One thing you have to give “Trance” is that it’s not one of Danny Boyle’s typical films. Prone to delivering grit, even with family fare like “Millions,” his newest opus is something of a surreal and mind bending thriller that constantly shifts between plains of consciousness and vision that often fools the viewer in to trying to figure out what’s reality and what’s pure dream. And that’s the point of “Trance” in theory. It’s supposed to be about characters living in trances, many of whom are avoiding reality. It’s a shame the premise is so interesting as Danny Boyle’s film is a complete misfire.
Which is not to say the film is all bad. For the first thirty minutes “Trance” is an entertaining and tense crime thriller. After the time we establish the character of Elizabeth Lamb, a hypnotist is where the film drops in to noir territory and then never comes back up for air from its soapy melodrama trappings. Rosario Dawson is an excellent actress. She can sometimes be brilliant, so it’s an interesting casting choice for her to play the basic femme fatale in a group of Brits looking for a priceless painting. James McAvoy plays Simon, an average art auctioneer who goes through the doldrums of every auction, preparing to hand off the next piece of art to a buyer. One of the major rules of being an auctioneer is that if there is a robbery, don’t be a hero, and allow it to be taken.
When a painting is robbed during an auction, Simon gets bold and attacks the leader of the group who knocks him out cold. Simon is stricken with a terrible head wound that leaves him in the hospital and forced in to surgery. When he awakens, he has no memory of what occurred at the auction house. Which is bad for him, since he was in cahoots with the leader of the thieves Franck, who wants his painting and will do whatever it takes to make Simon remember where it is. “Trance” leads us down a literal labyrinth of mysteries and plot twists, all of which are surprisingly dull. Most of what occurs is so painfully tedious, it’s sad to think that this is from Danny Boyle.
When director Boyle wants to, he can compel, rivet, and even horrify, but in “Trance” he leads us in to a big twist. And that twist left me not only rolling my eyes but groaning audibly. Rosario Dawson is fantastic as Lamb, the hypnotist who helps Simon sub-consciously find what he needs, and figures out the plot by the thieves very quickly. Lamb intrudes on the heist and demands a share in the cut, but there is a catch to her work with the men. Dawson’s performance is surely the best of the bunch, as she offers the stand out turn as a woman trying to scramble to re-assemble her life when Simon enters it, and treads lightly.
Along the way we’re given trips in to the mind of Simon, and what he’s envisioned before his massive head wound that damaged his psyche. In the first half I was definitely invested in what was unfolding, but couldn’t believe by the end that director Boyle could deliver something so ham fisted and clunky. To boot, for a film that fancies itself so intelligent and unique, the ultimate resolution is so far-fetched and abrupt, the tone and genre feel so confused and messy. “Trance” is definitely not the best of director Danny Boyle. He’s delivered so much better in the past, and this is not one of his more entertaining efforts.