In fact, we kind of enjoyed its swift 90 minutes as it feverishly tried to duplicate the mind-bending storytelling and visual flair of films like "Inception", "The Matrix" and "Memento"......
Think of it a scrappy, junky, slapdash version of the above mentioned.....and somehow amusing in its tireless, repeated efforts to pull the rug out from any audience members hoping to figure it out.
Hint: Don't bother, just let the cascade of nonsensical events wash over you until the credits roll......
The initial setup seems strictly boilerplate. Burned out police detective Danny Roarke (a burned out, disinterested Ben Affleck) still broods and agonizes over the broad daylight kidnapping of his young daughter Minnie. Ah, but we're only getting started.....
Back on the job, Danny plunges into the middle of a bank robbery orchestrated by the sinister Lev Dellrayne (William Fichtner). Dellrlayne appears gifted with overwhelming powers of hypnotic suggestion. He only has to stare at you to alter your reality of where you are and who you are. And whatever he tells you to do.....well, you know the rest......
That's as much as we can discuss here without spoiling whatever entertainment you could expect to derive from this movie. From this point on, "Hypnotic" unfolds a seemingly neverending array of "gotcha!" plot twists and visual "what-the-hell" tricks that look like Rodriguez broke into Christopher Nolan's house and swiped his left over storyboards.
This had enormous Guilty Pleasure potential, but Affleck spoils the fun with his glum, gimme-my-check-and-let-me-get-the-hell-out-of-here performance. What a party pooper. Fichtner reliably adds some cool menace, but oh Lordy, if ever a movie needed the madness of Nicolas Cage, it's this one.
And since he's plundering other directors' ideas, Rodriguez might've thrown in a dash of his own perverse humor, as in his "Planet Terror" horror jamboree from the first half of "Grindhouse."
What's the point of making a quickie 'Grindhouse' version of "Inception" if you're not going to have pulpy good time with it?
But in all truth, can't say we were bored either. If nothing else, this director at least possesses the good sense to keep things in perpetual motion....... 2 & 1/2 stars (**1/2)
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