‘Hypnotic’ Review – An Aimless Mishmash of The Matrix and Inception

Directed By: Robert Rodriguez

Starring: Ben Affleck, Alice Braga, J.D. Pardo, Jackie Earle Haley, William Fichtner

Plot Summary: Determined to find his missing daughter, Austin detective Danny Rourke finds himself spiraling down a rabbit hole investigating a series of reality-bending crimes where he will ultimately call into question his most basic assumptions about everything and everyone in his world. Aided by Diana Cruz, a 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.

There was a time when Robert Rodriguez was among the most exciting filmmakers to ever break out of the ‘90s indie scene. After paying his dues in the trenches of low budget films, he has transitioned more into doing major studio work such as The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. Even his work for Disney still managed to retain that dusty and playful edge, qualities that helped launch him into the big leagues. So, it is painful to face the fact that someone like Rodriguez, who literally wrote the book on solid filmmaking, should put out a movie as laughable as Hypnotic.

To be fair, the movie is not the worst, and it has enough pulpy dumbness to just barely cross into that so-bad-it’s-enjoyable realm. Mercifully, the movie is only 90 minutes, and though it’s not good, it’s never boring. But there is no getting around the fact that this movie is a poorly stitched together patch work of The Matrix and a whole smattering of mind-bending Christopher Nolan films. Where Nolan is able to craft intense and interesting brain puzzles, Hypnotic just feels like a parody of his entire filmography. Hell, Ben Affleck is even doing his best grizzled Batman voice.

The film also tries hard to blend this neo-noir aspect to the sci-fi elements. On the face of it, sci-fi noir can work very well. However, this noir element doesn’t add anything besides an excuse to check off more Hollywood cliches. Outside of just ripping off other movies, the world-building is messy, and characters are just not engaging on any level. You will be hard pressed to remember anyone after the credits roll.

Ben Affleck headlines what is actually a pretty decent cast. As mentioned above, Affleck does his best to play the sort of Sam Spade, weathered detective. All things considered, Affleck isn’t terrible, and he does try and deliver on the absurd dialogue he is shoveled. Alice Braga is a vastly underrated actress, and like Affleck, she does try to sell this nonsense. One of the films biggest sins is underusing character actors like William Fichtner, Jackie Earle Haley and Jeff Fahey. Thankfully, these veteran actors all make a meal out of the little they do get to do, and the movie is all the better for it. Although, better is relative when you are working within such slim margins.

The biggest searing mystery has nothing to do with this scatter-brained plot, but more about how this got made. Clearly, this feels like an ambitious movie that is never able to find its own voice and just ends up feeling cheap and worst of all, cynical. With the right crowd, one can see this being a fun enough movie to make fun of, even though it never goes over-the-top enough to reach cult classic status. Hypnotic feels like direct-to-Tubi fodder, not something made by a true maverick filmmaker like Robert Rodriguez. It lacks the thrills and charms of his earlier films and makes you wonder why he directed this in the first place.

Hypnotic is currently playing in theaters courtesy of Ketchup Entertainment. 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAwpu4rQpeQ]