Hypnotic

 

The poster for Robert Rodriguez's latest feature, Hypnotic, a mind-bender (some might prefer appending the f-bomb to "mind"), superimposes star Ben Affleck over an intricate domino run.

This image is (unintentionally) ironic because the movie itself is scattered and chaotic, nothing like the ordered toppling of domino tiles.

Affleck plays an Austin, Texas, detective who is just returning to street duty following the disappearance of his daughter three years before. This is the first clue that something in the narrative is amiss. When the film opens, Affleck's Danny Rourke is in his therapist's office, recounting the last time he had seen his daughter, on the day of her abduction from a city park, while he was just a few feet away.

The session appears inconclusive, but Rourke is cleared to return to duty. He and his partner, Nicks (J.D. Pardo), respond to a report of potentially criminal doings at a bank. During the course of their investigation, they discover a mysterious man with mind-control powers (William Fichtner) who might know where Rourke's missing daughter is. Pursuing him leads Rourke and Nicks to another psychic played by Alice Braga, and the story starts to bend in another direction.

Illusion and delusion is the name of the game in this picture, a fairly humorless pseudo-sci-fi trifle whose level of narrative confusion makes it really hard to punch through.

Still, despite his muted aging frat daddy vibe, Affleck gives a credible performance as a distraught and distracted father with a huge secret.