Hypnotic, directed by Robert Rodriguez and starring Ben Affleck, is a film made for science fiction fans. I’ve got some things to say about this film, and I want you to stick around to the end because that is where I am going to put a piece of information that you need to know…but could be considered a spoiler. However, I’ll try to be as spoiler free as possible, until the end.

Written below is the full review (originally posted on Medium), but if you’d rather watch it, here is the link to my YouTube review:

When I review, I can forgive a lot of rough edges in the science fiction and fantasy genre because much of it just isn’t real and isn’t possible. You need to, in the words of William Wordsworth, suspend your disbelief. So, I do as long as what’s presented in the film fits into the story world presented.

However, when you bring me a classic science fiction film that is hard core on the “what if” principle that inspired storytellers like Isaac Asimov, Mary Shelly, Ray Bradbury, Octavia Butler, William Gibson, and others, you better have your ducks in a row or fandom will eat you alive at the box office.

So, this perspective is where I am coming from with this review. There were some real marketing problems with this film. I didn’t even know it existed until a couple days ago. I didn’t really understand what it was about until I saw it. And the layered complexity of the film that I saw wasn’t really present in the promotional description available. Frankly, an audience that is not expecting this film is not going to get this film, and they are not going to like it. However, I loved it.

If you enjoy savvy, thought provoking science fiction that really makes you think, that has levels of meaning and layers of easter eggs and clues to uncover, and always seems to have a surprise up its sleeve, I think you are going to love it, too. I actually think it’s one of the best classic science fiction films I’ve seen in a really, really long time.

It’s not for the faint of heart. It won’t make sense to you if you aren’t actively watching it and thinking about what you are seeing because it is a puzzle within a puzzle within a puzzle. In short, it’s a mind-bending psychological thriller that is exactly the kind of film that hard core science fiction fan loves and rarely gets…and right now, most of them don’t even know it exists.

The film focuses on Ben Affleck’s character Danny Rourke, a police officer who is reeling from the abduction of his daughter and as more clues to her abduction surface, he realizes that the world is a whole lot bigger and a whole lot more complex than he ever imagined … and that reality and perception can be changed with a word. From there, the chase is on to find his daughter and to survive against a foe who seems to outsmart him at every turn simply by changing the rules of the game. And that foe is played by William Fichtner who is spot on perfect for this role. He really leveled up the creepy psychological feel of the film.

Early in the film we get some exposition about Hypnotics, what they are, and how they work. These short little data dumps give viewers useful information for context. Not every audience member needs the information, but it’s there to set the story rules of the world. It’s honestly not a big deal and it frees up your mind to really focus on the story and the Easter eggs without having to try to puzzle out the rules of how a hypnotic operates. But these “telling” moments are far outnumbered by “showing” moments throughout the film that reference back to these little info dumps to help the audience make faster connections to what’s happening on screen so that they can keep up with the speed of the story.

There are some things about the film that might be a bit too clever, and I think this might be Hypnotic’s greatest failure. However, I would much rather have a clever film where you are forced to puzzle out the meaning of things or really think about the logic of how a thing is possible rather than having it all explained to you in info dumps…or not explained at all. If they would have added any more info dumps, the film would have felt really dumbed down. Instead, the way the film is constructed tests everything you think you know about the film and then changes it.

There are so many easter eggs that even if you think you caught them all, you didn’t. Even after you leave the theater, your mind will be crunching the clues and piecing together new layers of the story. You’ll have these little “ah hah!” moments as you put together some of those mind-bending scenes. Even better, the more you think about the film, the more you understand some of the filming choices that were chosen such the jump cuts in which things happened that just didn’t make sense in the moment…but if you think about it after the film ends, they make perfect sense. As it all sets into your mind hours later, the layers of the puzzles start clicking into place in such fun ways.

This is one of those films that you should see with friends because you will want to talk about it afterwards. I want to talk about it, but literally nobody I know has seen the film … and I know TONS of science fiction fans.

I cannot understand why film companies pour all this money into a film, dump it into the market, and then do almost no promotion for it. Anyway….

This is classic science fiction storytelling, and Robert Rodriguez gets it right. From top to tail, he nails it. There are definite nods to films like Inception with some of the visual world bending, but I’d also nod to other films like Dark City, Edge of Tomorrow, Starship Troopers in its ability to bend your brain and make you question everything you think you know about what you are seeing. There is a part of me that thinks Rodriguez and his cowriter Max Borenstein might have taken a page out of the Memento book by writing this script backwards and then forwards to make sure the puzzle works. And it works.

Now for the bit I told you to stick around for… The film was good right up to the credits, I thought it was solid speculative story. I really enjoyed it, but it didn’t really jump to that next level for me… until the theater emptied out (except for me and a couple stragglers). I was literally at the theater door when the credits and stopped showed a short scene, then the credits started again, and then stopped to finish the scene before starting again. It was so clever, maybe too clever since everyone else left, but that end credits scene nailed this movie for me. The fact that I couldn’t trust the ending to be the end was just another layer I the puzzle. Shear brilliance! And it kept me thinking about the film long after I left the theater.

Thanks everyone, go see this film. Then come back and let me know what you thought. See you soon.