Synopsis:
When Cecilia’s abusive ex takes his own life and leaves her his fortune, she suspects his death was a hoax. As a series of coincidences turn lethal, Cecilia works to prove that she is being hunted by someone nobody can see – the Invisible Man.
Directed by: Leigh Whannell
Screenplay by: Leigh Whannell
Starring: Elizabeth Moss, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Harriet Dyer, Aldis Hodge
My Edition:
Standard Blu ray edition + DVD + Digital
My Thoughts:
Out of four Universal Monster reboots in recent memory (so far, and please correct me if there are some I’m unaware of) – 2010’s Wolfman (LOVED – and I will fight you if you tell me it’s bad, because you’re dead fucking wrong), 2014’s dumpster-fest Dracula Untold, and 2017’s I-don’t-even-have-words-for-how-ungodly-terrible it was The Mummy, and now this year’s The Invisible Man, I am at a 50% for loving it. Are those odds good? No. But they are better than I would have expected.
Ok, now for my thoughts on this movie specifically (sorry – I have feelings about rebooting things and not doing it as well or better than it originally was).
So, the original H. G. Wells novel deals with themes of identity – specifically of race and racial identity, and greed – I’m distilling heavily here, but I think those are perhaps the most prevalent themes. The Invisible Man is a mad, power-hungry menace. The 1933 film starring Claude Raines sees the Invisible Man/Dr. Jack Griffin as a much more sympathetic character. Although he is still undeniably mad, here he has Flora as a sort of foil – he loves her, and he doesn’t want to do anything to hurt her, but he’s mad, and he’s power hungry, and he’s INVISIBLE.
And then there’s 2000’s Hollow Man – don’t worry, I swear there’s a point to all these short write-ups. I’ll get to it post-haste. So Hollow Man is basically The Invisible Man on PCP. Sebastian Cane, the films IM is AWFUL. He’s absolute dumpster-garbage. Like, high-level, unfettered evil made invisible. He is a destroyer simply because he can be.
So Whannell’s invisible man, Adrian Griffin (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) is sort of an amalgam of all of the invisible dudes that came before him. I mean, don’t get me wrong here: he is also human garbage. He’s abusive and controlling and manipulative – he’s also greedy and power-hungry, I think. He’s always got to have the best, be the best, and everyone and everything around him had better just fucking fall in line or face the consequences.
He said that wherever I went, he would find me, walk right up to me, and I wouldn’t be able to see him.
He’s terrible, and he’s terrifying. Cecilia (Elizabeth Moss) is terrorized by him. The film opens on a scene that gave me heavy Sleeping with the Enemy vibes. Her terror just oozes off of her at every turn. That feeling of menace kicks in right at the beginning, and honestly never lets up. There’s not a single moment of reprieve right up to the films’ conclusion. And the conclusion is pretty great. There were plenty of unexpected elements there that I really appreciated.
I spent the entirety of this film pitched as far forward on the couch as I could be without falling flat on my face. It pulled me in immediately and I never lost interest in what was going on. Elizabeth Moss, as usual, played her role powerfully. I believed her. I felt for her. She was a highly believable victim of domestic violence, gaslighting, and, well…emotional terrorism at the hands of Adrian.
My Rating:
I wish I had been able to see this in the theater, but it is definitely going to get watched many more times at home.
The Invisible Man Directed by: Leigh Whannell Originally Released: February 28, 2020 Universal Pictures/Blumhouse Horror/Mystery/Science Fiction Rated R 124 Minutes
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