BLU-RAY REVIEW:  TRANCE
7/28/2013

From ACADEMY AWARD®-Winning director Danny Boyle* (Slumdog Millionaire) comes an “exhilarating brain-twister” (New York Post)! After a blow to the head during his attempted robbery of a $27 million Goya painting, Simon (James McAvoy, X-Men: First Class), a fine-art auctioneer, awakens to find that the painting – and his memory – are missing. Forced by his ruthless crime partner Franck (Vincent Cassel, Black Swan) to undergo hypnosis, Simon enters into a deadly love triangle with his seductive hypnotist (Rosario Dawson, Sin City). As the plot twists, the line between reality and dream becomes blurred in this fast-paced, unpredictable, “sexy and suspenseful” (Empire) thriller. 

FILM REVIEW:  

Elizabeth: The choice is yours. Do you want to remember or do you want to forget?

One thing is for sure, this film is one to remember. A well done heist movie seems to never get old. In this journey we have a heist, a hit, and a name . . . Elizabeth Lamb (Rosario Dawson). To say that this movie plays a lot of mind games might be an understatement, but don’t worry, it’s not as bad as Inception. One of the more impressive aspects of the film is the cinematography. It really adds more quality to a quality movie. The camera angles, visuals, colors, sets, and lighting stand out. You have no choice but to take notice. There is a certain sophistication in this and practically every aspect of the film. It is intellectual and sexy, tainted with bloodiness. It is also thrilling to say the least. So much so I actually wrote it down in my notes twice. What helps make it so thrilling is the story which is quite intriguing. What helps make it so intriguing are the performances by the cast, namely two of the lead actors, James McAvoy and Rosario Dawson. Vincent Cassel was pretty good too but James and Rosario really stood out. James seems to have a niche in these drama thrillers. This could be considered one of Rosario’s best performances ever. We get to see so much more of her, in so many ways, that we probably have never seen. The characters they play are interesting too and very appropriate, of course. Having an art auctioneer and a hypnotherapist is so obvious, but they pull it off smoothly and somewhat believably. Needless to say, the title of the film is more than appropriate. The storyline really makes the best use of these characters and combined with the multiple twists, the movie might put you in a trance. It should be no surprise that this movie is as good as it is, given the person at the helm, Danny Boyle. After such works as Trainspotting, The Beach, 28 Days Later, Sunshine, Slumdog Millionaire, and 127 Hours, well, need I say more? This movie could have been cheap and cheesy, but with the cinematography, storyline, cast and crew, and top notch director, it becomes a real treat.

Review By Cine Marcos 
cinemarcos@smartcine.com

BLU-RAY: The film is presented in widescreen in a 2.40:1 aspect ration preserving its theatrical format. The picture is just flawless. Not only the picture looks great in this release, also the sound it is good, a 5.1 Dolby Digital in English that provides a good complement to the picture. It also includes  English, French  and Spanish subtitles.

VIDEO:
Widescreen (2:40:1) 16x9

AUDIO:
English 7.1 DTS-HD Master 
Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 
French Dolby Digital 5.1 

Subtitles English  Spanish French

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Theatrical Feature Blu-ray 

Deleted Scenes 

Trance Unraveled (Easter Egg) 

The Power of Suggestion-Making Trance 

Kick Off 

Danny's Film Noir 

Hypnotherapy 

The Look 

The Final Rewrite 

Danny Boyle Retrospective 

Short Film: EUGENE by Spencer Susser 

Theatrical Trailer 

Digital Copy