'Hypnotic' (2023) Movie Review: A Thriller by Robert Rodriguez starring Ben Affleck

Robert Rodríguez returns to the scene in this elegant, sophisticated, and kind of confusing production with a bad-tempered Ben Affleck.

A promising thriller due to its production and its Memento or Final Analysis style. But, hard truth, it ends up disappointing us with a somewhat incoherent plot.

The script detracts from its good technical quality and its leading role, because it could have achieved something much better with what we know Ben Affleck can do.

Storyline

A detective becomes embroiled in a mind control intrigue, a kidnapping and high level robberies.

About the movie

An excellent production, very careful in each shot, that, however, fails to put all its elements together because the script is not convincing and that is a deal breaker.

We liked Robert Rodriguez, especially for his elaborate aesthetic concept and his sincere intention to do “cinema” again, the kind that remains in the retina, the kind that gives us good moments and in which each scene has something aesthetically special for its elaborate composition and its elegant formal style.

Hypnotic has something of that: it is a very aesthetic and careful thriller, even sophisticated, but the plot is not up to the task: it doesn’t give you the opportunity to enjoy Rodríguez’s best irony in a film that doesn’t want to be ironic in any moment (even though it could) and isn’t willing to take risks in that sense.

Well yes, it meets the parameters of a good thriller in terms of rhythm: it is very well run sequence by sequence, but overall it crumbles due to some characters that do not fit into a more cohesive plot. It has very good ideas that don’t come together, it has the right aesthetic and even the right rhythm. But…

Alice Braga and Ben Affleck are good, and always up to the task, Affleck is committed to the role and does it professionally, but we don’t connect with the character, it just doesn’t work here.

Because, apparently, this is a film that doesn’t convey enthusiasm and all its aesthetic and effort come to nothing with a plot that doesn’t feel convincing.

And without a good plot, no thriller can work (no spectacular CGI is going to save you here).

Our opinion

An interesting thriller that fizzles down after ten minutes. A thriller that is wasted in the confusion of a script that, without knowing where it’s going, seeks refuge in artifice to save a plot that doesn’t hold up.

The Star: Ben Affleck

Ben Affleck is an American actor, director, writer and producer. He has won two Academy Awards, for Best Original Screenplay for Good Will Hunting (1997), with his friend Matt Damon, and one for Best Director for Argo (2012).

He starred in films such as Shakespeare in Love (1998), Armageddon (1998), Shakespeare in Love (1998), Pearl Harbor (2001), or the last movie directed by George Clooney, The Tender bar (2021).