BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Tedfoldol everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Dotbankey A lot of fun.

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

erica-taylor-1 The film started off great.Typical Danny Boyle. Both my wife and I thought it was going to be a classic. The wife dozed off half way through it, suffering from bewilderment. When she awoke asked me to explain what had happened so far. To be honest, I had no idea.....I hadn't a clue. It was more like a jig-saw with lots of pieces missing than a straight forward movie. Sorry, Danny boy but for me, it was a No-no.

Daweed Trance has proved itself to be the first (and hopefully last) Danny Boyle directed film that has disappointed me. Though, having a promising concept, giving an enjoyable introduction to what seems to be a Thriller worth the time. Our main character Simon (played by James McAvoy) is an art auctioneer who suffers from a hard case of gambling addiction. Simon is so financially affected by his addiction that he decides to steal a '27 million' painting while partnering up with a group of criminals lead by Franck (played by Vincent Cassel) to help him achieve his goal. When Simon embarrassingly fails to deliver the painting to Franck he is hit in the head. Simon ends up having amnesia and forgets the true location of the painting and after being tortured for answers Franck is convinced that Simon indeed has forgotten where he hid it. They decide to use a hypnotherapist as a solution to their dilemma. And THAT is where the film begins to take some wrong turns.The main scenario of the film starts to become less and less believable with each move. The hypnotherapist character named Elizabeth (played by Rosario Dawson) and her motivations become more confusing, weirdly complex and shallow. The main characters create messes out of messes as the film further progresses towards atmospheric confusion.The film builds up a triangle drama as the main theme with strange dream scenes that are either (depending if its either Simon or Franck) the result of another hypnosis session or just a dream. Towards the end the film tries to bring in some clarity and an explanation to the table (in an already mess of a story) as we see Simon become (in a way) the villain and the ACTUAL villain become a victim but at this point it is just too late.The film proves itself to be based on a decent concept, but also an unfinished idea for whatever makes a reasonable and good story. The characters became more shadow like with each passing moment of the plot, although being given a good performance (from some) the decisions and the overall situation is simply too far fetched. The whole ending is ridiculous. Simon embraces his (now revealed) dark past and the fact that he apparently is a violent and abusive monster. He attempts to burn Franck alive (at a point where Franck is now weak whereas in the beginning he was criminal and torturer) and during this attempt Elizabeth successfully kills Simon by rushing a truck at him as he opens his arms. AND after all of this Franck (not really but also kinda) wakes up in his bed making the whole thing seem like a dream. But we're given a crystal clear answer during the final scene that it wasn't a dream at all. Just completely screwed.Whatever made me give this film respect was absolutely removed after being forced to go through the ending. Now I'm gonna need hypnosis to forget all about this trashy drama thriller.

shlomotvr Danny Boyle, maybe the most overrated director of our time gives us yet another pretentious shallow and hollow feature . plot holes ( to a story that is bad for itself ) , bad and unbelievable caricatures, long , pointless scenes with the worst soundtrack . the big twist ? i saw it right from the start . while boyle might think he is the next Michael Mann , in this film he proves that he is just a b movie director .this movie has no soul and not one redeeming quality .

Mace Danny Boyle is one of the industry's most innovative, versatile and inventive modern directors. He has a solid track-record of great films, but I don't think Trance is one of them. Trance is one of those movies that shouldn't be a movie. When there is so much filler and unnecessary scenes that it may as well be an episode from a TV show or TV movie. My hopes for a solid piece or entertainment were high during the first act, but from then on, the movie takes a sharp turn down a road of mediocrity that really doesn't end anywhere.The first act of the film were charming and witty. We see a cast of familiar and talented faces as James McAvoy's character lays it down for us. It at first reminded me of a Guy Ritchie film, with it's energetic camera movements, witty narration and character introductions familiar to Snatch, but sadly this is not nearly as enjoyable after the first act.The problem with Trance is that the story is so muddled with unnecessary scenes and filler that it almost feels unfinished and very rushed. Like they needed more scenes to fill a feature-length run time but were running out of ideas. The story itself is very linear but is never simple or focused. The movie never follows it's narrative clearly and it leads to some confusion during viewing, which was eventually frustrating because it seemed Trance never really cared about telling a cohesive story, let alone even finish it.One of my biggest issues is the exploitation of themes within the film. Rosario Dawson goes fully nude for the film and the scene in which this occurs was meant to be sexy and enjoyable for the audience. But it just felt super exploitative and unnecessary to the story. It felt like it was shoved in to actually get people to talk about the film but it was just awfully executed and felt awkward to watch. The same goes for the violence. Trance is surprisingly graphic at times but I was having a hard time trying to figure out why. The brutal violence strayed so far away from the original tone of the movie that it as well felt unnecessary and overdone. Trance really doesn't understand it's audience and it led to a generally displeasing viewing experience.The hypnosis sequences are really the only interesting part of the film but by the end they get tiring and overdone. There were way too many of these scenes and it felt as if Boyle was including all these trippy sequences to make up for the awful "love story" occurring in the secondary story arch as the relationships and feelings these characters share are never clear.In total, Trance is a messy, bloated, unfinished skeleton of a film. With some more work and editing done to it, Trance could've been a lot better but as it stands now it is only a fraction of Boyle's real talent behind the camera. Trance is the kind of movie that you want to love because of the cool concept and narrative style, but can never get into because the movie doesn't really seem to care. The choppy and exploitative story is predictable and certainly not viewer-friendly. If you're looking for some mindless and forgettable entertainment then Trance will do you well. Just don't expect to come out happy and satisfied.