The Invisible Man
- A tightly-scripted and tense thriller that’s easily the best version of The Invisible Man we’ve seen in decades.
Full Disclosure: Horror isn’t usually my favourite genre. And while Blumhouse, in becoming THE production company for horror these days, has made quite a few good horror movies (Get Out, not-really-a-horror Happy Death Day, etc.) they’re also responsible for a lot of films that make me bored with the whole genre. Still, the idea of rebooting The Invisible Man as a horror is a good one, so I was interested to see how it would turn out.
Review
The most important thing for any horror movie (or in the thriller genre, which shares many of the same tropes, and where this film could be categorized as well) is to create tension and anticipation. The Invisible Man is a master class in building tension, and not just of the “oh my God what’s behind that door?” variety, but in the more important way that keeps us wondering where the story is going next.
The movie is filled with tense moments and dramatic sequences, but nothing beats the opening of the film where we see Cecilia Kass (Elisabeth Moss) sneaking out of her modern mansion in the middle of the night in order to escape from her abusive boyfriend, Adrian. I can’t possibly imagine what it must be like for someone to run away from an abusive partner. But that scene proved that you don’t really need the sci-fi gadgets or ghosts or monsters in other horror movies – the ultimate tension can be built from horror that is grounded in reality.
Shortly after escaping with the help of her sister, Cecilia gets the news that her ex has committed suicide. Cecilia, meanwhile, has been living with her cop friend James (Aldis Hodge) and his daughter Sydney (Storm Reid). Pretty soon she begins to suspect, however, that Adrian faked his death and is continuing to stalk and mentally torture her. It turns out that Adrian was a rich tech genius in the field of optics, and Cecilia believes that he has discovered a way to become invisible. After driving Cecilia to the point of exasperation, the Invisible Man begins to drive a wedge between her and anyone she is close to (none of whom believe her, of course). Among other things, he sends a “please fuck off” letter to Cecilia’s sister from her email account, and punches Sydney while Cecilia is sitting next to her. Isolated and alone, the Invisible Man seems to have Cecilia right where he wants her.
Elisabeth Moss’ Cecilia, in an incredibly tense opening sequence as she tries to leave her abusive boyfriend.
None of this would have worked as well as it did without the performance of Elisabeth Moss. She hasn’t really done much horror (although she recently had a role in Us), but she seems perfectly suited for it. In this movie she deftly rides the wave of a number of emotional states – fear, exasperation, determination – and carries the movie along with her. Combine that with the added degree of difficulty that comes with her acting against an empty room for much of the film, and it’s just a great overall performance by Moss.
The other person who really needs to be applauded for making this reboot a success is writer/director Leigh Whannell. Known more as a writer – he was the scribe for Saw (and several of the sequels) and Insidious, among other films – this is only his third movie as a director. He’s obviously been paying attention on the sets of those other horror films as his direction here is really impressive. The writing is very tight as well, and after that fantastic opening sequence, there are very few times where the movie lets up and allows the audience to relax. Whannell is next slated to direct another reboot, this time Escape from New York. I’m pretty skeptical about someone trying to redo Snake Plissken, but if he can do half as well with that reboot as he did with this one, I might become a convert.
Spoilers Ahead
Cecilia getting hauled away. Sure it seems unfair, but be honest, if someone told you that an invisible man was stalking them, you would probably think they’re crazy too.
The first big turn in the movie comes when the Invisible Man kills Cecilia’s sister by slicing open her throat in the middle of a restaurant, and then places the knife in Cecilia’s hand. I gotta say, I was not expecting that to happen in that moment at all! From there the pace really picks up. Cecilia is arrested, and after screaming madly about the invisible man, she appears insane to everyone else. Following some medical tests she discovers that she’s pregnant. Then she starts to fight back, knowing that Adrian won’t let her or the baby go, she threatens to kill herself, which forces Adrian to appear to try to stop her.
There are a bunch of action sequences and a few twists before the end (Adrian’s brother is involved in attacking Sydney while wearing an invisibility suit, and killed), but I want to talk about the final scene. The rest of the world believes that Adrian’s brother was the killer, especially after Adrian was found tied up in his home, but Cecilia doesn’t buy it. Having previous stashed another invisibility suit that she discovered in the home, she agrees to have dinner with Adrian at the house, where she dons the suit, and has him slit his throat in full view of the security cameras so that it seems like suicide.
I’m not sure how we’re supposed to feel about that ending to the movie. On the one hand, it seems like justice that Adrian died in the same way that Cecilia’s sister did. On the other hand, there was no struggle, no final fight like you see in most films where the hero finally overcomes the villain. This was a cold-blooded murder. Was it justified? Maybe. He was a horrible person – an abusive partner. But there is also a lingering doubt about whether or not Adrian really was to blame for the rest of the stuff that the invisible man did, or if it was the brother all along. Perhaps this sets up Cecilia as the villain in a future Invisible Woman movie? Either way, I’m not sure if we’re supposed to be happy about the way this ended, and you know what? I love it! I love the moral ambiguity of that ending. It’s just one more thing that sets this movie apart from most other horror or thriller flicks.
From “Fuck the police” to playing a cop, Aldis Hodge is building himself a pretty nice career.
5 Quick Hits
It’s hard to remember now, even though it was only a couple of years ago, but The Invisible Man franchise was supposed to be part of Universal’s disastrous “Dark Universe” movie series, with Johnny Depp attached as the invisible man. Yikes. Looks like we all dodged a bullet there. Needless to say, it was a much better decision to hand the franchise over to Blumhouse.
There was a cool technique that Whannell used a couple of times where the camera would swing to an empty part of the room and linger there for a moment before returning to focus on Moss or another actor. This was a fantastic way to bring the audience in and make us really pay attention – are we waiting for something to happen? Am I missing something? Can I somehow spot the invisible man?
The score by Benjamin Wallfisch was excellent. He also did the music for the recent It movies, and seems to have a real knack for heightening tension without drawing attention away from what’s happening onscreen.
I liked the contrast between the opening scene, where Cecilia is terrified and running away from the house, to the final scene, where she strides confidently away, now totally in control. Just a great way to show the character’s journey and how things have changed.
I was surprised when I checked out Aldis Hodge’s IMDb page and discovered that the guy I mostly remember as MC Ren in Straight Outta Compton or Voodoo Tatum in the Friday Night Lights series actually has credits dating all the way back to Die Hard With a Vengeance. Damn, he’s had a pretty nice 25-year career for a relatively anonymous actor.
