movie review on hypnotic

‘Hypnotic’ Review: For His Next Trick, Robert Rodriguez Will Pull Ben Affleck out of a Funk

Boasting imagination and pure filmmaking ingenuity, the 'El Mariachi' director's new mind-bender (screened as a work in progress at SXSW) reminds what fun it is to watch the 'Argo' star in action.

By Peter Debruge

Peter Debruge

Chief Film Critic

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Don’t trust anything you see or hear in “ Hypnotic ,” a noggin-jogging thriller with more twists than Minnie’s tightly braided ponytail. Who’s Minnie? She’s the girl who goes missing in the movie’s opening scene when police detective dad Daniel Rourke ( Ben Affleck ) looks away for a second. Or does she? Depending how your mind works, there’s a chance Minnie doesn’t even exist. The perp was caught, but Minnie’s body was never found — which is a clue that this wasn’t a typical disappearance.

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This much is fairly constant for most of the film, which premiered at SXSW as a “work in progress”: Affleck plays a shallow film noir archetype, the damaged detective, leaning more on his chiseled cheekbones than on deep character work, which is just as well, since the only psychology audiences need from Rourke is (a) that he misses Minnie and (b) that he’s a pit bull on any case, willing to ignore orders and endanger himself for whatever cause he believes in. Rodriguez and co-writer Max Borenstein (who penned the last few “Godzilla” movies) make that clear in the first reel, as he watches an impossible bank robbery unfold from a surveillance van.

The less you know going in, the more fun the movie will be. Hypnotics wear scarlet red coats, while the film’s more subtly clad femme fatale is a psychic named Diana Cruz (Alice Braga), who has special powers as well. Rourke’s right not to trust her at first, although Fichtner’s character — who might be this Dellrayne fellow — seems determined to kill her and Rourke, so sticking with her seems the better move for the time being. Fueled by a score from Rodriguez’s son Rebel, “Hypnotic” races along fast enough that audiences don’t have much time to dwell on the not-inconsiderable inconsistencies, though Rodriguez approaches the whole endeavor with a pure sense of filmmaking-as-play that won this critic over.

At a certain point, Rourke discovers (spoiler alert in this paragraph) that some of his experiences are “hypnotic constructs” — which means people aren’t who they appear to be, and entire situations that he (and we) have witnessed might have been no more than the power of suggestion. He might even be able to do these tricks as well, which puts “Hypnotic” in a very fun place (for most, and frustrating for others) where pretty much anything can happen. In some scenes, the horizon lifts and folds over on itself, à la “Inception.” In another, the camera cranes out to reveal that Rodriguez has repurposed a back alley from “Alita: Battle Angel,” and that everything’s a film set, though why that is and what it all means is best discovered on-screen.

The movie’s one-word title is a hat tip to Hitchcock, and the movie’s MacGuffin (that is, the thing everyone wants, while audiences amuse themselves with its pursuit) is an all-powerful hypnotic called “Domino.” The goal is first to find the puzzle pieces and then to assemble them into something resembling a coherent picture. While that plot engine is spinning overtime, Rodriguez returns to the matter of Minnie, whom Rourke never forgot about, and whose fate brings everything else into focus for a climactic surprise — namely, that for all the pyrotechnics and rug pulls, “Hypnotic” has mesmerized us into caring about these characters.

Rodriguez knows better than practically any filmmaker out there that movies are a form of hypnosis. It’s all sleight of hand, designed to make us care about a story and characters that don’t exist, so why not embrace that spirit in the execution? Most of the time, “Hypnotic” looks great (embracing the widescreen format, Rodriguez shared cinematography duties with Pablo Berron, who lit the atmospheric scissors scene), but occasionally, you can see the seams — which is fine, since it’s all a construct anyway. And just when you think the ride is over, along comes a last surprise in the credits, suggesting where a sequel might pick up.

Reviewed at SXSW (Narrative Spotlight), March 12, 2023. Running time: 89 MIN.

• Production: A Ketchup Entertainment release of a Solstice Studios, Ingenious, Studio 8 presentation of a Double R production. Producers: Jeff Robinov, John Graham, Racer Max Rodriguez, Robert Rodriguez, Guy Botham, Lisa Ellzey, Mark Gill. Executive prodcuers: Crystal Bourbeau, Vincent Bruzzese, Christelle Conan, Walter Josten, Christopher Milburn, Ben Ormand, James Portolese, Joshua Throne, Peter Touche, Jordan Wagner, Gareth West, Maitreya Yasuda. Co-producer: Justin Moritt. Co-executive producers: Ryan Basford, Court Coursey, Caylee Cowan.
• Crew: Director: Robert Rodriguez. Screenplay: Robert Rodriguez, Max Borenstein; story: Robert Rodriguez. Camera: Robert Rodriguez, Pablo Berron. Editor: Robert Rodriguez. Music: Rebel Rodriguez.
• With: Ben Affleck, Alice Braga, William Fichtner, JD Pardo, Jeff Fahey, Sandy Avila, Hala Finley, Ionie Nieves, Nikki Dixon.

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“Hypnotic” is a thriller about the dangerous power of hypnotherapy, but is it powerful enough to stick in your brain even a week after you’ve watched it? This slick and cheesy Netflix movie only occasionally rises to the potential of its wild premise, thanks mostly to a crazy-eyed, licking-his-chops performance from Jason O’Mara. He knows exactly what kind of material he’s working with here. For the most part, though, “Hypnotic” is dopey, but never quite dopey enough.

Not to be confused with the Ben Affleck / Robert Rodriguez movie of the same name that’s currently in production, “Hypnotic” stars longtime horror actress Kate Siegel (“The Haunting of Hill House,” “ Midnight Mass ”) as a woman named Jenn, who’s in flux. She’s an unemployed software engineer who recently broke up with her long-term boyfriend ( Jaime M. Callica ), and she’s feeling stuck. We know she’s sad because she wears baggy, mismatched sweats all day, and not the overpriced loungewear that’s become fashionable during the pandemic.

At a housewarming party for her best friend, Gina ( Lucie Guest ), Jenn meets Gina’s therapist, Dr. Collin Meade (O’Mara). Our first red flag about him should be the fact that he’s socializing so freely with his patients (our second being his propensity for pairing turtlenecks with blazers). But he’s quietly intriguing with his steely, blue eyes and rich, resonant voice—O’Mara has played Batman in several animated DC Comics movies—so Jenn decides to visit him for a session and work through her issues. The lurid, black-and-silver office décor and a split diopter shot are early indicators that Dr. Meade’s intentions might not be entirely honorable. (They’re also indicators that directors Matt Angel and Suzanne Coote have seen a lot of Brian De Palma movies).

Still, an hour under hypnosis flies by as if it were just a few minutes, and when Jenn awakens, she instantly feels unstuck. “I think you might be more open to suggestibility than you imagined,” Dr. Meade purrs with a gleam in his eye. But when she suddenly can’t account for giant chunks of time and bad things happen to the people around her, she starts asking questions. In playing amateur detective, she laughably Googles the phrase “hypnosis crimes” and then prints out the actual results to make her argument to the skeptical Gina.

