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Rating: 4.5 out of 5
I always feel like somebody’s watching me
And I have no privacy
I always feel like somebody’s watching me
Tell me is it just a dream?
When watching The Invisible Man reboot, the song by Rockwell blasted in my head. The Invisible Man is a reboot/remake/retelling of the story in a way that will leave chills down your spine and give you goosebumps as you watch. It will make you fear sitting in a room all by yourself as you stare at the dark corner of the room. The feeling of someone always watching you will frighten you as you never know if someone is actually there. Yet, The Invisible Man also has that Hollow Man feel to it. Something that has been done before but in a far better way and telling. Don’t get me wrong, this movie is quite good and quite entertaining. This is coming from someone who really isn’t into horror movies. This movie wouldn’t be as good as it was without the fantastic performance of Elisabeth Moss.
During the dead of night, Cecilia Kass (Moss) escapes her abusive and extremely controlling relationship from the wealthy optics engineer and businessman Adrian Griffin (Jackson-Cohen). Cecilia manages to get away by drugging Adrian. She changed the security cameras’ location, ran through the estate grounds, made her way through the woods, and finally was picked up by her caring sister, Emily (Dyer). As she was about to drive away, Adrian somehow makes it all the way to them before punching out the car window. The only thing left behind in the road was the drug bottle that Adrian manages to find.
Cecilia manages to hide out with her childhood friend and Emily’s ex-husband, James (Hodge), and his teenage daughter Sydney (Reid). Two weeks later, Cecilia is called upon and learns that Adrian had committed suicide. From his will, he leaves Cecilia $5 million and can keep it only if she doesn’t get in trouble with the law. With the stress of her ex-boyfriend out of her life, Cecilia tries to move on, but soon she is plagued by several unexplained experiences. The experiences become more and more violent. She starts believing that Adrian is alive after all and has found a way to stalk her without anyone ever knowing it.
After watching this movie, I will never look at an empty space or chair again. Well, maybe an empty space in the corner. Written and directed by Leigh Whannell, the best aspects of this film is the feeling that something is wrong and something is going to happen, but you just don’t know what. The tension and suspense that gives you goosebumps on your skin. That is what this movie does so well, in my opinion. It wasn’t the scientific experiment or wondering about the invisible man. It was the tense feeling of being alone in a room and house and getting the feeling that someone is watching you.
Whannell plays on that fear like an expert. When you hear that Adrian dies, you think Cecilia can move on, but slowly and surely, you can feel and see that she isn’t alone and never will be. That the potential threat to her is all around. Whannell makes that threat slowly build until it explodes all at once. It starts off with the kitchen almost being burned to someone in the room until a full-blown fight.
We need to hold up and talk about that fight scene in the kitchen. Did Adrian or his experiment give his ass some superhuman strength? Homeboy picked up Moss like she was a doll off the ground by the neck. Lifted her up and kept her in the air like it was nothing. Then he threw her ass across the room like it was nothing. I was like what did I just see because homeboy was super strong. Also, the whole police scene is pretty crazy to watch. I’m telling you, the dude had super strength.
Back to the story. Now, this remake is nothing like the book or even the old movies. Whannell added her own twist to the story. Is this a monster movie? Nope. Not with the likes of the Wolfman, Frankenstein, and Dracula. The monster, in this case, is a man that is a genius who is very controlling, abusive, and manipulative. What is missing is more of an explanation of Adrian’s talent. How did he come up with the idea to become invisible? Also, we hear and see Adrian is controlling, but how did his mind actually work. That was missing from the film. It is hard to put this movie in the category of horror or even a monster movie because it’s not. The idea that it should be part of this Dark Universe can stop because it’s not in that category.
This movie revolves and goes with the performance of Elisabeth Moss. I would say that I care about all the other actors and their performances, but in reality, they don’t stand a chance against Moss. They are actually entirely forgettable because so much relies on Moss. Moss was phenomenal in this film. Will she be nominated for an Academy Award? Probably not, but she should get nominated for something. Moss actually made you feel scared for her character as you watched while hoping nothing terrible comes her way, but deep-down s**t was about to happen. Moss sure did have that crazy girl look about her. The way she sat and smiled sometimes made you think she was going to cut you. She definitely showed the effects of Cecilia’s mental state. Damn! Moss was good in this film.
The Invisible Man is a good suspense film. A film that shouldn’t be considered part of the monster universe but one that holds its own as a stand-alone film. A film that will give you some serious goosebumps and will make you look at open areas in a room differently. Elisabeth Moss was terrific in this role. She was the one that made this movie possible. First, read the classic book and then the black and white version before watching this film.
