Hollow Man (2000)
Grade: C-
Cast: Kevin Bacon, Elisabeth Shue, and Josh Brolin
Director: Paul Verhoeven
Rated R for language, violence, and nudity


"The Invisible Man" flick has loads of potential. It could be a comedy, with the invisible man messing with people and having all sorts of mischievous fun. We could laugh as he narrowly escapes getting caught. It could be a straight drama, with a man going mad from the sense of power exhorted with his gift. There could be true power to be exhibited in a film given that premise. It could even be a romantic drama, with a man stuck in invisibility while his wife or girlfriend can hear him, but will never be able to see him again. I’m not one for romantic dramas, but give me good lead actors and a ride to the theaters and I’ll be back with my thoughts on that one.

Yep, all sound great, but all Hollywood can give us (at least so far this millennium) is "Hollow Man," Paul Verhoevan’s invisible horny slasher thriller that shows immense promise before turning into a clichéd pile of crap, making it even worse since it could have gone on to better things. It’s not as if "Hollow Man" never had a chance; it’s that the filmmakers just screwed up the third act so badly that the film is ultimately a thumbs-down kind of movie. The film has many, many good things about it (well, not many, many…it’s just that what it does right is absolutely jaw-droppingly fantastic). Kevin Bacon plays Sebastian, the man who ends up being the invisible horny slasher, and he shows amazing dedication to his role. Entertainment Weekly magazine published his ‘diary’ while making the film, and what he went through must have been grueling. The film could have made it easier by making him suddenly turn invisible by flicking a switch and that would be the end of it. If things were more down-to-earth like the concept I just explained, perhaps the final outcome of the actual film would have been more impressive. But Kevin is strapped down, his hair disappears, his skin disappears (though not soon enough for us to get a glimpse of Kevin’s Bacon---this time sans skin), and his organs disappear, all slowly, and while he is apparently having some sort of seizure. This scene (as well as one where he starts to become visible again, and the ones where the gorilla becomes visible and invisible) requires lots of special effects, and the special effects are what the film needs to be noted for. Watching these scenes, I stared, my jaw dropped, and I ceased to blink. It’s an amazing visual experience, one that gives the film its recommendation from me, no matter how bad the last third of it is. These scenes are great, but the film knows this is fantastic and gets arrogant on us, thinking those kind of brilliant special effects will sustain a full feature.

Anyway, now Sebastian is invisible. In a series of plot contrivances that are forgivable but can only be described as cinematic antiques, Sebastian becomes permanently invisible until they fix a certain scientific problem (explained here with nonsensical mumbo-jumbo), and what was already arrogance catapults him into the league of self-loving madman. He’s the kind of guy who probably enjoys masturbating more than sex because it focuses solely on him.

Of course, that last statement is entirely false, because Sebastian (before he becomes Invisible Jason) is a sex maniac. This is purely from the director; Paul Verhoeven, it appears, is the kind of guy who would make porn if it paid enough. After seeing this, "Total Recall," and part of "Basic Instinct," I don’t have a doubt in my mind. At first, when Sebastian gets horny with co-workers, it seems important to the story because it’s one of the things that a normal (or insane) man with that kind of power would do. But Verhoeven pushes this message over the edge and overdoes it, as he does with other various messages that the film tries and usually fails to send. Another valid example is Sebastian’s arrogance. By repeatedly having him making comments about thinking he’s God, Verhoeven misses subtlety by miles, and this is a case where subtlety (unlike with the film’s special effects, which Verhoeven rightly overdoes) would have worked much better. By having him already a nut before the story requires him to transform into an all-out nut, "Hollow Man" deletes potential tension in the plot, because what will happen is so ridiculously obvious.

Yep, that last half hour is bad. It makes "Friday the 13th" seem subtle and clever by comparison, by making Sebastian kill the characters in uncreative ways and them yell uninspired dialogue at each other. I liked their ways of making Sebastian visible (not because it fleshed out the characters, but because it gave the effects artists more work), but other than that, the climax is horrible, awful, and any other scathing, insulting adjective that comes to mind.

There are lots of kinds of bad movies. There are the unfunny comedies, embarrassing because the audience isn’t reacting the way the filmmakers hoped. Syrupy sentimental dramas, bad because the audience sees the strings behind the puppet show and reacts with resist. Bad horror movies, which are laughable exaggerations compared to other, subtler works of the genre. "Hollow Man" has moments that could go into each of those categories, but it ultimately belongs in the one I hate the most: the movies that can’t live up to their potential. Walking out of "Corky Romano," I shrugged it off and forgot all about it. Watching "Hollow Man," I got all excited, only to be let down because the filmmakers didn’t want to go on and show me challenging, exciting things. That’s the real mark of a cinematic failure.


-Alex, June 2002