HYPNOTIC : Tuesday 16th May 2023.

I saw the M Rated 'HYPNOTIC' at my local independent movie theatre this week, and this American Sci-Fi action thriller is Co-Written, Co-Produced, Directed, Edited and scored by Robert Rodriguez. His previous film making credits include his 1992 debut with 'El Mariachi', then 'Desperado' in 1995, 'From Dusk till Dawn' in 1996, the 'Spy Kids' franchise which has so far spawned four films with a fifth reportedly in development for Netflix, 'Sin City' in 2005 and 'Sin City : A Dame to Kill For' in 2014, 'Planet Terror' in 2007, 'Machete' in 2010 and 'Alita : Battle Angel' in 2019. This film saw its 'work-in-progress' World Premier at SXSW in late March this year, was released Stateside last week too and cost in the region of US$65M to produce and has so far grossed just US$3.5M having garnered mixed reviews. It is reportedly the worst Box Office opening for any Rodriguez film and Ben Affleck led feature, and was partly blamed on the lack of marketing by the studio behind this production. 

The film opens up with Austin Police Detective Danny Rourke (Ben Affleck) recounting to his therapist (Nikki Dixon) the abduction of his young daughter Minnie (Lonie Nieves) which ultimately led to the break-up of his marriage. Afterwards, he is collected by his partner, Nicks (J.D. Pardo), who advises him they have received an anonymous tip that a safety deposit box at a bank is about to be robbed. 

At the stakeout, they observe a mysterious man give unheard instructions to a civilian woman, a bank teller, and two armed Police officers who seemingly without question follow his instructions as he enters the bank. Rourke beats him to the targeted safety deposit box, unlocks it and finds a solitary photograph of Minnie inside with the handwritten message 'Find Lev Dellrayne' on it. Rourke chases the man to a parking lot rooftop, where he witnesses him command two Police officers to shoot each other as he escapes, by seemingly jumping off a tall building much to Rourke's astonishment.

Rourke believes the heist has something to do with the disappearance of his daughter, and so he starts digging around. Forensics lead Rourke to the address of fortuneteller and hypnotist Diana Cruz (Alice Braga) who it turns out was the anonymous caller of the bank heist earlier in the day. After he describes the man from the heist, a client of Cruz's, under the control of the man from the bank, drives a motorcycle through Cruz's shop window before killing himself. Rourke takes Cruz into custody. She explains that the mysterious man from the bank is named 'Lev Dellrayne' (William Fichtner), and that both he and her are escaped 'Hypnotics' - powerful hypnotists trained by a secretive government 'Division' to control people's minds. Rourke is mysteriously immune to their control, more than likely caused by a block in his mind brought about by a traumatic or emotional experience in his life. Meanwhile Dellrayne, outside the station, commands Nicks to attack Rourke and Cruz, which he does with Cruz putting a bullet between his eyes to stop his onslaught.

Rourke and Cruz flee to Mexico now that they are on the TV news for the slaying of Nicks. There, they learn from a former Division contact Jeremiah (Jackie Earle Haley) that Dellrayne is looking for 'Domino', a powerful weapon developed by the Division, stolen, and hidden by Dellrayne when he escaped. 

Dellrayne then wiped his own memory leaving behind certain 'triggers' allowing him to gradually recall Domino's location and regain his own hypnotic power. Dellrayne eventually reveals himself to be Jeremiah in disguise and pursues Rourke and Cruz through a hypnotically constructed environment before Rourke taps into his own previously unknown hypnotic power and so giving them the chance to escape.

Cruz seeks out River (Dayo Okeniyi) a reclusive Division hacker, with Rourke who discovers Rourke's wife Vivian in a Division database. Later, Rourke investigates River's database himself, and discovers that Minnie is in fact Domino, the daughter of two of the most powerful hypnotics - Rourke and Cruz (who it turns out is Vivian). As 'Cruz' interrupts him, Rourke comes to the realisation that the room he is sat in and all of the events up to this time have been constructs. He wakes up in a large room populated by Division agents, all of whom he has seen or interacted with throughout the carefully constructed story, including Nicks, Dellrayne and even his therapist. 

