1. MovieGoer14

   Jul 12, 2013

   10

   Trance is a new mind-bending thriller, thought provoking and absorbing, with lots of chills, thrills, good performances and good story. It was a great film with an exquisite, first rate art direction and twists. Danny Boyle delivers a new type of original cinematic experience in which audiences are absorbed and worried for whats going to happen next.
   
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   Trance is a new mind-bending thriller, thought provoking and absorbing, with lots of chills, thrills, good performances and good story. It was a great film with an exquisite, first rate art direction and twists. Danny Boyle delivers a new type of Trance is a new mind-bending thriller, thought provoking and absorbing, with lots of chills, thrills, good performances and good story. It was a great film with an exquisite, first rate art direction and twists. Danny Boyle delivers a new type of original cinematic experience in which audiences are absorbed and worried for Trance is a new mind-bending thriller, thought provoking and absorbing, with lots of chills, thrills, good performances and good story. It was a great film with an exquisite, first rate art direction and twists. Danny Boyle delivers a new type of original cinematic experience in which audiences are absorbed and worried for whats going to happen next.whats going to happen next. original cinematic experience in which audiences are absorbed and worried for whats going to happen next.
   
   That's what Trance is like, points in points, which is really cool and clever. For Example: then you get to know what you read is one paragraph with one point.… Expand

   • 2 of 2 users found this helpful
2. gnomercyx

   Apr 19, 2013

   10

   The twists, turns, filming, acting, cleverness, and originality of this film make it one of the best of 2013. I can't wait to watch again not only to fully understand the awesome plot, but to genuinely enjoy the amazing product of Danny Boyle's incredible talent in filmmaking. Great movie.… Expand

   • 0 of 0 users found this helpful
3. Apemonkey666

   Aug 5, 2013

   8

   Thank god for Danny Boyle! Here's a director that's not affraid to try something new. His new film Trance goes into the category 'things you've never seen before' which coincidentally are the kind of movies I wanna see. It starts out like a regular movie but gets more 'trancy' as it goes along. It's aided by a spacey and very fitting soundtrack and the unique visual style Boyle & Mantle have developed over the years. It's one of these films where you keep wondering where it's gonna go. It's an exellent film but just falls a bit short of being an instant classic. But that being said I can highly recommend this trip!… Expand

   • 0 of 0 users found this helpful
4. TVJerry

   Apr 16, 2013

   7

   An art auctioneer (James McAvoy) plots with some criminals (led by Vincent Cassel) to steal a painting, but can't remember where he hid it. So he goes to a hypnotherapist (Rosario Dawson) for help. Sounds simple, but it twists so much that it's not completely clear what really happened. Still, the movie is worth it. Director Danny Boyle is always a superb craftsman and his slick, beautiful and edgy style is on full display. Performances are sufficiently ambiguous, but it's really Boyle who's the star.… Expand

   • 0 of 0 users found this helpful
5. ClariseSamuels

   Aug 23, 2013

   7

   This mind-spinning thriller is based on bold cinematography, intricate film editing, and fierce acting from all parties, especially the three principal actors James McAvoy, Vincent Cassel, and Rosario Dawson. Unfortunately, the film strains credulity a bit, and the basic premise of the film does not hold up under close scrutiny. Nevertheless, it is extremely riveting, if not, how shall I say?--hypnotizing, as long as one does not search too deeply for logic and coherence.
   
   McAvoy, as Simon, carries most of the film in his role of security guard working for an art auction house. He is trained to protect the masterpieces from armed robbers, and he gives a fascinating voice-over tutorial on how these security procedures are carried out. But despite all the precautions, during the auctioning of Goya’s Witches in the Air, the auction house is robbed. Simon flies into action to rescue the painting, but he is confronted by bad guy Franck (Vincent Cassel) in the bowels of the building. Franck hits him over the head with the barrel of a gun, which causes Simon to have amnesia, not total amnesia, just amnesia about where he hid the painting before he got hit over the head.
   
   Simon was actually in on the heist because he had gambling debts to pay off. Getting hit over the head convinced all witnesses that Simon tried his hardest to get that painting to safety, and the press hails him as a hero. But Franck tries to remove Simon’s fingernails to get him to confess where the painting is, and realizes that even when screaming with pain, Simon sticks to his story. Simon really does have amnesia. Therefore, what do vulgar, undereducated, gangster-type losers do when confronted with such a dilemma? Naturally, they google all the hypnotherapists in the area and tell Simon to choose one he likes. He picks Elizabeth Lamb (Rosario Dawson) because he likes the name, or so he says. Thereupon revolves the fragile hinge for the entire plot. Without revealing the whodunit, or the whoforgot-whodunit of this film, it turns out that Simon likes a lot more than the hypnotist’s name.
   
   Simon falls in love with the hypnotist, who is so good at her job that she can make anyone remember anything, and she can even introduce evil motivations with her skills. The Goya painting, it has been noted by the critics, is the MacGuffin of the film. But thieves who steal great masterpieces of art are presumably art collectors of the most obsessive kind, because it is virtually impossible to sell a stolen masterpiece on the street. Therefore, the greedy and monetary desire to own this painting, when the thugs are kind of stupid, does not make much sense. As was noted by Alfred Hitchc*ck, a MacGuffin that is used to hunt lions in the Scottish Highlands, where there are no lions, is not a MacGuffin.
   
   Franck the gangster also falls in love with the hypnotist; thus, we have a love triangle, where hypnotized Simon keeps remembering strange things that don’t add up to Elizabeth’s professional image. There are complicated subplots, recurring flashbacks, betrayals, and counter betrayals. The power of Elizabeth Lamb to hypnotize anyone to do her bidding makes her the Evil Mastermind of this film. The problem is that it is well documented that hypnosis cannot force anyone to do anything they don’t want to do--not even to make an unnecessary purchase. And that a hypnosis session is more like an intensely focused conversation with the hypnotist, where a deep state of trance is never actually achieved. Sigmund Freud abandoned hypnosis when he found he could achieve the same results with free association. If in fact we could get everyone to do our bidding with hypnosis, a lot of people would be lining up to pay their tuition at the nearest hypnosis institute, and we would have a hypnotist hanging out her sign on every corner.
   
   And there goes the plot...… Expand

   • 0 of 0 users found this helpful
6. CtheTav

   Apr 8, 2013

   5

   This film is touted as a mind bending thriller the likes of Inception. It sadly falls very short of greatness. This film tries to mess with the audiences head and then gives up half way through before dumping major plot points in the audiences lap. The story follows James Macavoys' character who has helped in the theft of a painting but after a bump on the head can't remember where he left it. Que hypnotism and wandering what is real and what isn't if it were achieved properly(it isn't). This film is ultimately let down by a simple plot masquerading as a complex and deep psychological thriller.
   Rating 5 out of 10
   This film is more unnecessary subtext than substance… Expand

   • 5 of 7 users found this helpful
7. podriscoll27

   Apr 20, 2013

   1

   I like Danny Boyle's work and I enjoy complex and clever films but this one is convoluted purely for the sake of it. Aside from the story, the visuals in this movie simply aren't worth the trek to the cinema. From start to finish it seems made for the small screen, sometimes compensating for the lack of visual story-telling with the use of loud and frenzied music which is also used to spice up scenes that lack suspense. On the whole, however, the story isn't there. The script could've done with a dozen more drafts. If you're still anyway interested, I'd advise waiting for it on TV.… Expand

   • 0 of 1 users found this helpful

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