Meanwhile, Dr. Meade has a knack for ubiquity, showing up wherever Jenn goes, gaslighting her with smooth responses to her every concern, messing with her mind even further. A low-key Dule Hill doesn’t get much of a character to play as the Portland police detective who’s been investigating Meade’s patients—and the untimely demise so many of them seem to suffer—for years. It’s also convenient (and unlikely) that he doesn’t have a cell phone charger in his car, rendering him unreachable at a key moment.

What’s actually going on here is so simple, yet so insane, that you wish the filmmakers had explored it for maximum screaming-at-the-screen enjoyment. The possibilities for what Dr. Meade’s doing here are boundless, and have provided the foundation for more intriguing psychological thrillers in the past. (Naming those titles would give too much away, sorry.) Angel and Coote worked from a screenplay by Richard D’Ovidio, who also wrote the 2013’s “ The Call ,” starring Halle Berry as a 911 operator chasing down a kidnapper. That was a legitimately tense B-movie featuring several go-for-broke action sequences and a driven heroine at its center with a laser-like focus on her goal. Nothing nearly so compelling occurs in “Hypnotic.” Up until the busy, noisy climax, Siegel’s performance consists mostly of reacting to what’s being done to her. There’s not much to her character beyond her appearance, which is crucial to Dr. Meade’s attraction to Jenn. And at one point, when she knows he’s after her and her life is in danger, she simply goes back to her apartment and curls up on the couch.

Then again, that’s probably the same position you’ll be in when you’re scrolling through Netflix and stumble upon “Hypnotic.” Snap out of it.

Now playing on Netflix.

Christy Lemire

Christy Lemire is a longtime film critic who has written for RogerEbert.com since 2013. Before that, she was the film critic for The Associated Press for nearly 15 years and co-hosted the public television series "Ebert Presents At the Movies" opposite Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, with Roger Ebert serving as managing editor. Read her answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here .

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Film credits.

Hypnotic (2021)

Kate Siegel as Jenn

Jason O'Mara as Dr. Collin Meade

Dulé Hill as Rollins

Lucie Guest as Gina

Jaime M. Callica as Brian

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Hypnotic (2023) - movie review.

In 2002, inspired by a restoration of Hitchcock ’s 1958 classic Vertigo , filmmaker Robert Rodriguez set out to craft his own Hitchcockian thriller. Rodriguez does Hitchcock? Count me in!

Some 20 years later, that passion project has come to fruition in the form of Hypnotic , a twisty-turney thriller that stars Ben Affleck as Danny Rourke, an Austin-based detective determined to find his missing daughter with the help of a local psychic Diana Cruz ( Alice Braga ).

While the film suggests an attempt to capture the essence of his earlier works by promising an intriguing cat-and-mouse game with hypnotherapy, shady characters, and reality-bending bank robberies in its DNA, in reality it ends up drowning in a sea of convoluted twists and turns that ultimately lead to an absolute mind-bending mess.

While on one of his stakeouts following a spate of bank robberies in Houston and Amarillo, Rourke suspects an inside job involving the theft of a single safe deposit box in an Austin bank. Close observation reveals an increasingly suspicious figure (played perfectly by William Fichtner ) who may be at the heart of the robberies.

Thinking he may be onto a lead in the case, Rourke unexpectedly breaks the stakeout and enters the bank, beating the mysterious figure to the vault and its contents that prove to be far more valuable than anything they could have imagined. As the robbery unfolds, all hell breaks loose in gunfire and chaos as we see the mysterious figure seemingly manipulate the actions of everyone around him. Everyone but Rourke.

Who is this mystery man, what exactly are his powers, and why does Rourke seem to be unaffected by them? With the help of the psychic Cruz, Rourke navigates the perilous shadow world in which nothing is as it seems.

One of the biggest issues with Hypnotic is something that also plagues many superhero movies; the lack of a tether to reality. Say what you will about that notion, but although Rodriguez , who also co-writes the film, has proven himself capable of creating fantastical worlds that exist in various states of reality, Hypnotic takes it to a whole new level of implausibility. Sure, reality – or the lack thereof – serves a critical function here, but the plot becomes so tangled and far-fetched that it becomes difficult to fully invest in the story.

Furthermore, the mind-bending, shape-shifting elements of the film, around which the entire plot is built, are way too forced and contrived. As executed, the attempts to delve into the depths of the human psyche and explore the power of hypnosis come across as shallow and insufficient. Instead of provoking thought and challenging our perception, these elements simply add to the confusion and contribute to the overall sense of disbelief.

Even the performances from the usually reliable Affleck and Braga ( The Suicide Squad ), fail to salvage the film. Affleck 's protagonist is annoyingly one dimensional and fails to elicit any emotional connection with the audience. Braga , despite her talent, is given little to work with and ends up underutilized despite her ample screen time.

Ultimately, Hypnotic falls way short of its potential. While it shows flashes of Rodriguez 's earlier, more successful works, it fails to capture any of the magic that made those films special. The lack of grounding in reality, the convoluted plot, and the forced mind-bending elements all contribute to a disappointing and frustrating viewer experience. Certainly not the steroid-fueled Hitchcockian thriller Rodriguez was going for. You’ll forget this one before you hit the parking lot.

MPAA Rating: R for violence. Runtime: 93 mins Director : Robert Rodriguez Writer: Robert Rodriguez; Max Borenstein Cast: Ben Affleck; Alice Braga; JD Pardo Genre : Mystery | Thriller Tagline: Control is an illusion. Memorable Movie Quote: Theatrical Distributor: Ketchup Entertainment Official Site: https://www.hypnoticthemovie.com/ Release Date: May 14, 2023 DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: Synopsis : A detective investigates a mystery involving his missing daughter and a secret government program.

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Director Robert Rodriguez and Ben Affleck embark on a mind-bending mystery with more twists than a pretzel. Hypnotic often feels like a greatest hits compilation of sci-fi brain-teasers. The film is akin to a Jenga blocks puzzle of Memento, Inception, Dr. Strange , and Marvel's Jessica Jones with a generous sprinkling of The Adjustment Bureau . First act reveals dive deeper down the rabbit hole than expected. A shotgun pace never pauses long enough to process WTF moments . This isn't bad, just rushed. That's forgivable as the plot gets progressively better and more interesting.

Austin PD Detective Daniel Rourke (Affleck) sits troubled in his therapist's (Nikki Dixon) office. He closes his eyes and remembers a tragically haunting moment. An afternoon at the playground with his young daughter Minnie (Ionie Nieves) takes a devastating turn when he looks away briefly and then realizes that Minnie is missing. Her case sparks news headlines when a suspect is found. He claims to have no memory of taking the girl or what happened to her.

