Review of Trance (2013) by Dustin F — 04 Aug 2013

Danny Boyle has had his fair share of duds throughout his career, especially in his earlier years when, coincidentally, he was also working with writer John Hodge. Unfortunately, Trance has more in common with those than his stellar creative output of the last decade, and is easily his worst film since the Beach.

It's a shame, too, because Trance gets off to a good start. The first half is well set up, tightly constructed and intriguing. The performances by the three leads are solid, and it seems Boyle is well on his way to putting his own spin on the heist genre.

Then a love triangle element is introduced halfway through, and things rapidly digress from there to the random and ridiculous. The story never adds up, and what does simply amounts to a cheap knock off of something like Eternal Sunshine or Inception without the emotional investment.

The production values and styling are up to Boyle's high standards, but the writing really lets him down in the end, making Trance something only his loyal fans should seek out.