Review Hypnotic – Review on FilmTotaal
Director: Robert Rodriguez | Script: Max Borenstein, Robert Rodriguez | Cast: Ben Affleck (Danny Rourke), William Fichtner (Dellrayne), Alice Braga (Diana Cruz), Jeff Fahey (Carl), Jackie Earle Haley (Jeremiah), ea | Time to play: 93 minutes | Year: 2023
Robert Rodríguez broke through with Outlaw, From dusk to dawn in Sin City. The great cinephile then exchanged strong productions (planet of terror, Alita: Battle Angel) with uninspired children’s movies (four parts spy kids, We can be heroes). Met Hypnotic he shows that he still has it in him.
Danny Rourke looked away when he was at the park with his daughter, and she was gone forever. Years later, she’s still not over it, but she wants to at least be able to do her job as a detective. One day the report comes that someone will rob a bank that very day. He does, but in a very strange way. Danny goes to investigate and immediately stumbles upon an almost supernatural world that he was unaware of.
There are people who can say with such conviction that they have won a lottery that others immediately believe it, even if it turns out not to be true. That is the power of suggestion. Robert Rodríguez took this fact and turned it into pure fiction. In Hypnotic Do some people possess the gift of Professor Xavier from X-Men?
In fact, it’s so over the top for Rodriguez to communicate that we shouldn’t take the movie seriously. If the concept doesn’t make that clear yet, then the sporadic incorrect one-liners will. Rodríguez’s cinematic spirit lives on in the 1980s and 1990s, when over-the-top plotlines were totally acceptable, and he takes you into that world.
Even within the reality of Hypnotic some details don’t make much sense. Don’t worry, in the end everything works out according to the rules of this movie. William Fichtner returns to play the villain, here called Dellrayne, and the guy is hilarious. It’s unclear how far she can go with his powers, but in the long run it all clicks.
Robert Rodríguez likes to do a lot of things himself, he is never just the director. Here he is also a producer, co-writer, co-cameraman and editor. What he likes to do anyway is conjure up special effects from his own computer in his basement. It does well? Sure. Do you like the best? No. There are two moments that feel like the brand variant of the house of Beginning.
He gave the background music to his son Rebel Rodríguez (seen as a child in planet of terror). He’s clearly been exposed to the movies his father loves; It’s certainly not a heist job, but it quickly brings to mind movies like Assault on Precinct 13. It is clear that dad is proud of his son’s composition: music is present more often than necessary.
‘Family’ is not the first time that the subject in his films. This time the love for her son is impossible to eradicate. That’s not finely crafted and the movie doesn’t intersperse with that. This is an old-fashioned adventure with action, humor, drama, and unexpected twists. Lots of twists. Even during the credits.
Although it’s a movie with a wink, Ben Affleck seems to be deliberately not putting his best foot forward. Here and there are some phrases that make you doubt his acting talent. Rodríguez has never been an actor’s director, the visual is his priority. But a little more passion would have been nice.
Hypnotic it won’t herald Rodríguez’s return, nor is it proof that he’s still capable of making brilliant movies. But it’s not a bad movie. With the right mindset, this is a simple and entertaining visual story. I’m glad there’s still a place for her in the movies. Movies like this usually go straight to a streaming service, if they’re made at all.