Hypnotic is a sci-fi thriller film starring Ben Affleck and Alice Braga in pivotal roles. The dazzling storytelling reminds one of a mashup of Inception and Shutter Island but without the creative nuance of either of those. Hypnotic shows high promise initially but quickly falters off when it’s time to get answers about its trailing madness.
The film has many plot twists and turns but does not do a good job of making things easier for the viewers. Even with the final reveal, the film’s plot is not readily understandable.
In this piece, we break down the film and its major plot points with a full explanation of its head and tail. Enjoy our ending explainer of Hypnotic and do let us know if we missed out on anything!
Hypnotic Plot Summary
Danny Rourke (Affleck) is a police detective, seeking his daughter Minnie. She was kidnapped four years ago but her body was never discovered, even as her kidnapper, Tyler Lyle was apprehended.
Tyler maintained that he did not have any memory of the kidnapping and where he took her. But then a series of unusual bank heists reignite hopes for Rourke to find his daughter. But his path is riddled with sensational revelations and tricky truths about himself. His journey takes him closer to the legend of Lev Dellrayne, a masterful hypnotic, and the mystery of The Division.
How does Diana know Dellrayne from before?
Lev Dellrayne is not William Fichtner’s character’s real name, as we learn later. The film does not reveal his actual name. But his identity does not change. He was part of an organization called The Division, which experimented with techniques to exploit the full potential of the hypnotic abilities of a few gifted individuals.
Dellrayne was the organization’s most powerful hypnotic who went rogue shortly after they tried to limit his powers. Diana was also a part of the Division and was a hypnotic. The film shows that she knew him from before and was involved in the pursuit to get Dellrayne back within the shackles of The Division.
Why is Dellrayne breaking into banks?
According to Diana, every hypnotic has the ability to reset their mind. A reset will erase all the memories they have of the mortal world. But before they do so, hypnotics usually leave little triggers – clues – for them to figure out why they took the drastic step of resetting their minds.
When Diana takes Danny to Jeremiah, one of the only people who could resist Dellrayne’s abilities, they discover that he was breaking into banks and specific lockers because those are his triggers. Dellrayne undertook a complete reset of his mind after breaking out of the facility and is now looking for clues to reignite Project Domino and unlock the full extent of his powers.
Hypnotic Ending Explained: Who kidnapped Minnie and why?
It is really difficult to explain the story without explaining the ending first. So here goes our attempt to break down Hypnotic in such a manner that makes the most sense.
What is Project Domino? What is Danny’s real identity?
The project actually refers to Danny’s daughter, Dominique. This name is an abbreviation and was created to make sure that it would trigger Danny’s memory. In reality, Danny is actually a part of The Division. He was himself a leading hypnotic and that is how he was able to reverse Dellrayne’s ability when Diana and he went to see Jeremiah. Danny discovers that Diana, the “two-bit hypnotic” who was helping him in his journey, is actually his wife, Vivian Rourke.
These revelations are made when they go to River’s hiding place to hack into the Division’s database. We see a photo of Diana in Vivian’s profile and when Danny goes back over the events after Minnie disappears, he realizes that he was in a “hypnotic construct” all this time.
How is Minnie connected to the whole saga? What is the final “hypnotic construct?”
It was Danny who kidnapped Minnie to keep her safe. When she was born, The Division realized that Minnie had unique abilities that could be honed to control people. She was so strong that no one else could contain her powers except her. Danny was sentient to these developments and did not want his daughter to be used by the organization for their ulterior ends. So, he staged the kidnapping and then reset his own memory so as to prevent the Division from finding her.
The ending also reveals that Dellrayne, Diana, Nicks (Danny’s detective partner who was shot dead by Diana) and everyone he met during the events of the film, are all part of The Division. Everything he experienced – and we saw – was part of an experiment; a set-up to make Danny remember the location of Minnie. This revelation was the same as the one at the end of Shutter Island. But Rourke was smarter than them.
Rourke didn’t necessarily kidnap Minnie but took her to a safe place. And after that, he reset himself to leave no memories. The Division had performed 12 runs of this simulation to eke out the truth. We see the entire stage with all the places Danny visited during the film to place him in an arc where he finds his daughter. Each time the simulation was not successful but The Division performed resets of his memory until they got Minnie’s location.
Where is Minnie? Why was she hidden from The Division for so long?
Lev Dellrayne is actually a misnomer for “Deer Valley Lane,” the place where Minnie was hidden all these years. This location was a mental trigger Rourke left to remember where his daughter was. All this while, she was in the safe hands of Rourke’s foster parents Carl and Thelma Everett. Rourke is able to break away from the simulation on the thirteenth attempt. He now knows where to go and The Division follows him.
Minnie was kept from them for all these years because she “wasn’t ready.” Her abilities still needed more control and practice, which she gained over the past four years. She is insusceptible to hypnosis and has extreme abilities, now perfectly in her control. The Division arrives at the farm and Dellrayne asks his men to kill Thelma and Carl. But we have another twist when Minnie comes out and hugs Diana. She is indeed his mother and Minnie says to her “It is time to come back home.”
It is then revealed that Danny did a reset of Diana’s memory as well when he kidnapped Minnie so as to prevent Diana from being used to finding Minnie’s location. He did it to protect Diana and put himself in the line of fire. Another big revelation happens when Minnie makes everyone from The Division turn on themselves and kill each other. The entire setting was a simulation – a construct – that Minnie had created to fool them. Danny’s foster parents are alive and it was Minnie’s construct that had them believe Carl and Thelma were dead. They take down the rest of the men. Dellrayne is still standing tall but when Minnie once again forces him to kill himself, he does so in an instant.
We see Diana, Danny, and Minnie get on a helicopter and fly away. In the end, it is revealed that the man we saw kill himself was actually Carl, Danny’s foster father, and Dellrayne is still alive, having fooled everyone with his construct. He is the only one alive from The Division and might possibly pursue the Rourkes if a sequel happens. That final scene is just too far-fetched and symbolic of why Hypnotic falters in its own “construct” to overwhelm the viewers. It really became too smart for its own good, like its beleaguered protagonists.
Read More: Hypnotic Movie Review