveals when there’s no tether to reality or any sense of characterization. Reality, or lack thereof, serves a crucial purpose here. But without any anchor or audience proxy to navigate an increasingly convoluted plot, it’s tough to find a foothold or even care. It doesn’t help that Ben Affleck plays Danny with a detached aloofness; his grieving detective is asleep at the wheel. Danny drifts through a growing web of deceit and shifting realities as an almost disinterested passive participant, making for an increasingly tedious experience.
Hypnotic does have a slick polish to it; Rodriguez occasionally demonstrates his style with violent bursts, effective uses of VFX, or elaborate action sequences. But it’s so overly plotted that nothing about it registers or makes an impact. The emotional heavy lifting often falls to Rebel Rodriguez’s melodramatic score. The dour mood and the dense exposition relayed at a constant clip ensure that none of the revolving players leave an impression; a lively late-game appearance by Jeff Fahey offers a spark of life, but it’s far too little and far too late.
Rodriguez’s latest complicates a relatively straightforward narrative to a tiresome degree. So much so that a mid-credit tease for more gets met with a groan. What should be a propulsive thriller packed with unexpected shifts instead winds up a bland affair.
Hypnotic releases in theaters on May 12, 2023.
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