If you’re excited to see the Hypnotic, the new movie by acclaimed director Robert Rodriguez (We Can Be Heroes), you’ll be glad to know that the filmmaker himself unveiled the trailer for his upcoming thriller during a live event at IGN today. The story stars Ben Affleck (Justice League) as Daniel Rourke, a detective who starts working on the most important case of his life: The disappearance of his daughter.

The first image was revealed last month, and now we have a bigger picture of the story, as well as its setting and tone. Back in 2021, Rodriguez promised Collider in an exclusive interview that as soon as we got to see the trailer for Hypnotic, we’d go “I’m there.” It seems like the director wasn’t lying, as the trailer unveils bank heists that are wildly different than we're used to seeing in movies — all thanks to the psychic layers that Hypnotic will delve into. Rodriguez also told us that he’s been working on this story for a long time: Since 2002. He teased that Hypnotic plays out like an Alfred Hitchcock film on steroids and that this is one of his favorite stories. The Sin City director also promised lots of twists and turns, which the trailer also teased.

Hypnotic Trailer Explains The Movie’s Mind-Altering Concept

The trailer also explains that the title refers to the psychic concept of hypnotics which dictates you can make people do what you tell them through prompts. That’s how a criminal manages to pull off a bank robbery with complete strangers who never saw each other and have no idea what they’re doing. It’s a recipe for disaster and the makings of a thrilling adventure.

Ben Affleck as Danny Rourke holding a photograph in Hypnotic
Image via Ketchup Entertainment

RELATED: Robert Rodriguez Says His Ben Affleck Movie ‘Hypnotic’ Is “Like a Hitchcock Thriller on Steroids”

A Very Hypnotic Family

Hypnotic is a project that involved the whole Rodriguez family. While the filmmaker co-wrote the script with Max Borenstein (Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty), Rodriguez’s son Rebel also worked on the script and co-produced the movie. Rhiannon worked on the movie’s storyboards, Rogue Rodriguez did animatics, and the filmmaker edited the movie with Rocket Rodriguez at his side.

Aside from Affleck, the cast of Hypnotic also features Hala Finley (Man With a Plan), Alice Braga (Queen of the South), J. D. Pardo (F9), Dayo Okeniyi (Terminator Genisys), Jeff Fahey (Lost), Jackie Earle Haley (Watchmen), and William Fichtner (Prison Break).

Hypnotic arrives in theaters in just a little over a month, on May 12.

You can watch the trailer below:

Check out the official synopsis here:

Determined to find his missing daughter, Austin detective Danny Rourke (Ben Affleck) instead finds himself spiraling down a rabbit hole while investigating a series of reality-bending bank robberies where he will ultimately call into question his most basic assumptions about everything and everyone in his world. Aided by Diana Cruz (Alice Braga), an unnervingly gifted psychic, Rourke simultaneously pursues and is pursued by a lethal specter (William Fichtner) - the one man he believes holds the key to finding the missing girl - only to discover more than he ever bargained for.