Review of Hypnotic (2023) by Neveresttt — 24 May 2023

The new "Guardians of the Galaxy" has already been watched, and there are a couple more days until the second part of "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse," but I still want something new. This weekend, "Hypnotic" came to my rescue.

Before reading further, I recommend watching the trailer.

Perhaps not the most anticipated film. I, for example, learned about it from the advertisement before some other movie. The story about people who influence the minds of others with the power of thought sounds interesting. It immediately reminded me of "Inception," the scenes from the trailer with shifting buildings and the line "What you see is an illusion" helped me make that parallel quickly. The trailer did its job: I marked "Hypnotic" for myself.

By the way, it turns out the trailer is a brief retelling of the first few minutes of the film, not just a compilation of spectacular scenes. This is more of a plus than a minus because it helps us understand what to expect from the movie and whether it's worth spending money on a ticket.

So, the "Hypnotic" trailer is a good foundation. The movie itself (obviously) will answer the questions about the kidnapping of the protagonist's daughter and the specific involvement of hypnosis in more detail. The answers are sequential and quite logical, and the story follows the rules set initially. Up to a certain point. It seemed to me that when all the cards were revealed and it became clear what was happening, the events suddenly started rushing, slightly abusing those very rules. Why this happened is unclear; maybe they needed to fit within the 90-minute runtime? If the film had an extra 15 minutes, the ending could have been more tense and intriguing, but in my opinion, it turned out somewhat chaotic and blurry.

The story of "Hypnotic" looks quite complete, but it seems to hint at a sequel. However, with box office earnings of $940,000 on the first day and a budget of $65 million (I looked this up after watching), it doesn't seem like the result of a film that will have a continuation.

"Hypnotic" is a solid average film that was enough for me to fill the gap between the movies I'm eagerly waiting for. It didn't change my reality, but it didn't disappoint either. So, if you happen to have a free evening and want to spend it at the cinema, "Hypnotic" is a decent option worth considering.

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