Hypnotic (2023)

Hypnotic is the kind of lean, pulpy thriller that commits to its own weirdness and dares you to keep up—an old-fashioned movie-house mind game dressed in slick, reality-bending sci-fi. Robert Rodriguez brings a playful B-movie swagger to the proceedings, snapping from noirish investigation to sudden perceptual rug-pulls with the confidence of a filmmaker who knows that style is part of the story. Ben Affleck anchors the chaos with a bruised, determined intensity, while Alice Braga adds a cool steadiness that helps the film’s shifting vibe feel more like a ride than a mess. If you need airtight logic and subtlety, this may not be your hypnotic of choice, but if you want a brisk, twisty, never-boring genre cocktail that’s more fun than it has any right to be, it’s an easy ticket to punch.

Hypnotic is clearly aiming for a slick, reality-bending conspiracy thriller in the Robert Rodriguez wheelhouse, with big twists, shadowy government programs, and a detective driven by personal loss. The problem is that the movie leans so hard on familiar mind-control tropes and rapid plot pivots that it can start to feel more like a puzzle box being shaken than a story you’re meant to feel, and the dialogue and character work don’t do much to ground the chaos. Ben Affleck’s low-key approach may read as “numb and haunted” for some, but for others it’ll come off as flat, which makes it harder to care when the film asks you to buy into yet another layer of reality. If you enjoy high-concept thrillers mainly for the mechanics and don’t mind a few rough edges and contrivances, you might have fun; if you want tight suspense, emotional weight, or fresh ideas in this subgenre, this likely won’t be your ride.