Vivian and Dellrayne explain that Rourke and Vivian are both hypnotics, and their daughter Minnie was born and raised within the Division. He however, escaped with her to stop her from becoming their weapon. Hiding her and then wiping his memory, Rourke no longer remembers where she is, and the Division has been putting him through constructs of the search for her to make him remember, on twelve previous occasions. Rourke is plugged back into the construct for the thirteenth time now, where he repeats the session with his therapist and the stakeout at the bank heist. However, Rourke escapes using his own powers and flees as the Division realises that 'Find Lev Dellrayne' refers not to a person but a place - 'Deer Valley Lane' the location of a ranch where Rourke's foster parents have been hiding Minnie.

Rourke arrives at the ranch and is reunited with Minnie (Hala Finley), who has now aged by three years and has grown to have full control of her powers. The Division arrive en masse and surround the ranch but it is all revealed to be another construct this time of Minnie's creation. Minnie restores Vivian's memories that she was involved in Rourke and Minnie's escape, but wiped her memory so that when Minnie was powerful enough to defeat the entire Division at once, Vivian could unwittingly lead them to her. Minnie forces the Division agents to turn on each other so taking themselves out, including Dellrayne who turns his own gun on himself and plugs three bullets into his chest, after which she, her parents, and Rourke's foster parents embrace in their newfound freedom. In a mid-credits sequence, Dellrayne is shown to have survived, having constructed Rourke's foster-father Carl (Jeff Fahey) to look like him during the fight with Minnie. He is seen walking back to the helicopter from whence he came. 

'Hypnotic' is entertaining and watchable enough and at a brisk 92 minutes run time it never outstays its welcome. Here the maestro of B-grade movies Robert Rodriguez channels the likes of Christopher Nolan and Alfred Hitchcock dabbling in the worlds of Sci-Fi and thrillers with a good dose of action thrown in to keep viewers motivated enough to sit through this picture's preposterous premise which is slow to get off the ground but once the momentum builds it delivers a reasonably satisfying conclusion. Ben Affleck phones his performance in, as the grizzled square-jawed actor can see with his eyes closed that this barely above average thriller is hardly going to cause a stir in the pantheon of genre bending films of a similar ilk. 

'Hypnotic' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

12 STRONG : Tuesday 13th March 2018.

'12 STRONG' aka '12 Strong : The Declassified True Story of the Horse Soldiers' which I caught earlier this week, is an American war drama film from Danish first time Director Nicolai Fuglsig and is based on Doug Stanton's New York Times Bestsellers non-fiction book 'Horse Soldiers' published in 2009. The film was released in the US in mid-January, cost US$35M to make and has so far grossed US$58M and has received mixed or average Reviews thus far. The film tells the story of CIA paramilitary officers, US Special Forces and USAF Combat Controllers, sent to Afghanistan immediately following the September 11 attacks.

The film open up with Mitch Nelson (Chris Hemsworth) moving into a new family home with his wife Jean (Elsa Pataky) and young cute as a button daughter Maddy. It is early morning and the family are busying themselves unpacking their worldly possessions, before packing Maddy off to school for the day. The television is switched on playing the early morning cartoons. It is September 11th 2001. The cartoon broadcast is interrupted by live footage of the plane attacks on the World Trade Centre twin towers, and the Pentagon. The family look on in stunned disbelief.

Next we see Nelson marching briskly into some Army HQ where he had previously (upon request) been assigned to staff duty following several years as a combat trainer, although never having seen active duty himself nor fired a shot in anger. He volunteers to lead Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA) 595 into Afghanistan to do battle with the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks, but his commanding officer Lt. Col. Max Bowers (Rob Riggle) has very different ideas for him. Frustrated, his colleague Chief Warrant Officer Hal Spencer (Michael Shannon) who is about to retire, volunteers for this additional assignment, and puts in a good word to Bowers about Nelson's leadership attributes, which has the desired effect.

