Detective Danny Rourke (Ben Affleck) was in the park, watching his daughter Minnie (Ionie Olivia Nieves) play with pinwheels. All of a sudden, he realized that Minnie was not with him anymore. When Minnie could not be found, the case became sensational news, and also caused his marriage to crumble. Three years later, Rourke was still visiting a therapist on account of the trauma he experienced from this kidnapping.
One day, Rourke and his partner Nicks (J.D. Pardo) were staking out a bank from an anonymous tip that a robbery attempt will happen. They notice that a certain mysterious well-dressed man had been approaching and talking to random people, and they proceed to do unusual things, ostensibly under obeying his instructions. Rourke gets to the target safety deposit box first and saw his daughter's photo in it.
Despite the seemingly B-movie vibes of this film at the start, the plot actually turned out to be quite complicated as it unfolded. Writer-director Robert Rodriguez attempted to pull off a thriller-mystery that was heretofore the expertise of Christopher Nolan. There were puzzling high-concept moments that were reminiscent of Nolan's intricate "Inception" or "Tenet" but without the fancy gadgetry and more than one big name star.
I choose not try to nitpick those incredible revelations that were being explained as big secrets were being revealed, in more than one sequence. Rodriguez wanted us to be fascinated about how this talent (or practically a superpower) of hypnotics can literally turn susceptible human beings into blindly-obedient zombies, who see only what the hypnotic wanted them to see and did what the hypnotic ordered them to do -- even shoot others or himself with a gun.
The first big revelation of "the truth" was quite clever, and actually surprised me. Those who can claim that this twist was predictable would only be pulling our legs. It also explained why Ben Affleck's face was practically frozen into one expression. I could still accept that climactic shoot out of the "red-coats" in the desert, as over-the-top as it was. However, mid-credits scene was already pushing it a bit too much. 6/10.
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