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Hollow Man (2000)

DVD Cover (Sony Home Entertainment Reissue)
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Overall Rating 55%
Overall Rating
Ranked #1,319
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Having discovered they could turn animals invisible, a group of scientists test the subject on a human. Head of research, Dr. Sebastian Caine decides to use himself as the subject. After the experiment can't be reversed, it takes a toll on Caine's personality, causing him to hunt down and kill his colleagues --IMDb
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Review by Crispy
Added: November 10, 2012
Invisibility is inherently a creepy concept. The idea that someone can be lurking right in the open, completely undetected, with complete power to do whatever they want is terrifying, and when that person is a completely amoral egomaniac to begin with, well things can get completely out of control in a hurry.

Sebastian Caine positively redefines the word genius. It's a great thing in and of itself, but Caine knows it. And considering he's used his intelligence to land countless government contracts, he also redefines the phrase God complex. The latest contract he's picked up is from the military, designing a system to bring soldiers in and out of the visual spectrum. He threw together an injected serum that turns animals invisible easy enough, but it turns out that bringing them back is a little trickier. They've got a whole zoo of invisible dogs, cats and monkeys, and after prolonged invisibility, they begin to get super aggressive. Fortunately, Caine's superbrain kicks in one night and he pulls the solution out of his ass. The next day, he assembles his team (including his ex-girlfriend , her secret new fling, veterinarian, and a few other technical aides) and successfully re-visualize a gorilla. Still, instead of bringing the news to the Pentagon, he decides to move on to human testing, with himself as the guinea pig, of course. It hurts like hell, but in ten minutes, Caine is no longer part of the visual spectrum. However, when it's time to reverse the process, Caine finds he is stuck in his current stake. His horror soon turns to sick glee, as the megalomaniac realizes the power inherent in the situation.

Let's just come right out and say it: Hollow Man was not exactly one of those films aimed at the highest common denominator. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing; I mean, it's a fun ninety minutes, but it's obvious that a thinking plot has taken a backseat to Caine's descent into madness. The cliches and bad decisions come quick and heavy, but it kept things moving. Also, they made Craine a bit too superhuman by the time the big climax hit. After all, other than the fact that he's invisible he's an ordinary human being, but they dealt him a few blows that should have killed him in two seconds flat and he just kept coming. Yeah, I know it seems like a stupid complaint in a movie about an invisible man, but I can overlook most problems as long as the hokey movie science covers it.

Regardless of whether or not you were a fan of the direction the film took, there's no denying that the film looked amazing First of all, the decision to do to have the subjects disappear and reappear layer by layer (first the skin would go, then the muscles, then bones, etc) was absolutely brilliant. At some level, it seems a bit more realistic to assume an injected serum would hit different organs at different times, and while I can't vouch for the biological accuracy, it was a nice touch for the casual movie going public. Plus, it really accented just how excruciating they wanted the process to be. Of course, all of this would be pointless if the CGI looked like shit. No worries, the crew brought their A games here. From the aforementioned transformation scenes to the "empty shell" of Craine's latex mask (naturally, the eye and mouth holes show right through to the inside of the back of the mask) everything looked realistic. Liquids reacting to his invisible form looked especially nice. Hell, the effects even got an Oscar nomination, so you know they did something right.

While none of our actors really slouch, none of them came close to Kevin Bacon. Hell, he's a big part of the reason I had as much fun with this movie as I did. The man obviously had a ball here, and it shows. Plus, while Craine had several facets he had to get across, from the megalomaniacal asshole to the complete sociopath, every bit of it was a disgusting, slimy character. Bacon nailed it, and offered us a truly despicable piece of shit that was easy to hate. Considering that among the co-stars he outshone so handedly are names like Elisabeth Shue and Josh Brolin, and its even more of an achievement.

Effects aside, Hollow Man has been pretty much panned universally since its release. Its been criticized as a brain-dead thriller that went for style over substance, but that didn't bother me in the least. Hell, that's among the chief reasons I liked it. No, it's not exactly on par with the original cerebral classic, but it's a fun ninety minutes. What else do you want? 7/10.
Lucid Dreams #1: Lucid Dreams - added November 30, 2012 at 2:13am
Good review, Chris. I liked this a lot more than I thought I would. Whatever happened to Elisabeth Shue?
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