About the film (courtesy of Universal Pictures):
What you can’t see can hurt you. Emmy winner Elisabeth Moss stars in a terrifying modern tale of obsession inspired by Universal’s classic monster character. Trapped in a violent, controlling relationship with a wealthy and brilliant scientist, Cecilia Kass (Moss) escapes in the dead of night and disappears into hiding, aided by her sister (Harriet Dyer), their childhood friend (Aldis Hodge) and his teenage daughter (Storm Reid). But when Cecilia’s abusive ex (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) commits suicide and leaves her a generous portion of his vast fortune, Cecilia suspects his death was a hoax. As a series of eerie coincidences turns lethal, threatening the lives of those she loves, Cecilia’s sanity begins to unravel as she desperately tries to prove that she is being hunted by someone nobody can see.
Universal Pictures’ grand vision for a connected franchise using its impressive arsenal of classic characters to create a new cinematic Dark Universe was indeed ambitious, yet it quickly unraveled before it got started with the less-than-favorable performance of the big-budget reboot of The Mummy (2017) starring Tom Cruise. Universal was all set to bring in more big names (at least they were A DECADE AGO) like Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp for Bride of Frankenstein and Invisible Man adaptations but those ideas became fiscally irresponsible and were scrapped. With the aforementioned failure, rethinking and retooling brings us today’s feature, Leigh Whannell’s vision of The Invisible Man.
Whannell has proved to be impressive with his writing skills in bringing us the Saw and Insidious franchises. If nothing else, he has proven to be a studio darling by being able to create stories that are immersive, engaging and terrorizing without breaking the bank. He’s a safe bet when it comes to a return on investment. Another example of that was his standalone film (at least for now as talk of a sequel is in the works) Upgrade (2018), which helped us all realize that he does not need to rely solely on the traditional horror genre to succeed. And that is probably my first observation about The Invisible Man. It is not traditional, and you’ll just have to take my word on this until you see the film.
Elisabeth Moss is very solid in her role as a woman in a hopelessly toxic relationship with a next-level narcissist (Oliver Jackson-Cohen). She portrays her fear and anxiety in grand fashion and audiences will be in her hip pocket from the beginning. The level of empathy that The Invisible Man creates is quite impressive but it’s the tense thrilling moments of creepiness that gives this experience its teeth. There is the balance between horror, psychological thriller and even sci-fi that allows this movie to succeed where others might have failed. Clocking in at just over two hours may look dreadful on paper but it works because the story is so immersive.
The rest of the contributing cast, including Harriet Dyer, Storm Reid, Aldis Hodge (who has apparently spent A LOT of time at the gym since his days of TNT’s Leaverage) and Michael Dorman, bring varying levels of just what The Invisible Man needs to make it appealing to most audience members and keeping them engaged. With the acting performances being of solid stature and the story itself hooking your attention from the very beginning, the only hurdle left is the special effects.
With Leigh Whannell having a strong working history with implied fear, he feeds on what he knows and maybe borrows a bit from earlier films like the Paranormal Activity franchise. The funny thing about dealing with an “unseen” entity is that if not handled correctly, everything quickly goes to hell. The Invisible Man stays within its guidelines and will give audiences the fear what is seen and the imaginative tools to fear what they cannot. This is a surprising solid late-February pick that I strongly suggest checking out in theaters.