Before you know it, Nelson's team is assembled and their off to Uzbekistan having farewelled their families. It is early October 2001, some four weeks following the attacks. At an Army Base Camp, Nelson and Spencer receive their orders from Special Forces Group Commander Col. John Mulholland (William Fichtner) who selects their team over five others, because Nelson saw what they were going into for what it was, was well researched, and despite not having seen active duty had a raw determination to succeed, quickly and diligently.

Those orders given to Nelson and Spencer were to locate the Northern Alliance and befriend the leader Abdul Rashid Dostum (Navid Negahban) and gain his trust in waging war against The Taliban and al-Qaida and ultimately capture the strategically placed city of Mazar-i-Sharif - the fourth largest city of Afghanistan located in the country's north.

After a night time drop under cover of darkness and flying at an altitude that their transport Chinook Helicopter can barely withstand, the team of twelve men, led by Nelson, are dropped off forty miles or so south of Mazar-i-Sharif. They assemble with the local militia at a nearby village and hunker down for the remaining night. The next morning Dostum arrives on horseback, and after an exchange of pleasantries, the requisite goodwill gifts and getting-to-know-you which is a little hostile, the team of twelve are split in two, because Dostum only has six spare horses. Six, including Nelson depart for the mountains with Dostum and his men, leaving the other six, including Spencer to wait it out in the fortified village, known as 'The Alamo', pending further instructions.

Following several battles with The Taliban in the mountain terrain over the next few days, Nelson becomes increasingly agitated with Dostum for not divulging his plan of attack, and acting carelessly with the lives of his men. Dostum in turn accuses Nelson, and the US for not caring about the future of his country and are therefore unwilling to sacrifice for it. Later, the pair reconcile their differences when Dostum sees just how tough and determined Nelson is. Dostum in turn advises that he hates The Taliban so much for killing his family, at the hands of one of their leaders Mullah Razzan (Numan Acar).

By now Spencer and his five men have travelled on horseback into the mountains to meet up with Nelson, some faring better than others along the rocky terrain. After a number of skirmishes with The Taliban which result in victories for the Northern Alliance, Dostum is making headway towards Mazar-i-Sharif. However, the US Government sends an e-mail to Nelson demanding to know why progress is so slow when the might of Uncle Sam is providing tactical air support with on demand bombing raids.

Nelson responds laying it out exactly as it is, but not before Mulholland has mobilised a second ODA team to support Atta Muhammad, another Northern Alliance leader who is a political rival to Dostum, and for whom there is no love lost between the two men. Nelson has to explain this course of action to Dostum, who responds less than favourably to the news, and does an exit stage left with his men abandoning Nelson to his own devices. Nelson must progress with the plan regardless, and from high up in the mountains at a pinch point in the pass attacks a strategically held Taliban strong hold that they must overthrow to gain access to Mazar-i-Sharif, but encounters heavy resistance from Razzan and his well armed men.

Under attack form all sides, Spencer and his men hold off a group of Taliban fighters, who make as if to surrender. Not knowing if they are serious or not, Spencer treads very carefully and cautiously, just as a suicide bomber close by detonates his explosive vest, badly injuring Spencer and killing various others - mostly of the Taliban kind. Nelson orders a medevac for Spencer before joining the fray once more against the heavily fortified Taliban. Dostum appears with his militia men and the now strengthened combined forces repel the Taliban on horseback all guns blazing, and Dostum kills a fleeing Razzan.

Dostum and Atta Muhammad meet on the outskirts of Mazar-i-Sharif overseen by Nelson, who is fearing the worst when the two meet. But Dostum holds out his hand and congratulates his Northern Alliance ally today (for tomorrow he may feel differently). Upon arriving back at the Army Base Camp, Nelson learns that Spencer has survived meaning that all twelve men who went out, returned safe. ODA 595 return home to the US after 23 days in country.