Daniel returns to work distressed. He's put on a strange assignment with partner and dear friend Nicks (JD Pardo). An anonymous caller has tipped law enforcement off to a bank robbery later that day. She even specifies a certain safe deposit box is the target. Money isn't the goal. The skeptical cops lie in wait for the crime.

Alice Braga as Psychic Diana Cruz

Daniel sits in a surveillance van monitoring the situation. Nothing initially seems out of place. He notices a striking man (William Fichtner) whispering to a random woman and the guards. They seem different after the interaction, and Daniel deduces they must all be accomplices. He breaks protocol and enters the bank against Nicks' advice. What he finds in the box rattles him to the core. Daniel encounters a diabolical adversary with a terrifying ability. His quest for answers leads to a local psychic. Diana Cruz (Alice Braga) warns they must run immediately or face certain death.

Hypnotic lives up to its title. Special individuals have the gift of mind control. "Hypnotics" create "constructs" that are completely immersive. Some are stronger than others, but it can be enhanced with training. Everything you see and hear could be an illusion. The power of persuasion and mental manipulation cannot be stopped.

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Dellrayne (Fichtner), a wicked antagonist , is cut from the same vile cloth as Kilgrave on Marvel's Jessica Jones . He commands and slaughters with impunity. Dellrayne's warped reality takes a visual page from Doctor Strange and Inception . Buildings shuffle like cards as various characters try to escape from his clutches. Nothing actually changes, but the mental barrier becomes a prison.

Layers of Deception

Daniel has to figure out why his daughter was kidnapped, Dellryane's part in the conspiracy, and his eventual goal. Rodriguez, who also co-writes, drops breadcrumb clues that constantly reframe the narrative. The film brings to mind Memento, where the protagonist pieces everything together, but builds a picture that could be completely false and just another layer of deception.

Hypnotic keeps you guessing with a fire hose delivery that prevents any immediate analysis of the labyrinthine plot. Repeat viewings will be required for further dissection. The film is spectacularly convoluted but certainly engrossing. Stick around for a surprising mid-credits whopper.

Hypnotic is a production of Solstice Studios, Ingenious Media, Studio 8, and Double R Productions. It will have a May 12th theatrical release from Ketchup Entertainment .

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Review: The ridiculous ‘Hypnotic’ allows Robert Rodriguez to play in his cinematic sandbox

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There’s something strange about “Hypnotic,” the new action thriller from writer-director Robert Rodriguez . There’s a sheen of inauthenticity to the trailer for this film, which stars Ben Affleck as a detective working a bank robbery while wracked with guilt over the kidnapping of his young daughter. Indeed, for the first 30 minutes or so of “Hypnotic,” something rings false — it feels like Rodriguez sloppily executing a sketchy exercise in the tropes and aesthetics of a detective noir. But then you realize that’s by design.

Because things aren’t what they seem in “Hypnotic,” as Det. Danny Rourke (Affleck) discovers when he descends down the rabbit hole of this inexplicable bank robbery, one that ends with him finding a Polaroid of his missing daughter in a safe deposit box. He follows the signs to a local psychic, Diana Cruz ( Alice Braga ), who unloads a baffling spiel about the “hypnotic constructs” weaponized by a mysterious man at the scene of the robbery whom they’re calling Dellrayne (William Fichtner), based on an inscription found on the Polaroid.

Thus unfolds Rodriguez’s “Hypnotic,” a mashup of “Inception,” “The Truman Show,” “Rashomon” and “X-Men.” After a few years directing TV and music videos, the film feels like Rodriguez getting back to his genre and indie roots, while working in his backyard of Austin, Texas, serving as director of photography (with Pablo Berron), editor and producer alongside his writing and directing duties, as he frequently does.

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Some three decades after his breakout feature, “El Mariachi,” Rodriguez is still making films with the same run-and-gun indie ethos, and “Hypnotic” is indeed a refreshing reminder of that, as well as of his innate facility with cinematic style. “Hypnotic” sees Rodriguez playing with discrete aesthetics for the different spaces of this story, shooting on location and utilizing distinct lighting schemes and color-grading, demonstrating his ability with camera movements and shot compositions that signify a true filmmaker behind the lens.

But then there’s the matter of the script, co-written with Max Borenstein. The writing can only be described as complete mumbo-jumbo — there’s so much explaining, truly reams of exposition, and yet not nearly enough. Poor Braga is left to rattle off absolute nonsense regarding a secret government program to develop “hypnotic constructs” and the psychically gifted people being turned into weapons. And yet, there is little attention paid to the emotional underpinning of the story that would make us care enough about these people, and without that, it all feels so flimsy. The story is insanely, and impossibly, twisty, extending even after the credits have started to roll (please, no “Hypnotic 2”).

Affleck also seems completely at loose ends here. Perhaps he just wanted to go play in Rodriguez’s sandbox for a bit, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but his performance is utterly inert. He employs his gravelly Batman voice to mutter the noir-ish one-liners given to the grieving, grizzled, hollow-cheeked Det. Rourke. He’s not a man of action, but rather reaction, haplessly buffeted by the forces around him, expressionless, arms akimbo, standing around like a character in “The Sims” — which should be a tell as to which way the wind blows in “Hypnotic.”

As a film fan, you have to respect the continued indie spirit with which Rodriguez works, grinding out these projects outside of the traditional Hollywood system and forging his own path in the industry. It’s fun to see him color in new shades of film genre, but the script and performances in “Hypnotic” are too laughably absurd to take seriously.

Walsh is a Tribune News Service film critic.

Rating: R, for violence Running time: 1 hour, 32 minutes Playing: Starts May 12 in general release

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Hypnotic review: Robert Rodriguez directs Ben Affleck in a pleasant Christopher Nolan homage

For director known for ambitious highs like sin city and alita: battle angel , it's a surprisingly normal but welcome departure.

Hypnotic may be Robert Rodriguez’s most conventional movie since 1998's The Faculty , and that’s not at all a bad thing. While his ambition can lead him to delirious highs like Sin City and Alita: Battle Angel , the writer-director-excess-multitasker is also extremely prone to over-rushed, half-assitude like Machete Kills , or near-endless failed attempts to make another kids’ movie as great as the first Spy Kids . His proposed remakes of Heavy Metal , Fire And Ice , and Red Sonja may remain in development hell, but instead he’s done the most surprising thing that he could. And that’s to make a star-driven cop/heist/chase movie with a sci-fi twist. It’s his version of a Christopher Nolan original, except for the fact that it costs far less and everything gets explained by the end.

The movie begins, like the TV show Lost , with an opening eye. A pen taps rhythmically, like a metronome. Ben Affleck is in therapy. He’s Rourke, a cop attempting to prove he’s fit for duty again following the disappearance—likely abduction—of his daughter. Ready or not, the events of the day suck him in regardless, as his partner Nicks (J.D. Pardo) just got a mysterious tip about a bank that’s about to be robbed of exactly one safe deposit box. Since that would follow a recent pattern of similar crimes, it seems legit.

