Danny Boyle is back in the saddle with his latest thriller, Trance. Unfortunately, as expertly directed and wonderfully acted as it it, it just isn't that great.
From the box:
From ACADEMY AWARD-winning director Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) comes an "exhilarating brain-twister" (New York Post) starring James McAcoy (X-Men First Class) Vincent Cassel (Black Swan) and Rosario Dawson (Sin City). When a fine-art auctioneer (McAvoy) undergoes hypnosis to remember the location of a $27 Million painting he stole, the line between reality and illusion becomes blurred in this fast-paced, unpredictable, "sexy and suspenseful" (Empire) thriller.
Danny Boyle might just, scratch that, IS one of the best directors we have working today. It is a testament to his talent that he was able to elevate this rather unremarkable film into something far greater than it ever should have been.
The extremely confusing (and not in a good way) story revolved around Simon, an auction house employee who is involved in a art heist. Some point during the heist he hides the painting they are stealing and forgets where he puts it so he has to go to a hypnotist (??) so he can remember. Hijinks, twists, turns, and so called suspense, occurs.
The problem here is not with the cast. Everyone is stellar. Some might be pleased to know that you see just about every square inch of Rosario Dawson, for whatever that's worth but even that can't save this movie from collapsing under the weight of its convoluted on purpose story.
In the end it just doesn't make sense. Part of the end reveals are interesting and pretty cool but the rest of it just makes not an ounce of sense. Relationships aren't explained enough to make anything clear.
Certain plot devices like "Strawberry" are never fully utilized which makes the purpose of even introducing them moot.
The real saving grace of this movie is Danny Boyle's direction which is nothing short of masterful along side the beautiful cinematography of Anthony Dod Mantle.
Overall, Trance is best for die hard Boyle fans. I haven't seen all of his films yet but this one currently sits at the end of the list of those I have seen. It's definitely not worthy of a purchase, although the $17.99 price tag at amazon right now isn't too bad but still you're probably better off waiting for it to show up on Netflix.
6 out of 10 McAvoys!
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