Ben Affleck is also ready for 'Hypnotic' to be over
SPOILER ALERT: THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR A VERY SILLY MOVIE
This should be obvious, but just because you combine things that are good separately doesn’t mean they will work together. “Hypnotic” fumbles wildly in the dark as it mashes up “Memento” and “The Truman Show,” with elements of “Inception,” the “Bourne” franchise, Danny Boyle’s “Trance” and surely a lot more. The result is essentially “Lobster Stuffed with Tacos: The Movie.”
While Ben Affleck usually doesn’t deserve the pile-ons that result from his variety of sad photos or periodic onscreen failure (he still hasn’t gotten the credit he deserves for “Gone Girl”), he sure deserves them for this immensely ridiculous and highly stupid thriller directed and co-written by Robert Rodriguez (“Machete,” “The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl”). As Danny Rourke, a cop searching for his missing daughter while pursuing a mysteriously powerful bank robber (William Fichtner), Affleck is instantly defeated by the script, with each line delivery seeming to signal the actor thinking, “This is so damn stupid.”
And stupid, to be clear, can be fun — there haven’t been many laughs this year as big as when Danny questions, “He erased his own mind?” “Hypnotic” isn’t trying to be absurd, and its insistent seriousness despite an onslaught of far-fetched yet predictable twists only makes it that much more foolish and accidentally amusing.
Well, that would be the case if not for the gruesome violence that Rodriguez should know doesn’t belong here. Then again, the presentation of certain characters’ powers is so corny and inept it makes waving a wand in even the weakest “Harry Potter” movies look like a groundbreaking act of James Cameron visual glory. Over and over again a character looks at someone and says something blankly and controls the other person’s mind, which might have sounded intriguing on paper but looks pathetic on screen.
I did chuckle, however, when Danny says Fichtner’s character looked familiar, hoping that “Hypnotic” would somehow exist in the same universe as those actors’ previous collaboration in “Armageddon.” Which should give you an indication of the intelligence on display in “Hypnotic,” without the visual flair, emotional involvement or entertainment value. It’s not a disaster movie, just dangerously close to a disaster.
D+
NEW: WANT TO SETTLE A MOVIE DEBATE, TALK ABOUT '90S FAVORITES, OR EVEN HAVE YOUR SHORT HOME MOVIE REVIEWED? BOOK A VIDEO FROM MATT VIA CAMEO
ORDER “TALK ‘90S WITH ME: 23 UNPREDICTABLE CONVERSATIONS WITH STARS OF AN UNFORGETTABLE DECADE”
Matt’s new book arrived Sept. 27, 2022, and Richard Roeper raves: “Matt Pais deserves four stars for reintroducing us to many of the greatly talented but often unsung heroes of 1990s film. This is a terrific read.”
ARE YOU A “SAVED BY THE BELL” FAN?
Order “Zack Morris Lied 329 Times! Reassessing every ridiculous episode of ‘Saved by the Bell’ … with stats” (featuring interviews with 22 cast members, plus the co-founder of Saved by the Max and the creator of “Zack Morris is Trash”)
GET 100 STORIES FOR JUST $4.99