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Just like every audience member who’s ever seen a cop movie before, Rourke almost immediately fingers William Fichtner as a primary suspect the moment the latter walks onscreen. But he can’t bust him without proof, and all Fichtner’s mysterious character seems to be doing is walking up to people and making post-hypnotic suggestions. They’re powerless to stop from acting on his command, and he seems to have beautifully choreographed every person he meets to thwart Rourke on a large scale. But not before Rourke finds a clue that his daughter may be involved, and his opponent’s name is apparently Dellrayne.

The less said about what ensues, the better, beyond the fact that Rourke teams up with a former associate of Dellrayne’s named Diana (Alice Braga), who moonlights as a scammy faux-psychic. Mysteries unfold, and like Inception and Tenet , the story has something of a symmetrical structure. Anyone familiar with twisty thrillers may see a thing or two coming, but probably not the full picture.

Rodriguez isn’t generally a filmmaker big on ambiguity; nor is his co-writer Max Borenstein, who’s responsible for the recent Godzilla and King Kong movies. Much to the likely relief of many, they don’t just throw out an obvious red herring and call it a day. Once it’s established that the primary antagonist can forcibly hypnotize anyone, nothing we see is entirely trustworthy. Even as he plays around with this conceit, however, Rodriguez appears to mostly play by his own rules. And he throws in a few visual effects, though they aren’t really needed, just to show he can do the Nolan scenery folding trick, too. Perhaps as counterbalance, he lets at least one scene of pure exposition in a drab setting go on longer than it ought.

Hypnotic isn’t just refreshingly straightforward for Rodriguez, but for Ben Affleck too. Traditionally, the actor has fared less well in generic leading-man parts than in character roles. Here, growling out the last vestiges of his Batman voice, he convincingly comes off like a guy who’s seen some stuff and come out maybe slightly the rougher for it. Never much of a convincing action hero back when Michael Bay was pushing him to the moon as one, Affleck today falls more naturally into the Danny Glover-ish “gettin’ too old for this shit” space. Which, of course, means he’s not actually too old for it.

On a deeper level, one could consider the hypnosis at work in the story a metaphor for the filmmaking process itself, and especially Rodriguez’s particular process of working with his family on his own virtual stages. Like Dellrayne, he’s doing it to put images into your head, and immerse you in a new reality. Watch it alone, and that reality will even be uniquely yours for a while. Watch it with an audience, and others may see things in different ways. Actors might play multiple parts. Sometimes, as with the insufferable We Can Be Heroes , the man behind the curtain will be the villain in your story. With Hypnotic , he earns a bit of redemption. Let’s just all agree to forget that mid-credits sequel tease. For now, anyway.

( Hypnotic arrives in theaters on May 12, 2023)

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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Hypnotic’ on Peacock, in Which Poor Ben Affleck is Trapped in a Miserable Sci-Fi Thriller

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Ben Affleck is in full mope-and-mutter mode in Hypnotic ( now streaming on Peacock ), a sci-fi thriller about high-powered mind-control agents who are part of a conspiracy to, I believe, make Affleck even more glum. The film is from director Robert Rodriguez, whose stock has been on a general decline since he jumped the Sharkboy 18 years ago, although he remains fairly prolific, perhaps because he doesn’t vet the pile of screenplays in his drawer for quality. Case in point, this ridiculous thing, which functions better as an Affleck meme factory than a comprehensible story. 

HYPNOTIC : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: It’s notable that the Wikipedia entry for Hypnotic warns us that its plot summary may be “too long or excessively detailed,” but that seems necessary considering how absurdly twist-riddled and overcomplicated this story is. I hereby pledge to do my best not to spoil anything or make it sound more interesting than it really is. We open in the midst of a therapy session where Austin Police Detective Danny Rourke (Affleck) goes over with the shrink how traumatized he is by that one fateful day when he briefly looked away from his daughter Minnie (Ionie Olivia) while she played in the park, and then never saw her again. He blames himself, and his marriage fell apart in the wake of the apparent abduction and likely murder. A suspect was lassoed but no body was ever found. The girl has been gone for a few years, and now Rourke never ever ever ever ever ever smiles – or poops, it seems.

The only thing Rourke does is throw himself into his work, and much to my dismay, we never get to see his apartment, which I imagine adheres to the Depressed Movie Detective Template and is therefore furniture-deficient but cluttered with Chinese-takeout boxes and half-empty beer bottles. All the more reason to just put in a zillion hours of work every week, I guess. He and his partner Nicks (J.D. Pardo) get a tip that a safe deposit box is about to get stolen, so they pile into a surveillance truck and stake out the bank. Rourke spots a gentleman outside the bank and immediately identifies him as suspicious, likely because he’s played by notable character actor William Fichtner with a big scar running down his face (and here I’d assert that it doesn’t take a big-shot cop to assume that notable character actor William Fichtner with a big scar running down his face is a suspicious gent). Rourke makes his way into the bank and beats notable character actor William Fichtner with a big scar running down his face to the safe deposit box, which contains only a polaroid of Minnie in it. The plot, it thicks!

Also notable about notable character actor William Fichtner with a big scar running down his face? He has the crazy ability to look at a person and manipulate their perception of reality. For example: He looks at a woman and says it’s really hot out here when it’s not really hot out here, and the next thing you know, she’s pulling off her top and cracking open a hydrant to cool off. As you’d imagine, this complicates things a bit. Rourke gets to investigatin’, and his investigatin’ leads him to a psychic-readings storefront where he meets Diana (Alice Braga), a Person Of Interest, and they barely introduce themselves to each other before notable character actor William Fichtner with a big scar running down his face mind-controls a dude to crash through the building on a motorcycle, which is just a terrible way to attempted-murder someone. This sets off a series of events that I won’t get into, because NO SPOILERS and all that, but I will say, after a while, it makes you feel like you’re trying to capture every member of a flock of wild geese as they flap and squawk and scatter in all directions.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Nothing like ripping off Inception 13 years after Inception , possibly with the hope that it’s been so long, nobody will notice that it’s a ripoff of Inception . But I noticed! I also noticed that it kinda rips off The Game , too!

Performance Worth Watching: If you watch Affleck closely while he’s being deadly serious, you might see him trying really hard not to laugh.  

Memorable Dialogue: Diana crafts a metaphor to describe where Rourke’s emotions exist in his brain: “Yours are locked inside a vault buried in a bunker 10 feet deep.”

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: Hypnotic is a classic cheater plot where the concept can be used to explain away whatever chintzy-ass lame-o random sorry excuse for a twist Rodriguez dreams up. See, this is a movie where Nothing Is As It Seems, where sometimes what a character sees is All inside His Head, narrative chicanery that’s sub-It Was All A Dream dreck. Give it to the movie for being unpredictable; take it away for being nonsensical and arbitrary, as if Rodriguez is making up the internal “rules” of this world as he goes along.

