Avventure di un uomo invisibile

My Take: It' ain't great, but its funny and interesting, and packed with wildly imaginative special effects.

Part-Hitchcockian manhunt thriller, part-James Whale and part-screwball special effects comedy, John Carpenter's 1992 misunderstood MEMOIRS OF AN INVISIBLE MAN is a delightful although not entirely great comedy. Or was it really meant to be a comedy? Although it's obviously a Chevy Chase vehicle pumped up by (for-the-time) groundbreaking special effects. But was it really a comedy? John Carpenter refuses to tell us exactly what the identity of, not the character, bu the movie. It was both a thriller, a comedy and a love story at the same time. And, although Carpenter wasn't able to balance all three genres together and make them mesh together completely, he does provide an interesting and skillfully-made little film. The special effects are dated compared to today's standards (By the following year, these kind of special effects would be extinct and would make way for CGI with JURASSIC PARK) but they are still quite convincing at some scenes. As a matter of fact, they're actually quite funny in some scenes (The scene where Chase sees the food he just ate digesting was pretty hilarious). The performances are decent at best, with Sam Niell in fine form as the antagonist, a ruthless undercover agent, and Daryll Hannah as a fine damsel-in-distress. Chase is pretty good too, although due to his comedic screen presence, it's quite hard to take him seriously during his scenes that are meant to be serious.

Although flawed, MEMOIRS OF AN INVISIBLE MAN is a skillfully-paced and hilarious film. It might be an overstatement to say Carpenter was in control here, but no one can say he didn't at least do a passable job.

Rating: *** out of 5.

Chevy Chase is at it again. This time he plays a yuppie who become totally transparent after a freak accident. In "Memoirs of an Invisible Man", Nick Halloway(Chase) becomes both victim and pawn of the CIA. Halloway becomes invisible following an explosion in a laboratory which, makes him a perfect weapon against the enemy. However, someone in the CIA wanted him for more than that. So Nick escapes, and goes to the woman he loves dearly, Alice Monroe(Darryl Hannah). She thinks that Nick is dead, but when she sees the truth, it's out of sight. Literally. Nick's personality and wit gives him the edge when Jenkins(Sam Neill) would give him a promise to give him back his molecules so he can be living a normal life again. So far, Nick finds his condition a bit of a plus so far. He can play practical jokes, without getting caught. The only way you can get caught is to misuse the ability of stealth. It's a lot of fun, it's too bad it didn't do well at the box office. This movie is perfect for home viewing I believe. It wouldn't hurt to be invisible, just get used to it. 4 out of 5 stars!

Eventually there comes a time when actors who usually specialize in comedy decide that, for at least once, they'd like to be taken seriously. And so it goes with this Chevy Chase vehicle in which he largely plays it straight. He's cast as Nick Halloway, a securities analyst who is rendered invisible after a freak accident at a laboratory. This makes things difficult as he attempts to romance a documentarian (a radiant Daryl Hannah) whom he's just met, and tries to avoid a sneaky Federal agent (an appropriately smarmy Sam Neill) who wants to exploit Nicks' situation.

At the least, "Memoirs of an Invisible Man" offers an interesting look at a person who has to accept invisibility as a fact of life. In addition to the benefits of not being visible, he must deal with the realities. For example, HE may be invisible, but the food and drink he ingests won't be as they enter his system. All the spy stuff is pretty standard-issue, and one has to presume that the source novel by H.F. Saint was somewhat more nuanced.

Still, this is reasonably entertaining. It was clearly just work for hire for the celebrated veteran director John Carpenter; because it's among the least "Carpenter-esque" of his filmography, it may not be very satisfying to his fans.

Chase is very earnest. You have to respect his restraint; at no time do you get the indication that he wants to crack wise. Hannah is appealing and of course gorgeous. Neill is an effective villain, although he doesn't really try to suppress his natural Kiwi accent for the role. Familiar faces like Michael McKean, Stephen Tobolowsky, Patricia Heaton, Donald Li (From JC's "Big Trouble in Little China"), Rosalind Chao, and Sam Anderson also turn up. JC himself has a cameo late in the picture as a helicopter pilot (billed as "Rip Haight").

But the real stars of the movie are undoubtedly the visual effects team at ILM. If a viewer is otherwise bored with this, they can't deny that the invisibility gags are effective.

Overall, good for some chuckles and thrills.

Six out of 10.

I've seen this movie a couple of times, and I like to watch it ever since I saw it the first time when its on TV. The plot is moderately original, the settings are good, and on top of all, we see great acting from all three leads: Sam Neill, Daryl Hannah and - to my surprise - Chevy Chase. My main memories about him the time I saw the movie for the first time was him sitting behind the wheel of an estate car, playing is undoubtedly most famous Clark Griswold character, which I really do not like. The more astonishing that it just takes a darker setting, some good co-actors, and the fact that he is visible only about half the time of the movie, and there you go, some fantastic Chevy Chase acting over there. He played his character very authentic, although maybe a little too cool later on during the movie. Maybe this movie cannot hold up to more popular Hollywood movies of its time, but it is a quite decent story with good acting and some very nice ideas. 7 outta 10, with a +1 star understatement bonus.

There are some interesting lessons to learn from this film....not that any of us will ever get to learn this since we'd have to be able to turn invisible. However, when we think about all the fun we could have being invisible, we don't think of all the problems it would cause us. This movie brings some of those to light, so to speak.

I enjoyed Chevy Chase and Daryl Hannah in here and I am not fans of either of them. Chase is funny in this film and does an outstanding job playing the role not just with humor but drama, romance and suspense. You get all of that in this movie. Hannah provides the beautiful face and someone for Chevy to chase.

This is another PG-13 movie that really should have been rated R with the language, for one thing. Overall, it's a film whose title may sound hokey but the story is done well. It''s actually though-provoking. Being invisible would not be all fun and games.