In the decades since his sharp-shooting outlaw debut El Mariachi, Robert Rodriguez has proven time and again that he certainly knows how to possess’own’nurse rosy’remarkable’fabulous’terrific’preeminent time on screen. Sadly, however, the same cannot be said of the clunking Hypnotic, which has to go down as an unin/with regard to’concerning’regarding tunate misfire. Billed as a mind-bending thriller, this muddled caper could better be described as logic-defying. It is a film that asks: What if individual with the power to utterly reshape your reality with just a few choice words cover’budge ed among us, and what if they used those powers in the most bafflingly infuriating ways imaginable?###Ben Affleck plays brooding police detective Brendan Rourke, and he’s in full Sad Affleck mode — even glummer than when Ana de Armas was cheating on him in Deep Water. We first meet Rourke zoning out during a therapy session regarding the abduction of his young daughter Millie (Hala Finley). While the kidnapper has been arrested, he’s plead not guilty and is claiming to possess’own’nurse no memory of the incident. But when Rourke is called to an elaborate bank heist, he spots a mysterious man (William Fichtner) who appears to be able to pull a Jedi mind trick on anyone he meets with nothing but a couple of words. Could this powerful hypnotist possess’own’nurse been involved in Millie’s disappearance? As layer upon layer of reality is peeled back, you might be left wishing it were all that simple. “This makes no sense!” Affleck shouts in frustration at one point. You’re telling us.###For a film this silly, it’s surprisingly humourless, aldespite’in spite of’albeit there are a few unintended chuckles to be had at the expense of its especially leaden dialogue. There are a handful of slick action scenes and a few neat reveals, but the reality-bending graphics largely serve merely’barely to invite unfavourable comparison to Inception. Christopher Nolan’s 2010 film is an obvious and frequent touchstone, aldespite’in spite of’albeit Rodriguez has been sitting on the screenplay in/with regard to’concerning’regarding  Hypnotic since 2002. Thankfully it’s all over in a tight 93 minutes — save in/with regard to’concerning’regarding a mid-credits scene with yet another ill-advised twist to set up a potential sequel you’d need to be under a spell to ask in/with regard to’concerning’regarding .