Review #477: 'Hollow Man' (2000)

The story of the Invisible Man has taken many forms on TV, film and in literature since the publication of H.G. Wells' classic novel. The best known, possibly, is James Whale's fantastic Universal adaptation, starring Claude Rains as the scientist gone mad, and actors from the likes of David McCallum and Chevy Chase have played the title character since then to various degrees of sympathy. It was always a story of the psychological effects a new found power can have on a human being, posing the inevitable question of what would you do if no-one could see you? I wouldn't like to dwell on the things I would find myself getting up to, but director Paul Verhoeven is clear as to what he thinks men would get up to - voyeurism and rape, and this is a key theme throughout Hollow Man, amidst all the extreme gore of course.

Arrogant, obnoxious scientist Sebastian Caine (Kevin Bacon) makes a breakthrough in reversing invisibility on a gorilla, but when reporting his success to the Pentagon, he opts to hold back information to gain more time to experiment on himself. Co-workers Linda (Elisabeth Shue), an ex-lover and still the subject of Caine's affections, and Matthew (Josh Brolin), who is secretly dating Linda, voice their objections, but Caine's insistence eventually wins them round, and successfully turns himself invisible. The reverse serum does not work, so Caine is stuck wearing a rubber mask and shades while they work on the solution. But Caine finds that with great power comes endless possibilities, and his behaviour becomes increasingly more erratic and sinister, and begins to sabotage his colleagues efforts to bring him back.

Subtlety has never been Paul Verhoeven's strong suit, but where his films are always hugely tacky and pornographically violent, they come with a satirical bite, more often than not at the U.S.'s expense. But where Starship Troopers (1997), for example, was a massive amount of fun as well as being pretty bloody clever (American soldiers dressed like Nazis!), Hollow Man doesn't have the capacity to be anything but a familiar story with a large helping of cheddar and stock characters, and the satire is left outside. It's still enjoyable seeing the various faceless characters receive a grisly butchering, and some impressive CGI (even by today's standards) reveals many inventive ways you can see an invisible man.

But it's often embarrassingly over-the-top and the script is woeful even by it's own schlock standards ("don't you die on me!"). Caine's infatuation with the hot woman across the road (played by Rhona Mitra) leads to a nasty rape, and Caine frequently takes liberties with Linda and veterinarian Sarah (Kim Dickens). It's an interesting theme, and no doubt something that a lot of men would take up given the power of invisibility, but Verhoeven's camera seems to almost enjoy the voyeurism, making certain scenes quite uncomfortable. Yet an enjoyably hammy performance from Bacon overshadows the blandness of Shue and Brolin's one-dimensional characters, and helps lifts the film from bad, to average.


Directed by: Paul Verhoeven
Starring: Kevin Bacon, Elisabeth Shue, Josh Brolin, Kim Dickens
Country: USA/Germany

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie