It’s famine time once again in Rodriguez land. I keep hoping Robert Rodriguez has another Sin City in him. By now, however, it is clear that he does not. And the result is ambitious knock-off-Inception where nothing makes sense, but that’s ok because it’s all in your mind … just as I wish this film had remained in somebody’s mind.
Detective Danny Rourke (Ben Affleck) is a troubled cop. His daughter has been abducted – How long ago? We don’t know. That would have been useful to know, wouldn’t it? Presumably it’s been a while cuz he got divorced in the interim. No matter, he’s cleared for the cop stuff which begins with a tip on a safe deposit box robbery.
Bear with me, because the next set of scenes contain a metric ton of “WTF?” moments passed off as things that can actually happen. I mean, let’s begin with a tip on a safe deposit box robbery – that’s oddly specific, no? And you hardly need a detective to solve that case, Sherlock. Especially if it hasn’t happened yet. But Rourke goes in anyway, and -posing as a citizen- bluffs his way into the safe deposit boxes where they leave him alone?!
Meanwhile, there’s a super-hypnotist, Mr. Dellrayne (William Fichtner), who is so good at Hypnotic suggestion that he can literally get anyone to do anything right on the spot instantaneously, regardless of personal morals or inhibitions. And he doesn’t have to go through any kind of process, either. He can just walk up to a woman, say “It’s hot out” and in fifteen seconds, she’s stripped to her nightwear and playing in a fountain. Yeah, that doesn’t describe anybody … ever. I mean, it would explain how 74 million people voted for Trump, but I believe the truth there is much uglier.
So Detective Rourke jimmies the box in question to find a picture of his own kidnapped daughter (?!). Then, Mr. Suggest-y confronts him to take it -why do you need a picture of his kidnapped daughter? Why is it in a bank vault? – and we have a stand off where Dellrayne doesn’t get the picture and Rourke can’t get Dellrayne because the backup cops shoot each other at Dellrayne’s suggestion?
Again, wouldn’t it be nice if you could chalk up every morally-compromised, lawless, or simply stupid behavioral 
move to “The Devil made me do it!” This whole film is a libertarian nightmare. You’d think that would make me happy, but it doesn’t. I am a firm believer of being responsible for one’s own actions; I just also believe in potential mitigating factors. Bottom line is before you know it, Dellrayne wants Rourke and Rourke wants Dellrayne, both for different reasons.
And right here, one understands that this would be a decent mystery were it not entirely wrapped in a burrito supreme of idiocy. Writer/director Robert Rodriguez decides that hypnosis is proper angle to follow which -while it does explain the title- makes for a silly plot because instead of following clues to the whereabouts of the kidnapped girl, we play the “Who’s better at hypnosis?” game. And I’ll tell you right now, it is certainly not Robert Rodriguez, unless you wanted me to fall asleep during your movie.
The key thing to remember about Hypnotic is that most of what you see isn’t real, a la Inception. While such explains most of the inanity involved in the picture, it’s a cheat on several levels, the most important one being that we can’t trust the truth of the picture. This might be ok for a “gotcha” ending, but falls flat here. I suppose Hypnotic is a little better than your average Spy Kids film, but that bar is practically lying on the ground. At this point, I have little patience for the continued career of Robert Rodriguez.
There was once an expert Svengali
Who could get a prude to take Molly
Yet his greatest use
Was making you see Seuss
When you were staring at a Salvador Dali
Rated R, 93 Minutes
Director: Robert Rodriguez
Writer: Robert Rodriguez, Max Borenstein
Genre: Miscommunication
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: The gullible
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: “This is not how any of this works”
