Hollow Man
(Review by WhiteTrash2000)
Hollow Man is one of those not so rare films that you see that has wonderful effects that are eye candy to nearly every viewer. However the movie makers put them into a script full of plot holes and unconvincing unlikable characters. The scenes involving invisible transformation are the best, where we slowly see the subject disappaering first skin then organs and other such body parts. However the films quickly loses its touch after these scenes.
The Premise is quite simple, a group of scientists who work in a secluded underground research facility have successfully been able to cause invisibility to certain animals but have not yet been able to find the serum to make the subject visible yet. Kevin Bacon's character Sebastian decides to inject himself with the invisibility serum to test the effects it has on humans. It works obviously but they don't have the serum to make him visible again so he must stay this way for a while and of course he has to stay in the compound. He leaves obviously and decides to have a little fun. He attacks a neighbor girl and kills the man in charge of the project when he threatens to pull the plug on the project(in his pool). When he returns to the facility the other scientists discover that it was indeed Sebastian who did the killing and that he plans to stay invisible for the rest of his life. Sebastian is in a dilemma though, no one can find out that he has committed murder and the only ones that know are the scientists who have not told anyone. So he decides that the best way to get out of this jam is to get rid of the other scientists. And so he systematically kills them one by one in the underground research facility where they all work.
Hollow Man could have been better given the fact that the two main characters are Kevin Bacon and Elisabeth Shue(who had a thing with Sebastian and is now dating another co-worker.) And of course the fantastic premise. The two do what they can with their roles but can't bring the film to the strength that it could have had. The biggest problem is probably the actions of Kevin Bacon's character Sebastian. Their could have been strange imaginative things that he could have done and instead he just kills, and attacks, and tries to rape neighbors, and sexually harasses a female co-worker (in a completely hilarious scene).
Hollow Man made over fifty million dollars at the box office and it's no doubt why, the people came for the effects and to see Kevin Bacon (not that you see much of him anyway) and Elisabeth Shue. Hollow Man tries to be witty and smart but still ultimately fails. I left the theatre feeling cheated and unsatisfied. Which usually doesn't happen to me.
