Netflix fans ‘don’t waste time’ on ‘Inception for imbeciles’ thriller | TV & Radio | Showbiz & TV

A recent thriller that’s just landed on Netflix UK has been savaged by critics despite boasting considerable star power.

This 2023 crime film, fronted by Ben Affleck, was added to the platform today (Thursday, 30th April), with subscribers being urged to give it a wide berth.

Affleck takes on the role of Danny Rourke, an Austin, Texas detective investigating a series of baffling crimes, who turns to a psychic for assistance in uncovering the truth behind his daughter’s mysterious disappearance.

As the case unfolds, Rourke begins to question his grip on reality, as everything he believed he knew about the world is thrown into doubt, while a menacing presence closes in on him.

A withering 1/10 review on IMDb branded it “quite possibly one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen”.

The reviewer continued: “The writing is so lacklustre, acting is awful, you can tell Ben Affleck is zoned out the entire movie due to poor script, and the frequent ‘plot twists’ had every viewer in that theatre confused because none of them made any sense to the story or would just retcon the previous one which made no sense to anyone.

“Almost every viewer was laughing about thirty minutes in due to how bad it was.” One viewer urged others: “Seriously, don’t waste your time watching this movie. The plot makes little sense with its myriad loopholes. The dialogue had me dumbfounded,” they added, accusing the script of being written by ChatGPT. “I couldn’t focus on the movie not just because of how bad it is, but weird.”

Another review branded it “ridiculous nonsense” and said: “I was open minded at first, sounded like it could be ok, but nope, complete drivel.

“Painful to watch and I gave up after 20 mins. DO NOT BOTHER WATCHING. A bad version of Inception meets Jason Bourne, supernatural thriller home badly wrong. Perhaps Affleck thought he could pull this off, unfortunately not.”

A further viewer delivered an equally scathing verdict, dubbing Hypnotic “Inception for imbeciles”.

“The ending is SO ridiculous that had I been in a movie theatre I would’ve walked out immediately so as to not waste any more of my time (I streamed it at home, Thank god),” they wrote.

Despite the overwhelmingly negative reception, Hypnotic does have its staunch defenders, earning a more respectable 62 percent audience score from Rotten Tomatoes users.

One IMDb user hailed it as one of director Rodriguez’s “best films” and said: “This is a seriously entertaining, well performed, engaging, curious, and thoroughly enjoyable film.”

So, will you be giving Hypnotic a chance, or choosing to steer well clear?

Hypnotic is available to stream on Netflix.