This is a well made based on a true story recent war film that is underpinned by great cinematography, well realised action set pieces, a strong cast and a lesser known story of heroics against the odds delivered by an unproven Captain leading a small but capable band of brothers into the very first US engagement with the Taliban following the 9/11 attacks. The film however, lacks depth - it lurches from one bloody confrontation to another with aerial shots of bombs dropping on the terrain and wiping out Taliban strongholds, and how the few horseridng soldiers and local militia so successfully manage to wipe out hordes of well armed, mountain dwelling Taliban. Uncle Sam wields his can of whoop ass in the usual predictable manner against a local enemy that boasts numbers, firepower, resilience and motivation, but fear not because truth, justice and the American way will prevail. And other than Nelson, Spencer, intelligence Sergeant Sam Diller (Michael Pena) and weapons expert Ben Milo (Trevante Rhodes) we get to know very little about the eight remaining ODA 595 Team, who all survive and come back home against seemingly overwhelming odds largely unscathed, which is surprising in itself, but clearly fact! Like 'The Magnificent 12' riding in to Dodge to right the wrongs of the local cattle rustlers, this surrogate Western film deals with the action and less of the motivation, the emotion, the consequences, or what's going on around the periphery . . . but I guess that is the point here, and for that you can't fault the film.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

INDEPENDENCE DAY : RESURGENCE - Friday 24th June 2016.

'INDEPENDENCE DAY : RESURGENCE' which I saw on Friday evening is the sequel to 'Independence Day' which opened in July 1996 and went on to take out the highest grossing film of 1996 worldwide, grossing US$817M, and by September of that year ranked as the sixth highest grossing film of all time. Now 20 years later, it sits at the #55 spot. Made for US$75M back then and Directed by the 'Master of Disaster' himself Roland Emmerich and Co-Written by him too, that film propelled Will Smith into the stratosphere (literally) together with his other co-stars that included Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Randy Quaid, Robert Loggia, Judd Hirsch, Vivica Fox and Mary McDonnell. Along the way the movie picked up an Oscar for Best Visual Effects and 32 other award wins and another 33 nominations. And now twenty years later, in terms of real time, and movie time, the long awaited sequel has arrived. Made for US$165M and released worldwide just last week, Roland Emmerich is once again in the Director chair with a Co-Producer and a Co-Writer credit too, and, with a number of that original line up returning again with their cans of 'whoop-ass' to thwart them pesky alien Mo-Fo's out of the sky and into oblivion . . . maybe! The film has so far taken US$143M over its opening weekend worldwide.

This time Jeff Goldblum is back as is Bill Pullman, Brent Spiner, Judd Hirsch, Vivica Fox and Robert Loggia (who died after filming wrapped, and to whom the film is honoured), joined by Liam Hemsworth, William Fichtner and Charlotte Gainsbourg but alas no Will Smith. Smith's character in the first film, Steven Hiller, we learn was killed nine years ago when testing a new experimental fighter jet designed using alien technology. Now hailed a national hero, his memory lives on, and manifests itself in the film through his son Dylan Hiller (Jessie Usher) - also an acclaimed pilot and captain of the Earth Space Defence (ESD) which rose out of the events of the 1996 attack.


It seems that 20 years ago when the invading aliens were wiped out, they sent a distress signal to their other fleets in deep space before finally succumbing to the might of Uncle Sam, and secreting themselves away elsewhere around our fragile green planet. Over those intervening years, The United Nations has rebuilt itself and created the ESD programme based at Area 51 using recovered alien technology as an early warning system and as its defence against future alien hostilities. Earth now also has early warning bases on the Moon, on Mars and on Rhea - one of Saturn's moons.

With the advent of global celebrations marking the 20th anniversary of that 1996 alien attack the now President of the USA Elizabeth Lanford (Sela Ward), orders an attack and destroy directive on a vast spherical ship that appears through a worm hole over the Moon Base. However, David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum) now Director of ESD is not convinced that this spherical ship is hostile, having boarded a fully intact downed alien ship laying dormant in Africa and come to the realisation that it sent an intergalactic distress signal back to its home world 20 years before. But, the President blows it into oblivion before any form of contact can be made choosing to shoot first, and ask questions later.

