The Invisible Man (2020)
Directed by Leigh Whannell
It seems that these days original ideas don’t exist. Instead we get remakes, reimagining and sequels. Very few are even worth our time. Universal has been trying to readapt their monster movies to the new world, and they have failed miserable, with movies like The Mummy in 2017. The Invisible Man was another attempt to bring these back.
The Invisible Man focuses around a woman escaping her abusive millionaire inventor boyfriend. After she escapes, the boyfriend commits suicide and leaves her millions of dollars. She suffers from PTSD, but his death helps her cope. Soon after his death though, she starts feeling his presence and strange occurrences start. She knows that he isn’t dead, and that he has somehow been able to make himself be invisible. No one believes her, because why would they? Now there is a cat and mouse game between the now invisible boyfriend and the woman desperately trying to save herself and the ones she loves.
The acting in this movie is solid. Elisabeth Moss plays Cecilia, the main character and she is outstanding. The range of emotions she shows in this is impressive. Aldis Hodge plays James, a detective that takes Cecilia in, he is likeable and funny. Oliver Jackson-Cohen plays the boyfriend, he is imposing and his voice fits perfectly to the invisible character.
Of course the invisible man effects are all CGI but they’re handled quite well, there are a few times when he is holding a gun that it is kind of lame but all in all it is good. The blood and gore aren’t overloaded, and they don’t need to be. I would say the gore is realistic and effective for what the movie is. The suit the invisible man uses is pretty cool, basically black and covered with camera lenses or something. There are some cool moments where she sprays him with the fire extinguisher and you can see that part of his body.
I’m interested to see if Universal continues with the rest of their monster movies after the success of this one. The Wolfman was underwhelming and the Mummy sucked so I guess this attempt could revive it? This movie was tense, impressive and well acted. I give The Invisible Man a B+. It is a little long for my liking at 2 hours and 5 minutes, I like my horror movies around 90 minutes. I was surprised by the quality of the acting and suspense though.
