The Invisible Man brings the thrills to the edge, fulfilled my expectations, and is great re-launch for Universal’s Monsterverse with Blumhouse. It stands as a genre staple that has been through the freaky terror in the 1933 original, the strangeness and beauty of invisibilty seen in John Carpenter’s Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992), and the violence of The Hollow Man (2000). The classic movie was based on the 1897 H.G. Wells novel.
This film is written and directed by Leigh Whannell who was the writer of the Saw franchise and the Insidious films including directing Insidious Chapter 3 and the sci fi film, Upgrade (2018). The latter I felt had a disappointing end, but not so with this movie. The Blumhouse connection has of course kept costs down, a $7 million producton budget, yet the story and characters are strong. Of course, this film is a showcase for Elizabeth Moss, who was in Jordan Peele’s Us, produced by Jason Blum, and her starring role in The Handmaiden’s Tale. Caution: This movie is not for anyone who was the victim of domestic violence or stalked.
This film is written and directed by Leigh Whannell who was the writer of the Saw franchise and the Insidious films including directing Insidious Chapter 3 and the sci fi film, Upgrade (2018). The latter I felt had a disappointing end, but not so with this movie. The Blumhouse connection has of course kept costs down, a $7 million producton budget, yet the story and characters are strong. Of course, this film is a showcase for Elizabeth Moss, who was in Jordan Peele’s Us, produced by Jason Blum, and her starring role in The Handmaiden’s Tale. Caution: This movie is not for anyone who was the victim of domestic violence or stalked.
The film begins with the crashing of waves at night to reveal the titles. The sound of the waves is jarring. Kudos to the sound designer, Chris Terhune, and music, Benjamin Wallfisch, for heightening the tension. Then, we get a seaside house, inside is Cecilia (Moss) who is in bed with an arm around her. She takes a Diazepam bottle from the nightstand, which she used to put the man asleep, and tries to quietly adjust a hallway camera on a ladder. Next, Cecilia reaches a downstairs room that looks like a lab. It is not shown what is in the lab since we are focused on Cecilia.
She goes to a computer to disable the cameras around the house and check on the sleeping form of the man in bed. It is a slight commentary on the surveillance on society, the lack of privacy. He is there, but not clearly seen so we can’t identify him. We later find out that he is Adrian Griffin (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), Griffin is the last name of Claude Rains character in The Invisible Man (1933), a nice nod to the classic movie. Jackson-Cohen is in The Haunting of Hill House Netflix series and he was Jonathan Harker in the Dracula (2013-2014) show. Cecilia makes her way to the garage and sees the dog, Zeus, and accidentally sets off a car alarm.
She goes to a computer to disable the cameras around the house and check on the sleeping form of the man in bed. It is a slight commentary on the surveillance on society, the lack of privacy. He is there, but not clearly seen so we can’t identify him. We later find out that he is Adrian Griffin (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), Griffin is the last name of Claude Rains character in The Invisible Man (1933), a nice nod to the classic movie. Jackson-Cohen is in The Haunting of Hill House Netflix series and he was Jonathan Harker in the Dracula (2013-2014) show. Cecilia makes her way to the garage and sees the dog, Zeus, and accidentally sets off a car alarm.
Now, she has to escape and we know that Adrian is the threat. Cecilia makes her way through a dark forest to a road. She waits until a car pulls up, her sister, Emily (Harriet Dyer) drives up. Cecilia drops the Diazepam bottle. Dyer is in the comedy show The Other Guy and also the lead in the supernatural series The InBetween. Emily is an attorney, but we don’t get too much of her presence. We get the end of the relationship between Cecilia and Adrian and apparently she disconnected from her family. Adrian runs out and slams into the car screaming at Cecilia to open the door. Emily wonders what is going on when Adrian smashes through the car window.
Finally, she takes off and escapes into the night. It appears that this is set in San Francisco with the bridge, but it was shot in Australia. It is two weeks later, we get a suburban home with Cecilia looking fearfully out of the window. It is the home of James Lanier (Aldis Hodge) who is the ex-husband of Emily. Hodge was in Hidden Figures (2016) and What Men Want (2019). He is a reassuring presence though I think Cecilia would be disturbed by a male figure, James may already be known to her, and he is also a police officer. At that point, I was ready for the story to finish, she escaped Adrian and survived, but this movie of course has a Twilight Zone-like twist.
Finally, she takes off and escapes into the night. It appears that this is set in San Francisco with the bridge, but it was shot in Australia. It is two weeks later, we get a suburban home with Cecilia looking fearfully out of the window. It is the home of James Lanier (Aldis Hodge) who is the ex-husband of Emily. Hodge was in Hidden Figures (2016) and What Men Want (2019). He is a reassuring presence though I think Cecilia would be disturbed by a male figure, James may already be known to her, and he is also a police officer. At that point, I was ready for the story to finish, she escaped Adrian and survived, but this movie of course has a Twilight Zone-like twist.
Cecilia is having difficulty stepping out of the house and reaching the street. The fear of Adrian puts everyone on the side of Cecila trying to rebuild her life. We also have the introduction of Sydney, James’ daughter, played by Storm Reid. She of course was a sensation in A Wrinkle in Time (2018) and was also in the horror film, Don’t Let Go (2019). She is a clever teenage girl who has ambitions to be a fashion designer. Emily stops by to tell her sister that Adrian has committed suicide. They go the next day to the office of Tom Griffin (Michael Dorman), Adrian’s brother and attorney. Dorman was in the vampire film, Daybreakers (2009) and is currently in the sci fi show, For All Mankind.
He says he has hatred for his brother for manipulating him. Tom explains that Adrian has given Cecilia five million dollars on the condition that she commits no crimes and is not diagnosed insane. Strange things of course start to happen. Cecilia's life is torn away, her interview at an architecture firm, and everyone she knows. There is hints of where Adrian might be, brilliant camera work by Stefan Duscio, who worked with Whannell on Upgrade. We are on edge as we get the presence of what we think is Adrian, the Invisible Man of the title?, or the mental collapse of Cecilia? Adrian was a controlling man whom we find was a genius in optics. He may have found the secret of invisibility, but it is really Cecilia surviving the terror and what happens to vicitms of trauma. I can't wait to see what is next in the Blumhouse Universal Monsterverse! Invisible Man is strong in tension completes everything that was set up and what I expect in the genre!
He says he has hatred for his brother for manipulating him. Tom explains that Adrian has given Cecilia five million dollars on the condition that she commits no crimes and is not diagnosed insane. Strange things of course start to happen. Cecilia's life is torn away, her interview at an architecture firm, and everyone she knows. There is hints of where Adrian might be, brilliant camera work by Stefan Duscio, who worked with Whannell on Upgrade. We are on edge as we get the presence of what we think is Adrian, the Invisible Man of the title?, or the mental collapse of Cecilia? Adrian was a controlling man whom we find was a genius in optics. He may have found the secret of invisibility, but it is really Cecilia surviving the terror and what happens to vicitms of trauma. I can't wait to see what is next in the Blumhouse Universal Monsterverse! Invisible Man is strong in tension completes everything that was set up and what I expect in the genre!
Five Diazepam bottles out of Five!
#InvisibleMan, #LeighWhannell, #ElizabethMoss, #AldisHodge, #StormReid
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