As a film viewer, I found the movie to be generally fair. The acting was not too bad. The filmography and editing was adequate; however, the plot was ridiculous which means the writing was way off.
As a psychologist and hypnotherapist (who happens to be named Dr. Julian), I find inaccurate portrayals like this to be disturbing. They give the wrong impression of what hypnosis is and what it is capable of. We have fought this kind of Hollywood distortion for many years so it is not surprising that someone would resurrect that old scenario. To put it simply: you CANNOT hypnotize anyone to do anything they do not want to do. Period. And the idea that a hypnotist can "put memories into someone's head" is just pure fantasy.
Maybe if this film had been billed as a "science fiction fantasy" I would have watched it with a different mindset...but as a thriller, to enjoy it, one would have to suspend disbelief.
As a psychologist and hypnotherapist (who happens to be named Dr. Julian), I find inaccurate portrayals like this to be disturbing. They give the wrong impression of what hypnosis is and what it is capable of. We have fought this kind of Hollywood distortion for many years so it is not surprising that someone would resurrect that old scenario. To put it simply: you CANNOT hypnotize anyone to do anything they do not want to do. Period. And the idea that a hypnotist can "put memories into someone's head" is just pure fantasy.
Maybe if this film had been billed as a "science fiction fantasy" I would have watched it with a different mindset...but as a thriller, to enjoy it, one would have to suspend disbelief.