Trance Movie Review
Entrancing.
OK, I admit I chose this movie from the rest of the dregs I haven’t had the time or inclination to see solely because I saw a lot of pun potential with the title should the movie end up sucking (which I kind of expected). You know, something like “Finally a movie where the actors act asleep intentionally instead of by accident” or “The main character was not the only person in the theater lulled into a hypnotic state.” The kind of lines I get to sit back and feel all smug and self satisfied about when I reread my reviews a month from now.
However, the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry, and in this case my mouse plan went awry when this movie proceeded to be kind of awesome. It was a great psychological thriller with cool twists. I think a sign of a good, intricate plot is you are confused for the first 2/3rds of the film and all of a sudden in the last half hour everything makes sense. There are twist buried in twists and you will spend a lot of the movie scratching your head. Plus, after 70 minutes of what looked like nothing but PG-13 side boob Rosario Dawson (one of my secret loves) pulls out a nude scene that literally blew my socks off.
This is my favorite kind of non action film to review because the writers 
(Joe Ahearne-a regular writer on Doctor Who if that means anything to you, which it should (Tardis moon landing image from the many Sci Fi T Shirts) and John Hodge-Trainspotting, A Life Less Ordinary, Shallow Grave) and the director (Danny Boyle-28 Days Later, Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire) all seem to operate on the assumption that the movie going audience mostly has triple digits when it comes to IQ. This assumption is anathema as far as most of Hollywood is concerned. I guess they assume the best way to make max money is to appeal to idiots. However, it looks like these guys decided that smarter people have some money too and a few extra bucks is not worth the cost of your artistic integrity.
As far as the story goes I’m going to give this one the most minimal effort possible. There are any number of cool twists that I would hate myself for spoiling. Basically an art auctioneer Simon (James McAvoy-X-Men First Class, Wanted, the Last King of Scotland) gets involved in an art heist with Franck (Vincent Cassel-Black Swan, Shrek, Irreversible) a career criminal and his gang of thugs. During the heist the Simon gets hit on the head and suffers from amnesia, forgetting where he hid the painting. After doing the usual thug things (torture, etc) the criminals decide to try out hypnosis. Simon picks out Elizabeth (Rosario Dawson-the Zookeeper, Sin City, Rise of the Planet of the Apes) as his hypnotherapist.
Honestly I don’t think I can go any further without spoiling the film so I will more or less stop there. There are twists, secret agendas, and one of the most pleasantly surprising nude scenes ever. You will be scratching your head for most of it but if you are paying attention it will all make sense in the end (mostly. A few loose threads but nothing to get worked up about).
The stars:
A cool complicated story with neat twists that generally makes sense. Three stars. Acting was great all around. One star. Set in London, so everyone had cool English accents. One star. Rosario Dawson looking super hot and super naked. One star. Overall way better than I expected. Two stars. Total: eight stars.
The black holes:
There were a few loose thread and a few things unexplained by the end. Nothing major, but just enough to bug. One black hole. If you weren’t paying attention or skipped out early this film will seem like the most confusing ball of gopher guts you have ever seen. One black hole. There is one other thing but I really can’t say it without dropping a big spoiler, so I will say one more for that last thing that bugged me. One black hole. Three black holes total.
So a grand total of five black holes. I am extremely glad I saw this film. It was well done, interesting, and well executed. If you are looking for something to stimulate your brain definitely see it. If you just want guns, cars, cars with guns, explosions, and exploding cars well…I guess the Fast and the Furious 6 will be out on May 24th. Date movie? Absolutely. English accents tend to turn women on (I hope. I have been practicing mine for four years now) and this film is definitely sexy without being gross. Bathroom break? Hold it as long as you can. If you miss anything in the first 85 minutes you will be confused and if you miss anything in the last 15 you will have wasted the whole movie. If you can’t hold it for 101 minutes buy some adult diapers.
Thanks for reading. I know the movies that I like without being a massive fan of make for slower reviews, but they can’t all be crap in spite of Hollywood’s best efforts. Follow me on Twitter @Nerdkungfu. Comments about this movie or my review can be posted here. Anything off topic (movie suggestions, invitations to see movie premiers or advance screenings, Rosario Dawson wanting to take me out to dinner, etc.) can be emailed to [email protected]. Talk to you soon.
Dave
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