Hollow Man : L'Homme sans ombre

** out of ****

I've seen Hollow Man twice now, the first time in theaters, where I had the distinct impression that I'd seen a fast-paced thriller that was nonetheless entirely disposable and unfulfilling. Seeing the film again, I had the exact same feeling. Hollow Man is a film of great potential, packed with terrific special effects and a surprisingly engaging cast (the exceptions being Josh Brolin and Elisabeth Shue). So when the movie goes to cliche hell in its final 1/3, you'll be very disappointed even though the action is still entertaining.

Kevin Bacon stars as Sebastian Caine, a scientist working with a diverse crew in an underground laboratory on a military project. The goal: to achieve the power of invisibility, as well as the ability to return to a visible state. Caine, being the egotistical hothead that he is, performs the procedure on himself, but finds he is unable to return to his human state. With Caine growing further and further mad, the rest of the crew try to find a way to revert him back to his normal state, not knowing Caine is beginning to prefer his invisibility and will do anything to keep it.

The first half-hour of Hollow Man is the best, when we're introduced to these wow-inducing, eye-popping visual effects. This is also the point where the story holds the most potential, before devolving into B-grade land. Now, most people seem to agree that the film would have worked a lot better if it had focused on Bacon brandishing his invisibility on the outside world, and there is a ten-minute segment where he does do this, but it's also arguably the film's worst part.

The reason? That's easy, it's because he rapes Rhona Mitra. Apparently, director Paul Verhoeven seemed very satisfied with just presenting this rape, as if though to make a statement about man's human nature and what we'd do if we didn't have to face up to the consequences. That's fine and all, I'm for a little depth here and there, but it disturbs me that he doesn't address Mitra's character further. Here's a woman who's been raped by an invisible man, and we're simply supposed to accept this scene and not wonder about the effect this will have on her psychological state (think about it this way, unless the military goes public with all the invisibility stuff, there's no way she wouldn't know if she'd be attacked again). This is where the movie truly goes awry.

The last half-hour is essentially Caine going around, knocking off all the lab workers, and while it's uninspired material, it's still rather exciting to watch, if only because Verhoeven is a skilled action director who really knows how to make us squirm and cringe at the sight of blood and guts. But by the time it's all over, though I found myself mildly entertained, there was still a bad taste in my mouth from the filmmakers' poor decision-making and routine route they chose for the film.

Some viewers complain "this is not scary". Well, no, not in the way that a typical horror film is scary. Instead, this is more of a psychological thriller. If you remember the 1933 Universal film "The Invisible Man", you only meet the Invisible man after he has already gone insane. What happened before? This film is more about what could have happened beforehand, although the film only takes the basic idea and sets everything in present day.

Sebastian Caine (Kevin Bacon) is a brilliant scientist who, unfortunately, is not independently wealthy. Thus he relies on the military for his funding. He manages to make a gorilla invisible then visible again with serums he has invented with said funding, but then lies to the oversight committee about his progress, although this threatens to shut his project down. He convinces two of his team members -Linda McKay (Elizabeth Shue) and Matt Kensington (Josh Brolin) - to go straight to human testing without telling the oversight committee or informing the other team members that they are going rogue. Sebastian says he will be the human test subject.

Now Sebastian is a bit of a creep to begin with . He was formerly involved with McKay, but they broke up and now - unknown to Sebastian - she is seeing Matt. But Sebastian has now become obsessed with McKay once again. So the team makes Sebastian invisible but attempts to make him visible again fail repeatedly. Sebastian goes from at first playing pranks on the team members using his power of invisibility, to growing increasingly agitated, angry, and violent as he is trapped in this invisible state and feels like a lab rat. What makes him lose it completely is when he finds out about Linda and Matt's involvement. Even before he loses it completely, though, he has been taking to the streets and doing some increasingly evil things given that he cannot be seen and therefore be held responsible.

The concluding half hour is lots of edge-of-your-seat suspense, is somewhat Die-Hardish, and then parts of it are just plain gross. The film makes good use of special effects, especially when Sebastian is transforming between being visible and invisible. Unlike today's films, though, the special effects are used to accentuate the story, not replace it. I'd highly recommend this one and do not understand the current low rating.

I was pleasantly surprised by this film. The acting was quite adequate, the film score very imaginative and the special effects amazing (and gruesome). It copies "The Invisible Man", made half a century before, in having its protagonist lose his mind but unlike the other film, there is no humor to be found - nor any reason for it. It is a bit too apocalyptic near the end and I felt that the special effects turned it perhaps too much into a technical spectacle, but it made sense in general and brought me more pleasure than I had expected. Kevin Bacon was certainly up the his part and William Devane was frightening in his brief scene,

Curtis Stotlar

The 2000 movie "Hollow Man" from director Paul Verhoeven is a movie that can be watched again and again. And I have certainly sat down to watch it several times since it was initially released. And the movie continues to be every bit as entertaining with each viewing.

The storyline in "Hollow Man", as written by Gary Scott Thompson and Andrew W. Marlowe, is a rather enjoyable and entertaining script which makes for a very watchable movie. Not only is it good entertainment, but the storyline definitely also gives you something to think about, and that is something I enjoy about this movie. So thumbs up to the writers for that accomplishment.

Not only does "Hollow Man" have a good storyline and script, but it most certainly also have a great cast ensemble. The movie is carried nicely by leading actor Kevin Bacon, but the movie also have the likes of Elisabeth Shue, Josh Brolin, Kim Dickens, Rhona Mitra and others on the cast list. So you definitely are in capable hands here throughout the course of the 112 minutes that the movie run for.

Visually then "Hollow Man" was and still is a great movie. I like the special effects they pulled off in this 2000 movie, because it looks and feels real, and it adds a very enjoyable layer to the movie. So the special effects department really pulled their weight when they worked on "Hollow Man".

If you haven't already seen "Hollow Man", from director Paul Verhoeven, you certainly should do so, if you get the chance. It is a good movie.

My rating "Hollow Man" lands on a seven out of ten stars.

Hollow Man is a ride, baby. It isn't scary as the ads would have you believe, but I'll be dammed if it isn't one of the most entertaining horror flicks I've seen in a while. In this age of computer generated, digital effects I have a hard time telling good special effects from bad (they all start to look the same after a while), but this one has a few of the most impressive sequences I've ever seen on film. I assume this is one of the most special effect-intensive movies ever attempted (aside form the latest Star Wars), and they do dazzle, so it's a shame the story doesn't quite measure up. It starts to get a little tired in the third act, but what the hell, I was entertained.

Aside form Kevin Bacon, there were no real stand-out performances in Hollow Man. The invisibility serum seems to bring on severe emotional instability in animals, so Bacon's character decides to try it out on himself. Problem is, Kevin is already nuttier than squirrel turds so this is not the smartest of decisions, but he runs the project, so he calls the shots. Mayhem ensues. This is a really clever idea for a horror film, and the smart ways the scientists think of to detect Bacon in his invisible form never ceases to impress. It's nice to see technology has finally made it so that they can do just about anything you can think of in film.

Paul Verhoeven is what makes this movie most attractive for me. I really love his go-for-broke, over the top directing style, and it's put to good use in this one especially. He took a step in the right direction by distancing himself from hack-supreme Joe Esterhaus in the entertaining but flawed Starship Troopers, and now he's back on his feet again. I can just picture him screaming like a madman on set, frothing at the mouth for "more blood, MORE BLOOD!". He doesn't shy away from gore, violence, sex, or anything. He just jumps right in. I like that. This movie is worth about an 8/10 stars. Worth the price of admission for the effects alone. G'night!