Verdict
Summary
From Paul Verhoeven, the special effects-heavy Hollow Man is a kinky slasher thriller, upping the ante on all the previous invisible man-type movies that came before it with Verhoeven’s typically perverse and edgy style on full display.
Plot:
A scientist experiments a volatile invisibility serum on himself, causing him to become a dangerous, out-of-control psychopath.
Review:
Working on a covert experimental invisibility serum for the military with his team of scientists, Dr. Sebastian Caine (Kevin Bacon) makes a breakthrough with the serum when their test subject – a gorilla – reverts back to its original state. The next step is human trials, and Caine has himself injected with the serum, and everything seems to go as planned … except there’re side effects. Caine’s behavior becomes erratic, and he starts molesting some of his female colleagues, including Linda (Elisabeth Shue) who is now dating one of their coworkers, Matthew (Josh Brolin) who has an intense rivalry with Caine. When Caine breaks out of the facility in his invisible state, he becomes a rapist and a murderer, covering his tracks like a pro, and his urges become insatiable and incredibly dangerous as he takes the military on in order to remain invisible. The last step for him is to completely eliminate his team and the facility to ensure that all his scientific findings remain his forever, but Linda and Matthew realize just in the nick of time what he’s up to, and desperately try to stop what they can’t see coming.
From Paul Verhoeven, the special effects-heavy Hollow Man is a kinky slasher thriller, upping the ante on all the previous invisible man-type movies that came before it with Verhoeven’s typically perverse and edgy style on full display. The film has aged remarkably well for being almost 25 years old with cutting edge effects and a cast that remains likable and relevant, but it’s not what I’d call a “safe” movie by any means, as it has a strong misogynistic bent and a particular cruel point of view in how it treats animals. For the film’s sake, I don’t mind on either of those counts, but fragile, emotionally susceptible audiences are warned. This contains one of the final scores by Jerry Goldsmith.
Mill Creek has just reissued Hollow Man in a snappy looking steelbook edition, exclusive to Walmart. It only contains the director’s cut version of the film, and all previous special features are not on this disc. There is one new feature called “Full Transparency: Scoring Hollow Man,” an interview with Jerry Goldsmith’s biographer Jeff Bond.
