Ben Affleck stars as a detective whose daughter has been kidnapped. While trying to foil a robbery, he finds a photo of her in a safety deposit box that may lead to her whereabouts. However, the bank robber (William Fitchner) is no ordinary bandit. He’s a “hypnotic”, a powerful telepath who can make weak-minded individuals do his bidding. Ben eventually teams up with another hypnotic (Alice Braga) to find his daughter and stop Fitchner’s reign of terror.
Directed by Robert Rodriguez, Hypnotic has the feel of an early ‘00s thriller, or maybe one of those telepathic flicks that came out in the late ‘70s in the wake of Carrie. (It would make a passable Affleck-starring mind-bender double feature with Paycheck.) The set-up is strong, but the follow through is a little on the cheesy side. It doesn’t help that Affleck tries a little too hard and plays things in a deadly serious manner. (It sometimes feels like he’s still doing his Batman voice.) He’s not exactly bad, although I have to wonder if the film might’ve worked better if the leading man loosened up and embraced the goofy premise a bit.
Rodriguez has no problem in the action department as the cat and mouse scenes are handled well enough. The film is essentially a Fugitive-style thriller with some sci-fi touches sprinkled about. I could’ve also done without some of the Inception-inspired visuals. By the time the third act rolls around, Rodriguez has tried a little too hard to pull the rug out from under us. In doing so, he winds up pulling most of the carpeting and a little of the hardwood flooring. I will say some of this is fun (like when the movie “resets”), and I enjoyed Rodriguez dropping in little nods to his previous work. Ultimately, Hypnotic is a semi-enjoyable thriller, even if it never quite keeps you in its spell.
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