Trance

It’s funny how having a smart agent and getting a string of good roles can completely change the public’s perception of you. When I was first exposed to James McAvoy, I instantly hated him because all I could see was this scrawny little scrub that should have been repeatedly punched in the face by the fresher actors on screen. The Last King of Scotland was the perfect example of this; Forest Whitaker should never ever get punked by scrubs. I know McAvoy was simply acting but unless you’re Daniel Day Lewis or Danny Devito, who never let their true selves come through on screen; then some part of your actual personality will be displayed through your performance. So it wasn’t until he started getting cool roles in action movies like the ridiculous Wanted or the surprisingly good X-Men First Class that my hatred for him began to rescind. I’m fairly certain however it’s because you’re so focused on the explosions and/or Jolie’s boobs that you actually pay less attention to McAvoy.

Conversely, my perception of Rosario Dawson was starting to take a turn for the worse. When she first came out, she was playing the cute sassy girl from New York who showed her boobs on the regular. But lately she has been getting cast as the older cop lady who wears multiple layers of clothing; which would be ok if she were a Jessica Chastain, but she’s not. She needs to rely on her great assets and roll her head every 5 minutes as she talks. “Oh no you didn’t!!”

In Trance, she plays a hypnotherapist who dresses like she lives in Iceland. Thankfully her role only requires her to talk slightly seductively, so its not too far from what her skill set can handle. But the good news is, there are multiple full frontal nude shots of her in this mind twist of a movie. Danny Boyle’s has a knack for taking an average story and making it visually stimulating. He made it cool to like zombies again with 28 Days Later, gave birth to the space zombie in Sunshine, and actually convinced me to watch a dude and rock for 90 minutes in 127 Hours. Well here again he has what seems like a pretty straightforward story.

Simon (McAvoy) is an art auctioneer who one day tries to foil the attempted robbery of a Goya painting but is knocked out cold by Vincent Cassel who walks away with the famous piece that is worth $27 million. But once Cassel and his crew get to their rendezvous point, they discover that McAvoy somehow gave them the slip with the painting as it is not in the container that it was supposed to be in. Due to the major blow to head that he took via a shotgun,  McAvoy is suffering amnesia as to what occurred on that day and therefore can’t remember what he did with the painting. But you learn that apparently he was a part of the attempted robbery with Cassel and crew and it looks like he tried to run off with it on his own. He can’t remember if this was in fact the case or not so he agrees, after being tortured for a bit, to help them in trying to locate the painting so they can finish the score as originally planned. So they go to the seemingly chosen at random hypnotherapist Dawson to see if she can help him remember the events of that day.

Now it all seems pretty simple to this point and you find yourself thinking that this would normally be a good B movie for Showtime, but that’s just the point of the movie when additional layers start to get peeled back. You get more insight as to how complicated the brain really is and you start to lose a sense of what is real and what is a product of your mind compensating for something that is missing in your timeline. Even at the end when they try and explain everything, you find yourself reluctant to believe the explanation they are giving you as you have been duped multiple times before.

The underrated Cassel is his usual good self although he is playing a slightly more serious version of his Ocean’s 12 character. And Danny Boyle keeps the movie interesting even in the slower moments with his weird camera angles and set design. I think there are one too many twists in this movie but overall I liked it and definitely think that you should check it out before it goes to Redbox. Dawson’s boobs only give this movie a rating of FRESH!