The Invisible Man. (15.)
Directed by Leigh Whannell
Starring Elisabeth Moss, Aldis Hodge, Storm Reid, Harriet Dyer and Oliver Jackson-Cohen. 124 mins.
Is an Invisible Man where the name above the title is female a Me Too Far? Or, a perfectly obvious piece of downsizing by the studio? After all, why shell out on a Johnny Depp or Armie Hammer when all the role really requires is a quantity of fresh air? If nothing else, this is a film that is true to its title. He is invisible to the point of anonymity. Most of the time you're wondering where he is. And when he does show his face, you're wondering who he is. In this version, they even bother to give him any bandages.
Skimping on the bandages is just the start of the saving. Originally this was going to be another big-budget instalment of Universal's Dark Universe, a series of integrated films updating the studio's classic 1930s horror classics: Bride of Frankenstein, Dracula, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde etc, but Tom Cruise's Mummy blew that plan apart. Now the project has been handed over to the Blumhouse, purveyors of high concept, low budget horrors like Paranormal Activity, Insidious and Get Out, and penny-pinching is the order of the day. This might be one of the smallest scale films you've seen advertised on the side of buses: special effects are kept to the minimum, the locations are limited and low key, the visuals are drab. Effectively, Moss is the entire film. As the cop who gives her shelter and his daughter, Hodge and Reid get some screen time, but nobody else gets more than five minutes on screen. It's a star vehicle, for a performer who specialises in playing strong traumatised women. With this and The Handmaid's Tale Moss has become a specialist at playing a very 21st-century figure – the kick-ass Damsel in Distress.
The House of Blum has succeeded by coming up with workable ideas and squeezing the most out of them. The idea here is topical and effective; making it an allegory on domestic violence. Cecilia (Moss) believes she's gotten away from her violent and domineering husband (Jackson-Cohen) but after a faked suicide she finds herself back where she came from, being terrified and humiliated by the Invisible Gaslighter who keeps her isolated from friends and family and makes her look insane.
Cecilia's situation is truly horrifying: she can not have a moment's peace because he could attack at any time, but she cannot confide in anyone or get help because no one will believe her. This version is effectively another haunted house tale, but without any spiritual or supernatural aspect. But as a horror film, it is slightly pedestrian. Shots of empty (or are they?) spaces generate real suspense but for the most part, the scares are the same majorjumps we get in every other modern horror flick. It's yanking chains that have been yanked many times before.
I'd also say it's too long and often too loud. Sound should be important in this film but the effects and music bellow out so resoundingly it deafens everything else. But, overall it's a good film and its great trick is saving its best shocks for the closing minutes, meaning you leave the cinema feeling satisfied.
Directed by Leigh Whannell
Starring Elisabeth Moss, Aldis Hodge, Storm Reid, Harriet Dyer and Oliver Jackson-Cohen. 124 mins.
Is an Invisible Man where the name above the title is female a Me Too Far? Or, a perfectly obvious piece of downsizing by the studio? After all, why shell out on a Johnny Depp or Armie Hammer when all the role really requires is a quantity of fresh air? If nothing else, this is a film that is true to its title. He is invisible to the point of anonymity. Most of the time you're wondering where he is. And when he does show his face, you're wondering who he is. In this version, they even bother to give him any bandages.
Skimping on the bandages is just the start of the saving. Originally this was going to be another big-budget instalment of Universal's Dark Universe, a series of integrated films updating the studio's classic 1930s horror classics: Bride of Frankenstein, Dracula, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde etc, but Tom Cruise's Mummy blew that plan apart. Now the project has been handed over to the Blumhouse, purveyors of high concept, low budget horrors like Paranormal Activity, Insidious and Get Out, and penny-pinching is the order of the day. This might be one of the smallest scale films you've seen advertised on the side of buses: special effects are kept to the minimum, the locations are limited and low key, the visuals are drab. Effectively, Moss is the entire film. As the cop who gives her shelter and his daughter, Hodge and Reid get some screen time, but nobody else gets more than five minutes on screen. It's a star vehicle, for a performer who specialises in playing strong traumatised women. With this and The Handmaid's Tale Moss has become a specialist at playing a very 21st-century figure – the kick-ass Damsel in Distress.
The House of Blum has succeeded by coming up with workable ideas and squeezing the most out of them. The idea here is topical and effective; making it an allegory on domestic violence. Cecilia (Moss) believes she's gotten away from her violent and domineering husband (Jackson-Cohen) but after a faked suicide she finds herself back where she came from, being terrified and humiliated by the Invisible Gaslighter who keeps her isolated from friends and family and makes her look insane.
Cecilia's situation is truly horrifying: she can not have a moment's peace because he could attack at any time, but she cannot confide in anyone or get help because no one will believe her. This version is effectively another haunted house tale, but without any spiritual or supernatural aspect. But as a horror film, it is slightly pedestrian. Shots of empty (or are they?) spaces generate real suspense but for the most part, the scares are the same majorjumps we get in every other modern horror flick. It's yanking chains that have been yanked many times before.
I'd also say it's too long and often too loud. Sound should be important in this film but the effects and music bellow out so resoundingly it deafens everything else. But, overall it's a good film and its great trick is saving its best shocks for the closing minutes, meaning you leave the cinema feeling satisfied.
