Here's What Rotten Tomatoes Reviews Are Saying About Ben Affleck's Hypnotic
With how much time Ben Affleck spends appearing in sci-fi blockbusters and heart-pounding thrillers, it makes sense that he'd end up combining the two. Fresh off the heels of the actor's directorial turn for 2023's sports drama "Air," his next major appearance comes in the form of "Machete" director Robert Rodriguez's new mind-bending flick "Hypnotic." The movie stars Affleck as Danny Rourke, a hardened detective who goes up against an organization of ultra-powerful hypnotists in order to save his missing daughter.
Unfortunately for Affleck, it doesn't seem like "Hypnotic" is being met with the same positive critical reception as "Air" — that is, if Rotten Tomatoes is anything to go by. At the time of this article's publishing, the sci-fi outing stands at a meager 44 percent rating on the Tomatometer in terms of critical reviews. Such a score means that the movie is well into "Rotten" territory by the aggregator's metrics. That's not too surprising of a result when considering the various mixed reviews on the movie, many of which suggest that Rodriguez couldn't quite gel all the promising parts of the action flick together.
Many critics aren't under Hypnotic's spell
Several of the critical reviews that played a part in determining "Hypnotic's" Tomatometer score came out quite negative on the film. Nick Schager of The Daily Beast described Robert Rodriguez's latest effort as "a B-movie with a C+ premise and D-minus execution," further writing that it was extremely forgettable. Valerie Complex of Deadline held a similar opinion, noting that the movie's passable premise gets bogged down with so many plot threads and narrative twists "that it borders on incomprehensible." Meanwhile, Chris Evangelista of Looper's sister site /Film argued that the movie's biggest flaw is that it lacks a fun factor and takes itself far too seriously despite its out-there premise.
To be fair, some reviewers did come out with a slightly warmer opinion of "Hypnotic." Peter Debruge of Variety felt the movie rose above its shortcomings, writing: "This slick mix of special effects and practical ingenuity puts Affleck in a fun position, and the slightly grizzled star's still got the clench-jawed charisma to pull it off." Keith Garlington of Keith & The Movies similarly lauded Affleck's performance and characterized the thriller as "surprisingly inventive" with clear inspiration from the best of Christopher Nolan and Alfred Hitchcock's stable of classics.
All in all, it seems that some critics have found redeeming qualities in "Hypnotic," but many others have found its failings too plentiful to make it an overall enjoyable experience. Of course, a critical dud won't be enough to stop Rodriguez and Affleck from moving along, as the former is directing the upcoming "Spy Kids" reboot while the latter will reprise his role as Batman in "The Flash."