Almost simultaneously, the ESD report that its base on the Saturn Moon has gone . . . . without a trace, and before you can say 'Uncle Sam' a space ship measuring 3,000 kms in diameter emerges and wipes out the Moon Base killing all and destroying everything in its path on its journey toward Earth. Before doing so however, Levinson and ESD pilot Jake Morrison (Liam Hemsworth) in the latters space tug, retrieve a vital container from that downed spherical ship which they take back to ESD HQ at Area 51. Here ex-President Whitmore (Bill Pullman) and Dr. Brakish Okun (Brent Spiner) who has just woken from a twenty year coma, have been experiencing visions of alien logograms since their close encounters with the alien kind of twenty years ago and set about trying to interpret these and decipher their meaning - with some success.

In the meantime, the 3,000kms wide alien spacecraft enters Earths atmosphere with is own gravitational force and begins to devastate much of Asia with Singapore getting flattened. With its own gravity many buildings and structures are lifted high into the air, and as Levinson comments 'what's goes up, must come down' . . . and it does - on London, in spectacular fashion! When the alien super ship comes to rest it does so over the Atlantic Ocean and much of the USA with further widespread death and destruction, all delivered with Emmerich's trademark gravitas. It promptly begins drilling mid-ocean with the aim of sucking out the Earth's core to harvest the heat source to power its own vessels, but in so doing will throw out our planets magnetic fields, which in turn will destroy us. Levinson had seen earlier evidence of this in the African ship he boarded, but at the time did not understand the significance of that activity which mysteriously halted when the attacking aliens were thwarted twenty years earlier.

Back in Area 51, Dr. Okun cuts open the container retrieved by Levinson and Morrison and out rolls another spherical orb of artificial intelligence that is able to communicate directly, and advise that it is friendly and had come to warn Earth of the attack now happening and help evacuate humanity to a refuge planet. The sphere tells its own story of how it is the sole survivor from a world also wiped out by this aliens now attacking the Earth, and that their Queen is now coming to wipe it out too once and for all, knowing that the sphere is the last threat to their existence. And so Hiller is tasked with a counter attack on the Queen with the full and unrelenting force of ESD, but this attack doesn't go quite according to plan resulting in the bulk of the attack squadron being wiped out . . . except our heroes of course.

The Queen now rapidly advances to retrieve and destroy the sphere now locked inside an isolation chamber within Area 51, believed to be safe and secure. A decoy mission is quickly planned and rapidly executed to sidetrack the Queen out into the open and therefore exposed to attack using ground and what's left of the air forces. The Queen however, is not the Queen for nothing and when she's pissed you don't want to get in her way, as many find out to their ultimate cost. Whitmore, bows out with his final salute to Uncle Sam and flies the space tug loaded to the gunnels with nuclear warheads into the Queens space ship and destroys it, destroying himself in the process. The Queen escapes and quickly tramples on everything and everyone and breaks through to the isolation chamber and the sphere. But in the heat of the desert and with the force of her own gun ships piloted now by Hiller, Morrison and Whitmore's daughter (also a trained fighter pilot conveniently), the Queen is destroyed, and with it the Atlantic drilling is halted with minutes to spare before our core is punctured, and the mother ship begins its retreat.

Strap yourself in for death and destruction writ large as only Roland Emmerich knows how to deliver, but beware, this does not equate to a great movie by any means. Yes, it's big on spectacle and this is handled well, but really, there is nothing new here that we have not seen before in other large scale disaster epics, alien or otherwise, over the last two decades. As for the story - it's a bit muddled, hurried and convenient, and you need to suspend belief as to the geography and science behind some of what we are being led to believe here . . . even with Hollywood's poetic license! This film lacks the emotional gravitas delivered so well by Will Smith twenty years ago and the grounding of the real world as it was back then, opting for a parallel world of 2016 with over zealous fantasy and seriousness. It is also served up with a good dose of cheese too throughout, and particularly in the closing scenes where Uncle Sam whips ass with the help of a token African War Lord and a Chinese female fighter pilot, an attempt at another rousing speech by ex-President Whitmore as they go once more into the breach, and an outed Scientist (Dr. Okun) who proclaims that with the help of what the sphere can teach us we'll take the fight to the aliens uniting the galaxies across the cosmos, in what will be 'Independence Day 3'. See it at your local Odeon for the big screen experience, but you can easily wait for the big screen experience in your own home too.

 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-