The Invisible Man

The Invisible Man

Starring Elisabeth Moss, Aldis Hodge, Storm Reid, Oliver Jackson-Cohen

Directed by Leigh Whannell

Back in 2017, Universal had planned their own cinematic universe called Dark Universe, where it would bring back their beloved creatures of old - The Mummy, Dracula, The Invisible Man, The Wolfman, and so on - but after the disastrous tanking of the Tom Cruise-led "The Mummy," that idea was rightfully scrapped.  It's against this backdrop that horror maestro Leigh Whannell ("Saw," "Insidious," "Upgrade") decided to bring the beloved H.G. Wells-pennedThe Invisible Man to the big screen on his own, not making it a direct copy of the 1897 novel, but rather making it modern and applicable to the #metoo era.  While he succeeded in delivering a thrilling, female-empowering film, the movie itself suffered from a haphazard script that has plot holes big enough to drive a semi through several times over.

Cecilia Kass (Elisabeth Moss) is living a tortured life with her wealthy, intelligent boyfriend Adrian (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), who not just abuses her physically but mentally as well - as he does with everyone he meets.  One night she devises a plan to escape him for good, with the help of her sister Emily (Harriet Dyer).  She manages to escape, and lives with her friend James Lanier (Aldis Hodge) and his teenage daughter Sydney (Storm Reid), but is haunted by Adrian, fearful he is watching her and becoming agoraphobic.  Then Emily arrives with news - Adrian is dead, killed by his own hand.  Adrian's brother, Tom (Michael Dorman), is a lawyer who tells Cecilia that she'll inherit a five million dollar payload for Adrian's death under the conditions that she doesn't commit a crime or is found mentally unstable.  Soon Cecilia begins to feel Adrian's presence, and strange occurrences begin to plague her, and she believes that Adrian isn't really dead, but found a way to become invisible to terrorize her.  Is she right, or has the years of mental abuse finally gotten the best of her?

What I Liked:
Elisabeth Moss can do no wrong.  She is a tour-de-force actress who hasn't received her just praise in the realm of big screen cinema as of yet, but this is proof as to why she deserves more recognition.  She plays Cecilia in such a delicate balance that it's awe-inspiring to behold, and really plays the role with precision and careful consideration to women out there who've been mentally and physically abused by a boyfriend or husband and how she comes out of it.  We see her develop from a shy, fearful, cowering woman into a powerful warrior who won't sit back and let events just happen, but set out to prove herself right.  The highlight of this film is how - despite the outlandish premise - she can still tell a story very universal and grounded in reality, and gives you truly a character to root for.

The scares are plentiful and well-orchestrated, with some well-placed jump scares added for good measure.  Normally I would be against cheap jump scares, but here they're done in full effect to enhance the experience, and not create one on their own.  It's interesting concerning a film about a literal invisible evil force to be able to make it truly palpable and terrifying when you can't see it coming.  It's a thriller that doesn't let up from the start, and blends both the surreal and real perfectly - while the concept of someone in an invisible suit terrorizing someone is itself unnerving, the most stressful moments came at the beginning of the film for me, because it's more grounded in reality.

Leigh Whannell has a natural eye for capturing the scary moments perfectly, and major kudos has to be given to cinematographer Stefan Dusico, whose excellent camerawork provided a deep sense of isolation for Cecilia and continued dread for the viewer as the camera slowly would pan to one side or another showing nothing, as you're expecting to see something, and the track-camera work as well was powerful and gritty, calling back to Whannell's other fantastic work "Upgrade" - not to mention a blink-it-and-you'll-miss it moment that left my mouth open in shock.

To top off Moss's acting, Whannell's directing, and Duscio's camerawork is Benjamin Wallfisch's unnerving score, which penetrates to your soul with each note plucked.  You feel the nervous energy and growing dread with each moment delivered due to the haunting score.

What I Didn't Like:
The concept of the film itself calls for cliches to be delivered, and this is no exception.  The idea of a mentally battered woman believing that her abusive ex is terrorizing her in an invisible suit is rather preposterous, but Cecilia could've done more to prove her case than what she did.  Even during the trailers I was saying that this would follow the traditional path of no one believing her, the problems escalating, leading to a final confrontation - and that's no spoiler, it's pretty much typical at this point.

The story itself is filled to the brim with plot holes that had me literally yelling at the screen several times, infuriated with the nonsensical actions of Cecilia and others around her.  Yes, a film like this calls for a suspension of belief, but there were too many occurrences where it was painfully obvious what was going on, but no one seemed to notice.  The story does involve some well-crafted moments, but even those moments have their own glaring plot holes within the overall plot hole-filled narrative.

For a budget of just seven million, it's understandable that the effects would lack, but the effects were severely lacking here, where I almost laughed out loud at the absurd effects used that detached me from the story for the moment.

Overall:While the film relied on typical cliche moments, "The Invisible Man" is a very well-done modern adaptation of a classic novel, delivered with brilliance by the excellent Elisabeth Moss and filled with tension-fueled suspense and true terror.

The Score: B+