After the family-friendly Olympics Ceremony, it was practically a given that Danny Boyle’s next project would get dark and dirty. Vince Cassel is stony-faced Franck, the leader of a gang of thieves after a £25 million Goya, with James McAvoy as Simon, their man on the inside who appears to have a small problem with high-stakes poker. After sustaining a head injury, Simon cannot remember where the stolen painting is hidden, leading Franck to engage the services of Elizabeth Lamb (Rosario Dawson), a beautiful and enigmatic Harley Street hypnotherapist. This is not a simple heist caper and Boyle draws his viewers into an underworld of intrigue and sexual manipulation, unfolding the narrative at a breakneck pace.
Trance is reminiscent of both Memento and Inception, painted in the lurid colours of Boyle’s distinctive visual style. The twists and turns of the story are so numerous that I felt exhausted while sitting in a cinema seat. It’s trippy and pumps the viewer full of adrenalin, without delivering much in the way of a convincing plot.
Despite the Los Angeles Times heralding Trance an example of Boyle discovering his ‘inner feminist’, simply because female protagonists have not been abundantly available in his previous films, a female character at the centre of the action does not a feminist film make.
The atmospheric soundtrack, composed by Rick Smith of Underworld, is enjoyable but quickly becomes overused, with dramatic sounds populating every scene, regardless of whether or not it fits with the action onscreen. The convoluted plot lends the film an air of being rather overdone, despite stylish cinematography and a convincing performance from McAvoy. Trance is worth a watch, fun but ultimately unsatisfying. Shallow Grave still has my vote as the ultimate Boyle crime thriller.
6.5/10