The Hypnotist (2012)

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.

Sorry, this movie was a let-down. It was a totally mediocre, implausible mix of too many different threads. The focus was not on the case, but on the sub-plots. The only positive things about this movie are the cinematography and the showdown, which was fairly thrilling. Even though I usually like the actor Mikael Persbrandt, in this role I found him not authentic. Try to avoid this one and consider my recommendations. I didn't read the book, maybe it's much better than the movie (hopefully).Recommended movies, which are similar, but far better than this: - Stig Larsson's Millennium-trilogy + US-remake by David Fincher with Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara - The Woman in the Cage/The Keeper of Lost Causes - Most of the Wallander-movies - The witness(es), mini-serial - The bridge I + II*** Warning: Begin of spoilers ***the hypnosis-scenes: bad, uninspired, boring. - one of the victims is the persecutor: seen so many times, but in a much better way. - the problems in the relationship of Erik and Simone: superfluous. - the story was in total too unbelievable.*** End of spoilers ***

Although the plot is based on a solid book, there are too many too long scenes not providing additional value to the film (especially those in the darkness) - apparently, the world-famous director Lasse Halström wanted to act in the line of Wallander-Beck-Blomkvist type of films, but the Linna- Mark tandem is less elaborated and weaker; well, Mikael Persbrandt is great as Erik Maria Bark, so is Lena Olin as Simone Bark, but they are both long-time highly recognised character actors. The plot has also several confusing and unanswered moments, the ending gives a solution (rather dramatic and peculiar), but it is strange why the film was selected as the Swedish entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar - it is definitely not among the top films with Hallström's participation. Nevertheless, it is watchable to those fond of Swedish crime thrillers.

i thought the movie was quite good while watching it. it is a nice thriller, with suspense to the very end.somewhat strange motivations of the main villain, but then you probably cannot really connect to insane motives.it was kind of strange that while the hypnotist's character was well developed, with character history and family environment, the other main character - the cop, was very under-developed.apart from this and a few weak moments that every decent thriller carries in order to support the storyline, it is a pretty good production

Contains some spoilers! With a script based on a best selling crime novel, a Hollywood director (Lasse Hallström), a big budget (SEK 61 million = almost USD 10 million), two star actors (Mikael Persbrandt and Lena Ohlin) you would think the result would be exceptional. It is. Exceptionally bad unfortunately. The peculiar murder story has so many plot wholes it becomes laughable. Trying to explain one will just tear up a new one. For example: What made the murderer follow his mothers instructions and murder his family? Why would a mother instruct her son to stab himself in the chest so that he almost dies? How did the mother get a job at the hospital? Why would the mother suddenly think the hypnotist's son is hers? Absolutely nothing is explained. The main character detective Jonna Linna is incredibly weak and dull. Almost nothing is revealed about his private life and absolutely no character development. Instead way too much time is spent on Mikael Persbrandt and Lena Ohlin's characters and their relationship, which is not relevant at all to the main story. The way the police acts is just stupid. Would the parents of a kidnapped son be allowed to come with the police to the kidnappers house? Would a police officer lower his gun when standing face to face with a kidnapper armed with a shotgun and responsible for the murder of several persons? I don't think so. Several supporting characters and plots are presented without any relevance to the main story. Trust me, this is a complete mess. The fact that this film was Sweden's foreign-language Oscar submission is nothing but a joke. The Oscar academy wisely did not nominate it.