Per its title, Robert Rodriguez’s uncharacteristically brainy sci-fi thriller has a disorienting effect on the viewer that may result in a condition that many of the characters in the story suffer from: They don’t remember anything of what they just did. After watching the film, I found myself struggling to piece together the particulars of the convoluted concept behind the crimes being investigated, which connect to a larger conspiracy that is meant to be horrifying but requires a certain leap of understanding that I was unable to accomplish. 

Ben Affleck plays it straight as Danny Rourke, a police detective who is still mourning the disappearance of his daughter at the hands of a kidnapper. Though the kidnapper was eventually caught, he has no memory of abducting the girl and therefore cannot reveal whether she is alive or where she is. Some time later, during a particularly exciting bank heist, Rourke discovers that the people carrying it out have been hypnotized by a criminal mastermind with expertise in the art of suggestion. At this point, the possibilities are intriguing for a fairly conventional police procedural, since Rourke makes a connection between the kidnapping and the robbery, but any moviegoer conversant in thriller tropes will automatically see a red flag: Isn’t it too much of a coincidence that this particular detective is tasked with solving the robbery, especially since he was pointed to it by an anonymous tip? As it happens, the tipster turns out to be psychic (Alice Braga) who warns Rourke of the mastermind’s particular powers, and from there the detective learns about a shady government program to develop such powers for its own sake. 

The movie’s swift, deep dive into an alternate reality loses the original plot, and as is often the case with alternate realities, characters are never what they seem, and thus the viewer just gets frustrated with the liberties that Rodriguez takes with the whole concept. You can’t rely on anyone or any situation, and so the story can be anything it wants to be at any given moment. In the end, this bait-and-switch method seems to be a means of hiding the fact that the story, which Rodriguez has been trying to sell for twenty years, was never much to begin with. Without Affleck’s participation, most likely it wouldn’t have been made.

Opens Oct. 27 in Tokyo at Toho Cinemas Nihonbashi (050-6868-5060), Toho Cinemas Hibiya (050-6868-5068), Marunouchi Piccadilly (050-6875-0075), Shinjuku Wald 9 (03-5369-4955), Shinjuku Piccadilly (050-6861-3011), Toho Cinemas Shinjuku (050-6868-5063), Human Trust Cinema Shibuya (03-5468-5551), Toho Cinemas Roppongi Hills (050-6868-5024).

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