Trance tried really hard to be as complex and intellectual as Inception (2010), but only succeeded in making less sense than Memento (2000) or The Butterfly Effect (2004). Famous paintings have hit the auction block in England and somebody’s wants to steal one. Despite the training the employees have received on how to protect the artwork, James McAvoy’s character Simon drops the ball and gets suffers a head injury during the robbery.

Once the criminal mastermind behind the scheme (Vincent Cassel from Black Swan) realizes that Simon hid the painting without detection, he makes it his mission to pick up where he left off once Simon is released from the hospital. Rosario Dawson’s (Unstoppable) character Elizabeth Lamb is a hypnotherapist whose skills are employed to help Simon remember where he hid the painting. Unfortunately, her inability to keep her clothes on throughout the film discredits her clinical contribution, weakens the strength of her character and feels like a desperate attempt to make a simple story racy.

5 out of 9

Guest Blogger from Seattle