Hypnotic Movie Review

Robert Rodriguez has been one of Hollywood’s most interesting and unique filmmakers for the best part of nearly four decades. His films are always visually interesting and push the boundaries of technology, constantly evolving the way he makes films, so they remain entertaining and visually stimulating. His stellar filmography includes: ‘Desperado’, ‘Once Upon a Time in Mexico’, ‘From Dusk Til Dawn’, the ‘Spy Kids Quadrilogy’ films, ‘Shark Boy and Lava Girl, ‘Sin City’, ‘Sin City: A Dame to Kill For’ ‘Machete’ and ‘Machete Kills’, ‘Planet Terror’, ‘Grindhouse’, ‘Alita: Battle Angel’ and ‘We Can be Heroes’ among many shorts and episodes for television. When it was announced he would be directing a mind-bending, psychological thriller, called ‘Hypnotic’ with Ben Affleck in the lead role and one of the best character actors working today, William Fichtner as the film's villain, I was very interested, and my anticipation was peaked!

‘Hypnotic’ follows Detective Danny Rourke (played by Ben Affleck) as he investigates a mystery involving his missing daughter, he unearths a top-secret Government program that could change the world forever. I am a sucker for detective thrillers and in recent years it really does feel like we are getting less and less in the cinema format, sure there are tv shows, but sometimes you just want to watch a movie. So, with Robert Rodriguez at the helm and an impressive cast led by the wickedly talented Ben Affleck, I was of course excited to see this one, but did it live up to my anticipation and his previous highs as a filmmaker?

I am happy to say that ‘Hypnotic’ is one of the better thrillers in recent years. Robert Rodriguez's brilliant, visual direction here makes the film really pop. The film has dreamlike sequences that are very comparable to the work of Christopher Nolan in ‘Inception’ and more recently ‘Tenet’. Rodriguez balances the complexities of the narrative, by emphasising visuals that perfectly match the films complexities, in a perfect marriage of both style and substance. This all culminated beautifully, in the film's crisp 90-minute runtime.

Although the direction here is fantastic and the story is compelling, the aspect that really grabbed me and added to my enjoyment, is the riveting cat and mouse game between Ben Affleck’s stoic detective, Danny Rourke and William Fichtner’s scary and unhinged villain Lev Dellrayne. The two make for a great on-screen pairing, playing off one another Ben Affleck plays this type of character so well and Fichtner is always great as the villain, playing one numerous times before including Disney’s 2013 film ‘The Lone Ranger’ and 2011s ‘Drive Angry’ opposite Nicolas Cage.

Overall, if you’re a fan of mind-bending, visually interesting, and well-acted, compact thrillers, then Hypnotic is the film for you. It has its issues, but overall, I found myself captivated by the story and really enjoying watching it. Hypnotic is now available on Blu-Ray and DVD thanks to the team at Sanity. You can secure your copy below and browse all of the other fantastic new releases as well. Long live physical media!

Christopher Pattison wrote this blog post for Sanity. See more from Chris here