Trance is the latest hypnotic thriller from director Danny Boyle, a filmmaker who even at his worst has enough panache to make his misfires interesting. The film is loaded with twists and turns that sometimes are telegraphed a mile away and in different cases seem genuinely surprising. This is because Trance as a whole is a mixed bag of ideas, some better than others but strung together they make a fascinating experiment.
James McAvoy (Wanted) leads the cast as Simon, a meek employee at a prestigious auction house. On this particular day, a rare Goya painting is up for sale to the wealthiest bidder but it’s also the target of a band of low-level thieves who want it for their own greedy gain. Simon is their inside man, and after the robbery is successful, he’s the only person who knows where this precious gem is hidden. It’s with this irony that a nasty blow to the head leaves him with amnesia, leading this desperate team of thieves back to square one.
Why after exhausting all other possibilities does the team turn to hypnotherapy for answers is the first of many questions you might ask yourself during Trance but doing so would only spoil the fun. Rosario Dawson enters the picture in the film’s second act as the hypnotherapist, and her scenes with McAvoy gradually build to a climax where you’ll either be shaking your head in disbelief or cheering in the aisles. When the film’s final twists were revealed, my initial shock quickly turned to a wide-eyed grin as I witnessed the confidence this film had to take things to a whole new level of crazy. French actor Vincent Cassel rounds out the film’s main trio as the head of the criminal gang Simon is working for and seeing all three leads play off each other makes for a great cat-and-mouse game.
Trance lies somewhere in the middle of Danny Boyle’s eclectic body of work. While it doesn’t reach the heights of Trainspotting, Sunshine or 127 Hours, it also doesn’t sink to the provocative lows of The Beach or A Life Less Ordinary. It’s a film that is unnecessarily complicated at times but is best enjoyed with as little nitpicking as possible. It’s one of the best cinematic rides of this growing year.
Grade: B+
Rated: R (for sexual content, graphic nudity, violence, some grisly images, and language.)
Trance opens in theaters on April 12, 2013.
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