"Smart, sophisticated, deliriously entertaining movie from one of the UK's best directors"

For those who were previously unaware of British director Danny Boyle, last summer he became a household, nay a worldwide name with his stunning Olympic opening ceremony of which he was the creative force behind. He is a director who has built up an impressive back catalogue of films, each more daring, more visionary then the last.

127 Hours back in 2010 was his last film before he decided to take a break (by orchestrating the most viewed Olympic opening ceremony of all time in both the UK and the US) but now thankfully Boyle has returned with Trance, and the result is a straight shot of cinematic adrenaline to the heart, welcome back Danny!

The film opens with Simon (James McAvoy) , who plays a fine art auctioneer, explaining through a voice over just exactly what his job entails and how, in the instance of a potential robbery, he must follow specific protocols to make said item of value disappear before the criminals can get their hands on it. This is all of course pretense for what's about to happen, an actual robbery.

Soon Simon becomes embroiled with a gang of criminals led by the suave and effortlessly cool Vincent Cassel as well as Elizabeth (Rosario Dawson) who plays a hypnotherapist enlisted to help Simon track down the whereabouts of the missing painting. Now if you're thinking this seems like a pretty tame setup for Boyle you're very much mistaken, Trance is an intricate, often exhausting series of twists and turns where the most minor of details ultimately plays a much bigger role in the overall jigsaw puzzle of the film which will have you guessing right till the very end.

I don't want to ruin too much about the plot, because there are a number of stand-out sequences that will quite literally blow your mind. Boyle has really found his directorial groove in Trance and together with long time collaborator, Anthony Dod-Mantle they have created something incredibly beautiful to look at. In fact, Trance is a film of some fantastic partnerships, not just with cinematographer Dod Mantle, but also with Underworld musician Rick Smith who worked with Boyle on the score for Trance, which without would render the film utterly lifeless.

Trance, like the title suggests is certainly one of Boyles trippier pieces of work, (we'll ignore The Beach which had its fair share of wtf moments) and if I had to find something of a fault in this film, it would be that quite often it was difficult to distinguish between moments of reality and the more dreamlike moments and thus can set about a state of confusion which will affect your viewing experience for the entire film.

Needless to say though Trance is easily one of the best films I've seen so far in 2013,  you can almost sense Boyles sheer revelry to be back in the director's chair through the images on screen and that is most definitely a good thing, because what we get is a smart, sophisticated, deliriously entertaining movie from one of the UK's best directors.