Affleck plays Detective Danny Rourke, an Austin Texas Detective, who is mentally unbalanced after his daughter was kidnapped from a playground in mere seconds before his eyes. In his life following the kidnapping, the detective and his team are investigating a series of bank robberies by a man who has the ability to control peoples minds with hypnotic suggestion. Through the help of a psychic palm reader [Braga], the detective learns what he's up against and must now learn that anyone can be used as a puppet by a mystery man, performed brilliantly by Fichtner. The movie spirals into an action-packed film with a plethora of fight scenes, gun shoots and explosions. In the end, Rourke learns that he is somewhat immune to the spells weaved by the mystery man, and that only the detective may hold the answers to what really happened to his daughter.
THE GOOD - The opening sequence is perfect. Spectacular camera angles, cinematography and some dramatic acting. Pacing is good, the action scenes are everything that you'd expect from a Robert Rodriguez film.
THE BAD - After the opening sequence the film just falls flat. Each new reveal in the story and plot are nothing spine tingling new and Rodriguez just doesn't have the directing ability to drop an earth shattering reveal to the audience. There is some silly sexiness that is brought to the film, something that Rodriguez is notable for in his previous works to show sexy women in his movies. But he also brings in CGI visual effects, story elements and mind-bending theories seen in other films like THE MATRIX and INCEPTION, which fail miserably to stun anyone with the delivery of the films real plot. Adding more injury to the flow of the film are some bad performances, Afflek has to resort to showing a crummy grin on his face as his dialog is cut short after the “big reveal” and he just stands there watching the reality of each situation when facing what actually happened to his missing daughter; at times he looks like he's lost interest in the films progression.
POST MORTEM - If the movie had remained on course with the initial sequences of the film and stayed in an [R] rating, William Fichtner could have been developed into one of the best, most notorious bad guys to hit the big screen since Doctor Hannibal Lector of SILENCE OF THE LAMBS; and possibly pushed this film into eventual sequels. Fichtner did a damn good job in this film giving his character and eerie entrance and dramatic flair to keep him interesting. But the movie fails at all levels and the story isn't smart enough to carry the plot along. This failure is due to the directing, not the acting.
⭐️⭐️💫 [2.5 of 5 Stars]
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