After the disappearance of his daughter, Minnie (Ionie Olivia Nieves, Hala Finley), Detective Danny Rourke (Ben Affleck) became obsessed with the case and was determined to hunt down whoever took her.  While on the trail, he finds that his daughter’s disappearance is somehow linked to a string of prominent bank robberies all orchestrated by Lev (William Fichtner), a man with very persuasive power about him.  He is then led to a fortune teller, Diana (Alice Braga), and together they hunt Lev across the southern states and into Mexico where they discover that this plot is much larger than just Danny and Minnie, but that Lev is in pursuit of a stolen government program, Project Domino, and that only Danny knows the secret to its whereabouts. 

Robert Rodriguez brings his latest thriller, Hypnotic, which he co-wrote with Max Borenstein to screens courtesy of Ketchup Entertainment.  The dusty mystery runs a solid 93 minutes, not overstaying its welcome, while also allowing for some interesting setups and payoffs as Danny and Diana play a dangerous game of cross-country cat and mouse with Lev.  The film contains elements that Rodriguez has spent his career fascinated with, and while they do add up to an interesting conclusion, the ultimate structure of the film and a sleepwalking performance from Affleck really betray the success of the concept. 

There is no avoiding the absolute lack of charisma shown by Affleck in this film as he is in almost every scene.  A clear character choice, it just does not work on screen when Danny is supposed to be our entry point into the narrative, and he feels so disillusioned with what is going on around him.  It is a tough task for any actor as later it is revealed that much of the action of the film is being worked through as part of the hypnotic therapy that is supposed to help Danny unlock what his subconscious has hidden away about his missing daughter. 

The onus then is on the supporting cast to bring in the excitement of this world, and for the most part, they do a well enough job despite being saddled with a bonkers script.  Braga’s Diana is a fireball of energy and her shifting allegiances and personal motives make her an alluring character to watch.  Her actions become just as much of a mystery in the film as Minnie’s disappearance and we are never quite sure when to trust her.  She is also our link to the main conceit of the film which the whole story hinges around and gives some much-needed context to Lev’s powers of persuasion.   

In the opening heist, he runs distraction by suggesting to a bystander that it is so hot outside and she begins to complain about the heat while stripping down to her underwear.  This sequence, in Rodriguez’s earlier years, would have been much more electrically shot and framed, but in a sign of sterilized maturity, he instructs Pablo Berron’s camera to capture this as plainly as possible.  In a way, it is more unsettling that this suggestion from Lev is handled and executed with such banality, but the truth is that the actual filmmaking is devoid of any style or voice.  The framing is head-on, the camera is not moving with purpose or intent to match the action of the heist, and the colors oscillate between beige and grey.  It is a deliberate choice that, with distance from the film the reasoning behind it can be teased out, but when in the moment, it makes for a regrettably dull experience. 

It is not until the third act that Hypnotic really begins to find its footing.  It is not just because the natrual progression of story means that everything that has been laid out is finally coming to fruition, but rather the actual construction of the third act is genuinely enjoyable.  It is revealed that everything to this point was all part of an elaborate construct to plumb the depths of Danny’s mind to locate his daughter, a savant more powerful than even Lev.  Project Domino is not a weapon or a computer program, it is Minnie.  With Danny under hypnosis, he is set loose in a constructed world that we now get to see as a framework of moveable facades in a stripped-down set not unlike Lars von Trier’s Dogville (2003).  We see the action of the previous two acts played out quickly in the “Real World” where buildings are little more than archways and chalk outlines indicating their purpose.  Danny, along with audiences, now knowing that he is in a simulation plays along with Lev and his team until he makes a breakthrough getaway having finally unlocked the riddle he laid out for himself that led to Minnie’s location.  She was never kidnapped, she was hidden, and Danny had been following clues he left for himself to make sure they would be reunited.  It is all rather thrilling and makes for a bombastic final fifteen or so minutes, it is just a shame that so much of the film was so plainly handled that audiences can be forgiven if they have tuned out by this point. 

In a theatrical landscape inundated with sequels and adaptations, it is refreshing to see Rodriguez pursue original ideas, but Hypnotic just cannot compete for the attention it needs to even with its aspirations for a sequel baked into the credits.  It is lacking an identity of its own and Rodriguez, possibly in an effort to reinvent and break away from his house style, has instead created something that feels lifeless and soulless as the most standout setpieces feel more like Christopher Nolan testing his effects for Inception (2010) instead of creating something unique.  It underutilizes Affleck who, purposefully or not, does not appear to want to be there.  The reveal is held too close for too long, and then the film races to its conclusion when blasting past a setup ripe for exploration.  Hypnotic contains some really neat ideas when all is said and done, but its construction and delivery are its biggest downfall and what could have been a twisty and exciting thriller falls unfortunately flat.