Film: Trance
Director: Danny Boyle
Tower rating: 3 out of 5

Don’t hope to be hypnotized by this trippy mindbender. The script is amusing at best – always holding interest but too weak to warrant full surrender. I think Danny Boyle was just having fun with this one.

After amazing back-to-back turns with “Slumdog Millionaire” and “127 Hours” – which solidified him as one of the most exciting directors around – he deserved to indulge in this jittery little heist thriller. His slick, energetic direction acts like gloss over a story that is much weaker than you’d like to give it credit for (there’s a reason he was chosen to direct the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics).

Here’s the rundown: Simon (James McAvoy) is constantly on the edge of a breakdown once he steals an expensive painting, takes a shotgun handle to the head and forgets where he hid it. His heist buddies are equally irritated, resorting to a hypnotherapist once they realize torture isn’t going to help him remember. That’s when Elizabeth (Rosario Dawson) enters the picture – a peaceful mind-manipulator who goes from tapping into Simon’s brain to overloading the psyches of the whole gang. That’s where things get dizzying, but the intense performances and sharp direction are plenty enough to keep your eyes locked.