I missed Trance when it was first release in the theaters. But my go to guest blogger submitted a review when it was originally released. I had some time on my hands this weekend and that I would finally give it ago. It has a great pedigree written by Joe Ahearne and John Hodge and directed by Danny Boyle, but it is a mess. Starring James McAvoy, Rosario Dawson and Vincent Cassel as a art auctioneer, a hypnotherapist and a criminal mastermind respectively, Trance is too smart for its own good.

James McAvoy stars as Simon an art house employee who recently goes through extensive training on how to protect artwork. During an auction of famous paintings, a group of criminals lead by mastermind Franck (Vincent Cassel) decides to steal one. During the course of the robbery Simon suffers a brain injure and as a result experiences amnesia. We soon learn that Simon is in on the robbery and Franck is determined to get his painting. The criminal crew enlists the help of an hypnotherapist Elizabeth Lamb (Rosario Dawson) in order to recover the lost painting.

There are too many twist and turns in this movie. The viewer is never sure of anyone’s motives and honestly I didn’t care. The filmmakers wanted it to be like other highbrow fare but it in reality it is a nonsensical mess. I had to rewind it a few times in order to catch a line of dialogue or a hint of plot that went sailing over my head.

It’s available everywhere: Streaming, On Demand and DVD but I recommend just skipping it all together.