HOLLOW MAN
"Hollow Man" is everything you’d expect from an old fashioned Saturday matinee horror flick - but with a big budget and boobs. The effects are spectacular, the dialogue is inane, and the acting is serviceable.
"Hollow Man" uses the threadbare trappings of the 1933 film version of H.G. Wells’s "The Invisible Man." A scientist invents the formula that makes him invisible - he goes nuts - and he lets his jealousy for his ex lady’s new paramour fuel his madness. Put the mad guy in a secret lab in the bowels of the Government’s military industrial complex with a cadre of second tier lab assistants who are bound to come to a disastrous end, add a ton of modern CGI effects that let’s you see every anatomical cell of the human body as it’s drained of its visibility, and steal the rat-in-a-maze ending from every sci-fi horror movie from "The Thing" to "Alien" and you have the key ingredients of director Paul Verhoeven’s latest venture.
I’d be a liar if I said I didn’t enjoy "Hollow Man" despite its derivative nature. I only wish the second half of the movie had fulfilled the promise of the first half, with its intriguing set-up of conflicting agendas between the needs of the military, the inflated ego of Sebastian Caine (the drug inducing invisibility in the 1933 "The Invisible Man" is called monocaine) , a veterinarian, his ex-girlfriend/assistant (Elisabeth Shue) and rival (Josh Brolin). Instead, the movie ultimately goes strictly for shock effects and gore, not to mention Verhoeven’s trademark voyeurism (is it part of the Dutch psyche?) that is tame compared his Dutch films like "Turkish Delight" from 1973 and the kinky international hit "The Fourth Man" from 1982.
Kevin Bacon has to be credited for giving his Sebastian Caine attitude through the use of body language and vocal gymnastics. Still, despite the best efforts of Bacon and rest of the cast, the special effects are the real stars of "Hollow Man."
The original "Invisible Man" and then some
"The Invisible Man" (1933) The classic from the guy who gave us the original "Frankenstein", James Whale. Claude Rains gives flesh and substance with the pure sound of his voice in this once in a lifetime classic culled from the imagination of H.G. Wells. The elder Rose from "Titanic" is the love interest.
"The Invisible Man Returns" (1940) Vincent Price is the title guy who uses invisibility to clear himself of murder. Terrific acting by a couple of imported Brits like Cedric Hardwicke make this fun.
"The Invisible Woman" (1941) Terrific comedy with John Barrymore as the scientist who makes Virginia Bruce invisible. Oscar Homolka is the local gangster who sees the possibilities in the doctor’s serum and John Howard is the fiance who doesn’t. Great character actors like Charlie Ruggles, Margaret Hamilton (the witch in "Wizard of Oz") Edward Brophy, and Shemp Howard ("The Three Stooges") make this worthwhile.
"Invisible Agent" (1942) John Hall takes the serum to fight the Nazis. Not a great movie but anything with Peter Lorre can’t be all bad. Also with Cedric Hardwicke and Edward Brophy (different roles than the previous sequels).
"The Invisible Man’s Revenge" (1944) Not up to the previous movies but still fun with Jon Hall again. There’s enough mayhem over money and murder to satisfy the less discriminating viewer.
"Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man" (1951) Just one of many comedies in Abvbott and Costello’s cycle of spoofs on Universal Pictures vault of horror movies with Arthur Franz as a boxer accused of murder who goes invisible to clear himself. Bud and Lou are the detectives he hires to clear him. How could it miss?
Two of Paul Verhoeven’s Best
"Soldier of Orange" (1979) (Dutch and Eng. with subtitles) The epic story of Eric Hazelhoff and the fate of his University friends after the Nazis invade Holland. This is the movie that brought Rutger Hauer to Hollywood. Jeroen Krabbe ("The Living Daylights" and "The Fugitive") followed. Great movie!
"Robo Cop" (1987) Verhoeven’s second English language film ("Flesh + Blood" is his first) is a sci-fi masterpiece that defied description upon release. Peter Weller is a cop down who is turned into futuristic Detroit’s first cyborg law enforcer. Nancy Allen is the she-cop who recognizes the man in the machine and revitalizes his humanity. The future technologies that are part of the movie’s everyday life still seem quite unique.