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Hollow man 20206/29/2023 ![]() ![]() Moss has something of a Jack Nicholson from The Shining about her her upturned eyebrow and smirk reminding me of any of the post-cabin-fever interactions between Jack and Wendy Torrance. Let’s start with what’s right… Elisabeth Moss holds the whole thing together, remove her and the film wouldn’t be as watchable. This is a marked improvement on the 2000 Kevin Bacon/Elisabeth Shue trash-fest The Hollow Man but with all the tech on show, this latest movie has more in common with the 2000 disappointment than the 1933 classic. ![]() This latest version tries to take the film back to its sci-fi horror roots although the 1933 James Whale picture was arguably also comedic in parts. ![]() Wells’ book on which this film is based but I have watched the 1933 Universal original. Cecilia suspects that Adrian has faked his death and is taunting her using his invention of invisibility.īefore I go on, I’ll point out that I haven’t read H.G. Adrian is a scientist-slash-inventor and owner of an optics company and when Cecilia is told that he’s committed suicide, she doesn’t believe it. The plot of this film is straightforward: victim of domestic abuse Cecilia Kass (played by Elisabeth Moss) escapes from her abuser Adrian Griffin (played by Oliver Jackson-Cohen). In a few decades time this movie will not be seen as a classic, firstly because it’s a remake, but more importantly because it contains lots of problems which under any kind of scrutiny become hard to ignore. The Invisible Man is not exactly Gaslight, it’s more accurately Sleeping With The Enemy meets The Entity a well constructed sci-fi horror thriller that keeps you chomping on your popcorn but if you view it more than once or watch it in any great detail it all starts to fall apart. Like his previous film Upgrade, the story here is paced well and the plot is intriguing, but Leigh falls short of creating a genuinely tense and enthralling thriller. Mainstream critics also talk about this movie being “Hitchcockian” but Leigh Whannell is no Brian De Palma (a genuine student of Alfred Hitchcock’s techniques). Sure, the central character is someone who isn’t believed but that’s a filmic trope dating back over a century. Look online and you’ll see that The Invisible Man is labelled as a #MeToo film by quite a few critics but it doesn’t feel like that to me. So forget what lazy critics are saying about Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man, surely there’s a difference between a purposely-made pro-female/anti-male piece of entertainment and something that fits somewhere between coincidence and appropriation of popular culture? Films like the recent Black Christmas remake and the upcoming Promising Young Woman are the genuine #MeToo movies, not only because of their focussed storyline but also because the message is at the forefront of each film. Unimaginative producers and bandwagonist critics may think any flick featuring a female protagonist and a male antagonist is automatically “political” but surely it’s a sexist concept to see every woman as a representative of their demographic rather than a well-written character or a talented actor? Just because a strong or a downtrodden woman is the focus of a film, it doesn’t necessarily make it an allegory of the times we live in. But this is easily forgivable given the fine craftsmanship in all other areas of The Invisible Man.By What Went Wrong Or Right With.? on FebruĪlthough it may have formed part of this film’s pitch and it might be one of the main reasons for putting this version into production, the latest iteration of The Invisible Man is not a so-called “Me Too” movie. ![]() The only real issues with the film reveal themselves as the story comes to a head, and certain details become just a little less air-tight. Not only does she give a concentrated, fully rounded performance, but her character is fascinatingly flawed and appealingly tough. The visual effects are inspired, and this is the first time in an Invisible Man movie that invisibility isn't created by chemicals. The movie's use of sound and music is also superb Benjamin Wallfisch's edgy, scraping score seems to come from everywhere at once. Whannell ( Insidious: Chapter 3, Upgrade) uses a wide-screen frame to brilliant effect, creating suspense with large, empty spaces and with red herrings, such as mannequins or creepy sculptures. Officially a remake of James Whale's classic 1933 Universal monster movie, this version of The Invisible Man retains the idea of the invisible person being murderously psychotic but combines it with paranoid, "falsely accused" touches right out of Alfred Hitchcock or Fritz Lang. Wells tale, writer-director Leigh Whannell has done just about everything right, delivering a tense, clever thriller with touches of both horror and sci-fi. ![]()
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