Hypnotic is a 2023 American mystery action thriller film directed by Robert Rodriguez, who co-wrote the screenplay with Max Borenstein.

The film stars Ben Affleck, Alice Braga, J. D. Pardo, Hala Finley, Dayo Okeniyi, Jeff Fahey, Jackie Earle Haley and William Fichtner.

In a therapy session, Austin Police Detective Danny Rourke recounts the abduction of his seven-year-old daughter, Minnie, three years earlier.

He and his partner, Nicks, act on an anonymous tip that a safe deposit box will be robbed, and witness a mysterious man give instructions to bystanders who immediately follow his commands.

The tip is traced to fortune-teller Diana Cruz, who reveals that she and the mysterious man, Lev Dellrayne, are "Hypnotics", powerful hypnotists who escaped from the secretive government "Division" that trained them.

Rourke's mind is again "reset", bringing him back to the therapy session and reliving the same events, but his powers allow him to awaken from the construct and escape.

The Division realizes that "Find Lev Dellrayne" refers to an address on "Deer Valley Lane", where Rourke hid Minnie with her grandparents, Carl and Thelma.

[13][16] In April 2022, Rodriguez confirmed that, similar to his previous films, he and his family members collaborated on the project: My son [Rebel] now is my full-time composer.

The website's consensus reads: "Although Hypnotic isn't without glimmers of inspiration, the ultimate effect of this often clunky crime caper will be to leave you feeling rather sleepy.

[23] Mark Kermode of The Observer gave the film a score to two out of five, saying that Rodriguez and Borenstein "go on a thematic shoplifting spree, snatching psychic pushes from Stephen King's Firestarter, dozy psycho-crime plot twists from Primal Fear, and Philip K Dick false memories from Blade Runner, Total Recall et al."[27] Danny Leigh of the Financial Times also gave the film a score of two out of five, writing, "The mood is gun-happy and conspiracy-minded, but the real killer is what feels like 80 percent of the running time being spent with Affleck and co-stars standing in rooms explaining the plot.

"[30] Glenn Kenny of The New York Times wrote, "The movie is, if nothing else, ruthlessly efficient enough in delivering its crowd-pleasing bits that truly starving suspense genre hounds, at least, won't necessarily mind.

"[31] Brian Lowry of CNN said the film "becomes a little strained over its final act, but for the most part it's fast-paced and clever, capitalizing on Rodriguez's economical filmmaking style".