All this would be less maddening if the movie gave us more than a few nifty shots – Rodriguez’s directorial style seems to emphasize visual efficiency over crafting any memorable sequences, whether they’re rooted in action or character development. It doesn’t even lean into its absurdity, blowing an opportunity to pitch a tent in Campville and inspire a few hoots. And Affleck – well, he looks profoundly uncomfortable with the material, donning a mean mug that’s possibly the funniest in Hollywood, intentionally or otherwise. The film’s visual effects look incredibly cheap, especially considering its reported $65 million budget; for some sequences where the mind-controllers eff with reality, the edges of the screen warp and distort like we’re watching high-school a/v interns gussy up a public-access television broadcast. There’s a low-angle shot where Affleck concentrates really really hard in an attempt to use some super brain powers, and his forehead balloons until he looks like a bulb-headed Karloff Frankenstein. It was the only time Hypnotic inspired a response other than restless indifference – I laughed my ass off.

Our Call: I’m afraid Ben Affleck is more meme than man now. SKIP IT.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

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Ben Affleck's new movie Hypnotic is destined to be a cult classic

It's not good, but sure is entertaining.

Every now and then a movie comes along that defies a conventional rating system. We're not talking about a movie that's so good it's hard to talk about, but more one that is objectively bad yet also entertaining at the same time.

Directed by Robert Rodriguez (who also co-wrote with Max Borenstein), the movie was filmed in late 2021 and is now getting somewhat of a surprise release. It only screened as a 'work in progress' in March 2023 at SXSW, before its release date was confirmed for only two months later.

It's possible you might not have even heard of Hypnotic until now, even though it stars Ben Affleck in the lead role. But perhaps that's for the best, because if there's any movie you should go into blindly to enhance the experience, Hypnotic is the perfect fit to just let its wildness wash over you.

In that spirit, we'll give just an overview of Hypnotic which, on the surface, sounds like your classic detective thriller. Affleck plays detective Danny Rourke, who we meet in a therapy session to determine whether he's fit for duty following the unsolved abduction of his daughter.

No sooner has he decided to return to work – it's the only thing keeping him sane, naturally – than he's pulled into investigating the latest in a series of reality-bending bank robberies. What's more, the latest robbery features a clue that could lead to unravelling what happened to his daughter.

It's a setup about as generic as you could get for a detective movie, but you sense that's the point. Once Rourke starts his investigation, which leads him to team up with psychic Diana Cruz (Alice Braga), Hypnotic gets more and more unhinged with a twisty plot that appears to make up its own rules as it goes along.

The result is not a good movie as such, but one that moves at such a rapid pace that you'll be too busy trying to keep up to actually be bored. And in making sure that you never have the time to think about it, the movie is really playing the ultimate psychic trick on the audience.

Perhaps even Ben Affleck is in on it. Aiming (presumably) for world-weary and traumatised by past actions, Affleck's performance ends up being lifeless and at odds with the trashy joys elsewhere. The movie's biggest reveal could give a logical reason for this, but the performance doesn't improve after the twist either.

A much better fit for the material proves to be William Fichtner, because if you want an enigmatic, powerful villain, you opt for Fichtner. As the shady individual supposedly behind the robberies, he elevates the movie with his usual charismatic turn and makes some elements work much better than they really should.

There are sequences in Hypnotic that are genuinely good, rather than in the so-bad-it's-good camp of the rest of the movie. By the time the big twist comes, you'll have probably guessed it, but the sequence that follows is well-executed, blending what you thought you saw with what actually happened.

Visually, the movie makes the most of its reality-bending premise too, although you can see the heavy influence of the likes of Inception and Doctor Strange . Like the constantly-moving plot, it's ultimately all a distraction to stop you thinking too much, but it does the trick all the same.

If you were told Hypnotic was still a work in progress you could absolutely believe it. The in-world logic changes from scene to scene to fit the latest twist, while it also often feels like information is kept from you (or just not included/thought of) to make something more surprising.

It sure is entertaining though to watch a movie cling to the rails so much and never quite falling off into unwatchable territory, but also never being fully able to pull all of its parts together to fully work. You'll be hooked purely just to see what idea it'll throw at the wall next and if this one will land more effectively.

As such, a rating is probably irrelevant as with the right audience, Hypnotic is probably at least a four-star experience. At the same time, if you wanted to be critical about it (which we have to be), you wouldn't be lacking for reasons why it's actually a bad movie – and no amount of psychic trickery can hide those flaws.

Hypnotic is released in US cinemas on May 12 and in UK cinemas on May 26.

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Movies Editor, Digital Spy  Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor.  Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies , attending genre festivals around the world.   After moving to Digital Spy , initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.  

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Hypnotic Review

A one-trick mind..

Hypnotic premieres Wednesday, Oct. 27 on Netflix.

Midnight Mass ' Kate Siegel stars in Netflix's new chiller, Hypnotic, about a woman who falls victim to a conniving, cruel therapist and his post-hypnotism triggers. Siegel, a stalwart member of Mike Flanagan's "Flanagang," impressively elevates a lot of this film, but ultimately can't save it from feeling like an outdated, bare-minimum thriller designed to take up space in a sea of streaming fare.

Just the premise alone -- an evil hypnotist -- feels excessively yesteryear, when fewer people would have known the broad basics of hypnosis, and turning that particular therapeutic practice into something menacing would feel more subversive and fresh. Just coming off like a movie that was written decades ago -- especially in the '90s when there were a ton of psychological thrillers where someone seemingly normal in a person's life was a psycho (The Hand that Rocks the Cradle, Pacific Heights, Single White Female, etc.) -- gives this one a toothless timestamp.

Hypnotic Gallery

That's what you get with Hypnotic: all the familiar beats from all those past movies, including people thinking the hero is mentally unwell, friends and loved ones getting taken out for snooping, and a weirdly neat wrap-up considering the lives lost and questions raised.

Siegel, who's been nothing short of mesmerizing in her husband Mike Flanagan's Netflix fare (Hush, which she leads and collaborates on, is particularly fiendish and fun), plays a woman recovering from a tragedy, Jenn, who decides to give therapy a whirl. Jason O'Mara (Marvel's Agents of SHIELD , The Man in the High Castle ) plays Dr. Meade, a psychologist who, within a few lines of dialogue, suggests to Jenn that she be hypnotized on the spot, in her first session. This is brought up here only to note how the film also, for the sake of plot, doesn't pay much heed to how therapy works either.

Kate Siegel's best role is...

In the subsequent weeks. Jenn finds herself having weird dreams and then actually losing time. It all leads to Jenn digging into past crimes involving accusations against a rogue hypnotherapist, a trustworthy detective who's sort of half on the case (played by Psych 's Dule Hill), and the realization that she's now powerless against Dr. Meade because he can shut her down with a single word.

Now, there are for sure moments within this movie that are born of true terror, including the sheer idea of being utterly helpless and paralyzed and at the feet of a madman. It's not unlike the phobia of being awake during surgery -- being conscious, trapped, and in torment. But Hypnotic, designed to be a rather middling tale with dulled edges, doesn't make the most of those moments from a horror standpoint. It offers up only muted stakes and mild danger.

