After the magical run and critical acclaim of Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours, and the opening ceremonies for the 2012 Olympic games in London, British director Danny Boyle returns with the breezy, psychological-thriller Trance. An early appetizer to the summer blockbuster season, Trance creates an acceptable standard on how "popcorn movies" should be.
James McAvoy stars as an art auctioneer who gets mixed up with a group of criminals trying to recover a multi-million dollar painting. an artist, Danny Boyle continues to paint with broad strokes. The hyper-saturated colors in the cinematography, canted angles, quick cuts, and close-ups not only provide a vibrant style, it brings you into the state of mind, mood, and atmosphere of each character and scene. However, instead of breaking his own records, Boyle visually delivers another victory lap as a filmmaker.
With a film that has a high-concept premise, it boasts uneven and underwritten characters. Having an acclaimed actor like Vincent Cassel can make up for it with a solid performance, but he could not make up for the arc and journey that was written for him on the page. No matter how mind-bending or exhilarating the film attempts to be, the motivations and dimensions of each character (or lack thereof) are bland, muddled, or not fully realized. It can make or break the audience's desire to finish a film like this or reevaluate whether the journey was worth it at all. For some audiences, this film may teeter on that line.
Danny Boyle is a director that doesn't want to bore you. But if this film doesn't find an audience, it will not be because of its seemingly simple premise. That said, the film is really a race between McAvoy, Dawson, and Boyle's directing for being the film's most intriguing attribute. Unfortunately, I can't tell you who wins, but I will say this person's got game.