Siegel is great at drawing out the most from very little, but her character is still short-sighted here. Perhaps it's because we've grown accustomed to her having such well-crafted and meaty roles in series like Midnight Mass and The Haunting of Hill House that it's become more notable when she has to work harder to make a role feel more layered than it is. But the film itself, too, is a very quick and easy by-the-numbers story that pulls too many punches and plays things too safe to be memorable. When Dr. Meade's full plan is revealed, the silliness sort of escalates to a new level as he's transformed from an empty suit villain into something more ridiculous and cartoonish.

Netflix Spotlight: October 2021

The tone, beats, and premise of Hypnotic feel very out-of-time and, subsequently, very inconsequential. It dilutes what could have been a rather diabolical and memorable story and delivers a disposable ride that ends with a stilted and safe re-entry. It's slightly jarring to watch Kate Siegel inhabit a role that feels underwritten, but to her credit, she manages to pull as much tension and emotion out of the tale as possible.

In This Article

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Ign recommends.

'Longlegs' movie will haunt your nightmares and 'hijack your subconscious,' critics say

The reviews are in and the critics agree unanimously: "Longlegs" is absolutely terrifying. 

Neon's horror thriller film, starring Nicolas Cage as an unstable rural dollmaker and Maika Monroe as a young FBI agent, had its red carpet premiere at the Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles, California, on Tuesday.

Fans in attendance were each gifted a red 45" vinyl covered in "Longlegs Cipher," but left the theater too scared to play the soundtrack.

"Longlegs" is the latest film from actor and screenwriter Osg o od "Oz" Perkins , who is also the son of Anthony Perkins, the star of Alfred Hitchcock’s "Psycho. "

The film follows FBI agent Lee Harker (Monroe) as she tackles an unsolved serial killer case plaguing her small Pacific Northwest town, and takes an unexpected, supernatural turn as she discovers a personal connection to the occult killer.

Here's what critics are saying about "Longlegs."

went to the #Longlegs premiere and they gave us a vinyl but i’m too scared to play it 👀 pic.twitter.com/2pDXBmXm61 — inet 🦭 (@lifegonewild) July 9, 2024

'Longlegs' will 'hijack your subconscious,' critics say

Critics are calling "Longlegs" a true horror film, with Peter Debruge of Variety writing that it can "hijack your subconscious:" "Less than 12 hours after seeing it, the demented Nicolas Cage character resurfaced in my nightmares."

David Ehrlich of Indie Wire shared a similar sentiment in his review: "Terrifying in the abstract even as it grows increasingly absurd to watch, 'Longlegs' slinks its way into that liminal space between childhood nightmares and grown-up practicalities."

The H o llywood Reporter calls "Longlegs" Perkins' "most fully realized and relentlessly effective film to date," despite concerns that he may "stir too many elements into the mix here."

Neon has used strategic marketing to convey the horror level of this film, releasing a teaser stating that "the first time Maika Monroe saw Nicolas Cage as Longlegs, her heart rate hit 170 bpm."

The first time Maika Monroe saw Nicolas Cage as Longlegs, her heart rate hit 170 bpm. LONGLEGS opens in theaters Friday: https://t.co/3tgjmFAPLc pic.twitter.com/DaweYaDgxM — ↃL⊥\\Ↄ—\\ᘰ (@LonglegsFilm) July 8, 2024

One user replied , "the marketing for this film (is) so good i’m actually getting worried."

"Longlegs" stars Blair Underwood as Agent Carter and Alicia Witt as Ruth Harker, Lee Harker's ultra-religious mother. The ensemble cast includes Michelle Choi Lee, Dakota Daulby, Lauren Acala, Kieran Shipka, and Maila Hosie.

Watch the 'Longlegs' trailer:

When does 'Longlegs' hit theaters?

"Longlegs" is out in theaters Friday.

The 10 Most Rewatchable Samurai Movies, Ranked

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A bastion of international cinema that has provided some of the all-time greatest action epics ever put to the screen, samurai movies have become a defining subgenre of the Japanese film industry. Renowned for their stylistic presentation, their enchanting stories, and their underlying yet pointed thematic focus, many of the best samurai films date back to the mid-20th century, but there have been some gems from more recent times as well that have been a joy to revisit time and time again.

While the legendary Akira Kurosawa has several films that feature on this list, filmmakers from many different eras, each with their own unique perspective on samurai stories, have contributed greatly to the subgenre. From heroic epics to contemplative dramas and action-packed revenge flicks, these 10 films are among the most enjoyable and rewatchable hits of samurai cinema .

10 'Kagemusha' (1980)

Directed by akira kurosawa.

Samurai cinema, and the Japanese film industry at large, would never have made the seismic impact on international audiences without the astounding work of Akira Kurosawa. While the director’s films of the 50s and 60s are perhaps his most noteworthy in the genre, Kagemusha offers ample proof that the filmmaker never lost his grasp on samurai cinema, even in his later years.

Taking place in feudal Japan, the epic follows a petty thief who is recruited to be the double of an aging warlord on account of his uncanny resemblance to the military leader. However, when the warlord dies, the lowly crook must pose as the commander and lead his troops to war against a rival army . Epic and sprawling, with an arresting commitment to color, Kagemusha is an endlessly rewatchable samurai classic that presents the master of the genre at his most ambitious .

Rent on Amazon

9 '13 Assassins' (2010)

Directed by takashi miike.

One of the best films from the prolific Takashi Miike , 13 Assassins is an impressive, stylistic remake of the 1963 film of the same name. Set in the 1840s, with the Edo period coming to an end, it follows a small band of warriors as they hatch a scheme to assassinate a sadistic and murderous clan leader before he can be appointed a position on the Shogunate Council.

A tense and exciting action thriller, 13 Assassins garnered critical acclaim from both domestic and international reviews on account of its exceptional visual display and wildly entertaining execution. Concluding with a mesmerizing combat sequence that spans 45 minutes, the samurai epic is a divine spectacle of stylized violence and astounding fight choreography that provides ceaseless entertainment for lovers of samurai cinema and, more broadly, action blockbusters.

Watch on Amazon

8 'The Hidden Fortress' (1958)

Mixing Akira Kurosawa’s film-making prowess with a riveting adventure narrative, The Hidden Fortress is a most rewarding and engrossing blockbuster experience. Set during a tumultuous war, it follows two cowardly and opportunistic farmers who become acquainted with a defiant princess and her noble protector. Using the farmers as a cover, the royal and the warrior try to sneak through enemy territory to return to their home kingdom.

The pinnacle of adventure cinema, The Hidden Fortress is perhaps most famous to modern audiences for its significant influence on the American film industry, with it being a major inspiration for Star Wars . Still, The Hidden Fortress excels as a fantastic and enjoyable film in its own right, blending astonishing camerawork, a pacy screenplay, action aplenty, and splashes of comedy to be a Japanese classic that only gets more entertaining with each revisit .

The Hidden Fortress

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7 'The Twilight Samurai' (2002)

Directed by yôji yamada.

Something of a revisionist samurai film that balances the subgenre’s focus on codes of honor and nobility with a grounded drama and powerful romantic yearning, The Twilight Samurai is a profoundly touching viewing experience. In 1860s Japan, as the age of the samurai nears its end, lowly warrior and widower Seibei ( Hiroyuki Sanada ) works as a bookkeeper in a small village while raising his two daughters. His disillusionment with life is broken when he is reacquainted with the woman he loved as a child, but his samurai code and his duty prevent him from following his heart.

Somber and meditative, while using the samurai genre to convey a message of pacificism, The Twilight Samurai occupies a tone of resonant melancholy that is as hypnotic as it is moving. Essentially a story of love and fulfillment later in life, it is an underrated and somewhat unique samurai picture that is no less powerful upon multiple revisits .

The Twilight Samurai (2002)

6 'lady snowblood' (1973), directed by toshiya fujita.

Set in the late 19th century, Lady Snowblood may be an unconventional samurai film, but it remains a breathtaking highlight of the genre all the same. The revenge thriller focuses on the life of a woman born to a female inmate who conceived for the sole purpose of exacting revenge on the thugs who raped her and killed her husband. Growing into a ruthless assassin, Lady Snowblood exacts her mother’s vengeance with both ruthlessness and precision.

A scintillating and thoroughly rewarding film, it uses samurai aesthetic to powerful effect. The revenge tale is realized with rousing brilliance courtesy of Toshiya Fujita 's measured yet distinct direction and a note-perfect lead performance from Yuki Kashima . In addition to being a primary influence on Kill Bill , Lady Snowblood also stands as an enrapturing samurai film that excels at bringing the genre’s penchant for stylistic yet powerful violence to the screen .

Lady Snowblood

5 'throne of blood' (1957).

From samurai epics and even to contemporary crime dramas, Akira Kurosawa based many of his films on the works of William Shakespeare . The most strikingly apparent of his adaptations of the great playwright’s work is 1957’s Throne of Blood , an intense period drama based on ‘Macbeth’ . It follows Taketoki Washizu ( Toshiro Mifune ), a veteran warrior who hears a prophecy of his ascension to lordship. Manipulated by his ambitious wife, the warrior assassinates his sovereign to fulfil the premonition, only to be plagued by his prophesied downfall as well.

Whatever the adaptation loses in its lack of Shakespearian poetry it more than makes up for with its astonishing visual display that uses lingering natural elements like fog and wind to conjure up a mystic, eerie, and captivating atmosphere that is enthralling even on multiple rewatches . Majestic and haunting, Throne of Blood is a harrowing tale of ambition and power that supplants ‘Macbeth’ into the Edo period with seamless grace and immense impact.

Throne of Blood

Watch on Netflix

4 'Ran' (1985)

A spellbinding and stylistic masterpiece from Akira Kurosawa released decades after several of his most revered samurai movies, Ran thrives as a mesmeric period war film that sees the Japanese director adapting another Shakespearian classic in 'King Lear'. It follows the feud that grows between three brothers when their father, a great ruler, divides his kingdom so that each of them can rule. As hostilities become more intense, the region soon falls into all-out war.

With a brilliant story and a truly phenomenal use of color imagery, Ran has become one of the director's most acclaimed accomplishments and a defining triumph of samurai cinema. Its arresting display and its almighty scale make it an incredibly powerful and captivating viewing experience that is widely regarded to be among the greatest films of the 1980s, if not of all time. As astounding as it is measured and contemplative, Ran remains an awe-inspiring movie no matter how many times it is revisited .

3 'Harakiri' (1962)

Directed by masaki kobayashi.

Violent and thematically bleak, yet presented with astounding cinematography and a brilliantly weighted lead performance from Tatsuya Nakadai , Harakiri exhibits all the greatest strengths of samurai film. It focuses on a weary yet mysterious samurai who arrives at a lord’s palace requesting to commit seppuku. However, the longer he stays, and as the story of a past visitor emerges, the ronin’s true purpose starts to become clear.

The story is a brilliant expansion of samurai movie tropes, one that offers scorching criticism of the samurai code and of humanity’s indifference to violence and the impact it has on those around them. Also offering social commentary on the haves and the have-nots and featuring one of the greatest sword duels in cinematic history , Harakiri is a loaded and angry yet incredibly poised picture that is a hallmark of Japanese cinema .

Harakiri (1962)

Watch on Criterion

2 'Rashomon' (1950)

Viewed by many to be the greatest film of Akira Kurosawa’s career, Rashomon is a masterpiece of perspective, judgment and the subjectivity of truth set in Heian-era Kyoto. It follows three men who reflect on a recent trial in which a bandit was accused of murdering a samurai and raping his wife. However, as the trial progresses, each of the parties involved share significantly different versions of the same story, making the truth difficult to deduce.

While it thrives as a philosophical exercise about reality and perception and the way they clash in the judicial system without giving easy resolutions, Rashomon can be rewatched multiple times by viewers desperate to figure out the truth for themselves . Complemented by incredibly expressive performances and Kurosawa’s striking camera work, it is a timeless classic of international cinema that demands repeat viewings to be truly appreciated.

1 'Seven Samurai' (1954)

The pinnacle of samurai cinema and one of the greatest movies ever made, Seven Samurai is an undisputed masterpiece of epic proportions that incorporates fantastic character work, scintillating action, and complex themes into its mighty 207-minute runtime. It follows seven warriors recruited by an impoverished village to help them stand against a vicious gang of bandits who are soon to return and pillage their supplies. While the villagers themselves are divided on how to navigate their situation, the samurai prepare for the looming attack.

Beautifully presented with astounding visuals that emphasize natural elements and movement, while also offering insight into the perspective of samurai in feudal Japan, Seven Samurai has proven to be a timeless classic of international cinema. It is endlessly rewatchable as a stunning feat of film-making as well as one of the most enthralling, emotional, and exciting action movies ever made .

Seven Samurai

NEXT: The 20 Best Movies Directed by Akira Kurosawa, Ranked According to Letterboxd

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The ‘gladiator ii’ trailer is getting review bombed for three reasons.

The trailer suggests the long-awaited sequel could be a big hit for Paramount, but some fans think way too much about the Roman Empire.

By James Hibberd

James Hibberd

Writer-at-Large

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The action-packed trailer for Paramount’s Gladiator II has racked up 215 million global cross-platform views in just a few days and suggests Ridley Scott might have pulled off his long-awaited sequel to his Oscar-winning 2000 epic. The new film is led by Paul Mescal as a grown-up Lucius and also stars Pedro Pascal and Denzel Washington in what looks to be a rousing spectacle.

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Paul mescal says it would be "amazing" if 'gladiator ii' and 'wicked' replicated barbenheimer, 'gladiator ii' trailer brings paul mescal, denzel washington into the arena for battle.

Wading into the comments on the video and on X (not recommended), there seem to be three reasons for the backlash — and two are specific to the way the trailer was put together and seemingly not reflective of overall feelings about the film.

First, the trailer, clocking in at over three minutes, is being criticized for seemingly giving away too much. Audiences tend to dislike this — understandably. (Paramount’s official trailer for last year’s Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part 1 similarly gave away every major set piece.)

The second reason — and this is by far the most cited — is the trailer uses Kanye West and Jay-Z’s “No Church in the Wild.” Some are asking, “Why have rap music in a movie about the Roman Empire?” Admittedly, part of the original Gladiator ’s appeal was that it was unabashedly classical — a throwback to sandal-and-toga epics like Ben Hur and Spartacus . It also had a beloved soundtrack by Hans Zimmer, whose anthem “The Battle” is one of the best action anthems ever written.

Of course, it’s hard to imagine such contemporary music being used during the film’s Ancient Rome sequences, this is just a trailer, so perhaps critics should chill out. Also, “No Church in the Wild” includes the lyric “blood stains the Coliseum doors,” so there is that. But the music protest starts to look a rather dog whistle-y when you get to this next bit.

And here’s where it gets ugly (as you suspected it would). Some of the comments ridiculing the idea of Washington in the film have been racist. And when you combine that with people complaining about a rap song, it looks like another , sadly all too familiar, toxic fandom wave. (For those wondering, and not that it matters, but there were Black people in Ancient Rome — including in positions of power; such as famed Roman officer Lucius Quietus .)

Also, anybody upset about Washington wandering around Ancient Rome is going to have to keep on being upset into next year. Washington is also starring in Training Day director Antoine Fuqua’s upcoming and as-yet-untitled Netflix feature about the Roman-era commander Hannibal, written by original Gladiator scribe John Logan.

One more thing about the Gladiator music: Zimmer opted not to return for the sequel and Harry Gregson-Williams scored the film instead. “It’s really very simple. I’ve done that world. And I think I did it well,” Zimmer previously explained to Curzon about not returning. “And all I’d do is set myself up for either trying to repeat myself, which I don’t want to do, or getting slaughtered by critics who say you didn’t do it as well as you did the first time. We have a gladiator fight in Dune: Part Two , right? We have a gladiator fight in Gladiator obviously, but they couldn’t be more different!” (This from the man who scored four Pirates of the Caribbean movies, but OK.)

Here’s the Gladiator II trailer:

Here’s the original:

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Hypnotic Reviews

Given the widening discourse around mental health, you’d think Netflix would read the room. But instead, they’ve gone ahead and set the whole house on fire.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Jul 25, 2022

It's certainly not the best choice as a release to watch with Halloween right around the corner.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | Nov 15, 2021

The performances from this wonderful cast go well beyond the shallow script and illogical story. Slickly produced and coolly shot, Hypnotic is all surface.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 9, 2021

A dire attempt at a psychological thriller so mired in predictability you often wish for a zombie apocalypse to liven things up...Why is the woman always on the wrong end? Couldn't they have reversed the genders, or made the shrink a woman as well?

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Nov 8, 2021

It feels like one of those 70s psychological thrillers... dealing with that weird pop psychology.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Nov 5, 2021

Everything about this movie is exhausted, from the concept to the over-the-top performances.

Full Review | Nov 5, 2021

Mere filler for the Netflix catalogue. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Nov 3, 2021

Yes, horror and thrillers and mysteries all call for some level of suspension of disbelief, but Hypnoticasks too much.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/10 | Nov 3, 2021

It attempts to be complex and a bit cerebral, but it falls quite flat. Everything is laid out on the table pretty quickly, so there's no element of surprise, and becomes predictable.

Full Review | Nov 1, 2021

If only the dialogue wasn't so...sleep inducing.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | Oct 31, 2021

The narrative plays it too safe and straightforward, making for a serviceable but generic effort.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Oct 29, 2021

Hypnotic's ability to be very silly without being particularly entertaining is quite a remarkable achievement.

Full Review | Oct 28, 2021

Hypnotic follows a conventional formula to bring us a poorly executed film surrounding a fascinating premise.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/10 | Oct 28, 2021

What's actually going on here is so simple, yet so insane, that you wish the filmmakers had explored it for maximum screaming-at-the-screen enjoyment.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/4 | Oct 27, 2021

The tone, beats, and premise of Hypnotic feel very out-of-time and, subsequently, very inconsequential. It dilutes what could have been a rather diabolical and memorable story and delivers a disposable ride that ends with a stilted and safe re-entry.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/10 | Oct 27, 2021

Netflix original movies are like fast food; they're cheap and easy to make, they'll temporarily fill you up, have a passable taste that's familiar and unchallenging, but you'll either forget about the quick fix or regret it entirely.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Oct 27, 2021

Not the best, but not the worst. The short runtime helps, along with the fact that this movie knows exactly what it is. A fun thriller, and nothing more.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 27, 2021

An easy, laidback thriller film with a side of popcorn.

Hypnotic is anything but.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Oct 27, 2021

This is the kind of made-for-cable-level movie where a pedestrian script (by Richard D'Ovidio) with the usual horror cliches is elevated by strong acting, no-nonsense direction and a couple of neat twists.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 27, 2021

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‘The Convert’ Review: The British Are Coming

Guy Pearce plays a minister who arrives in New Zealand and finds his allegiances change in this antipodean western set in the 19th century.

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By Ben Kenigsberg

Near the start of “The Convert,” a minister named Thomas Munro (Guy Pearce) delivers a benediction aboard a ship. Some men, he says, would flinch if they knew just how vast the Earth is. “The Convert,” naturally, charts the course of Munro’s own education in the wide world. It is 1830, and he is on the Tasman Sea bound for New Zealand. The leaders of an emerging British town have paid for him to be brought there to run a church. But once he arrives and encounters the local Maori — and sees the murderous indifference with which the British treat them — his allegiances change.

In a welcome twist, “The Convert,” directed by Lee Tamahori, does not patronizingly tell the story of a violent colonizer who begins to sympathize with an uncomplicated, passive Indigenous population. Much of the drama concerns conflict among the Maori themselves. That their dialogue is sometimes subtitled and sometimes not is indicative of the movie’s — and maybe the screenwriters’ — tentative perspective.

Not long after first going ashore, Munro finds himself bargaining with Akatarewa (Lawrence Makoare), a violent chief, to save the life of a young woman, Rangimai (Tioreore Ngatai-Melbourne). Along with Charlotte (Jacqueline McKenzie), a white widow who previously lived among the Maori, Rangimai becomes one of Munro’s conduits to Maori customs, and eventually a key to his efforts to secure Indigenous unity against British encroachment.

There is more plot — the framing of a grocer for a coldblooded killing; a perfunctory romance; a bloody climactic battle — but the real star of this Kiwi western is the setting. The lush forests and stark, black sand beaches, shot in locations near those used in “The Piano,” help make “The Convert” more than a message movie.

The Convert Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 59 minutes. In theaters and available to rent or buy on most major platforms .