I saw The Invisible Man Thursday after school. It got me thinking about the power of invisibility.
Before I start this review, I just want to say, horror movies are not really my bag. I think most of them are poorly made and filled with nothing but cheap jump scares. I think the last time I saw a horror movie in theaters was Paranormal Activity in 2007 and it was pure crap. But every now and then there are some that I like. Midsommar, Get Out, and Us are three recent examples of well made horror movies that are more like psychological thrillers and are grounded in some sense of reality. Even then, I still watched those three that I actually liked in my own home. The Invisible Man sits firmly in the psychological thriller category, and once it started getting good reviews, I decided I needed to see it in theaters.
I think it's better to go into this movie not knowing what to expect so I'm keeping this whole review spoiler free, but heads up - there are some really shocking moments in this movie - one that entirely changes the movie's direction. I really did enjoy this film. I've been a big fan of Elizabeth Moss since her time as Peggy Olsen in Mad Men, and she crushed the role of Cecilia in The Invisible Man. She had a great script to work with and she is one of the best at acting with her face. What I mean by that is that she does a great job during moments when the camera is just zoomed in on her. No dialogue, no sound, just her conveying emotions through her facial expressions. And there was a LOT of that in this movie. The Invisible Man did a great job using sound, or lack thereof to build up the tension and creepiness. And this movie was creepy. Often, the camera would pan an empty room that Cecilia was in, or linger in a door frame, and you knew that the Invisible Man was there, even if she couldn't see him.
I really thought the whole cast did a great job with this. Particularly Elizabeth Moss whom I already mentioned, and Aldis Hodge, who played James - Cecilia's cop friend that took her in to live with him and his daughter. That dude is YOKED. He leaned over a bed in one scene and his triceps nearly popped off the screen. He did a great job playing a protective, dutiful, and understanding friend and father. I really liked his character a lot. Like I said, the long, still shots of empty rooms, or Cecilia's face were excellent, and so were the invisible effects. I want to talk about one here that was in the trailer, so it's not a spoiler. The Invisible Man managed to get James out of the house and trapped Cecilia in the attic, but she had no idea where he was (obviously). So she peers down into the hall from the open attic door and tosses a bucket of paint at the top of the ladder, revealing the Invisible Man. (to keep myself from getting scared, every time he would pop up, I imagined him yelling "Invisible Man!!" in a weird voice to announce his presence lol) This jump scare got an audible scream from someone in the theater I was in. It was so dang good. And it wasn't the only jump scare done so well that people let out screams. One in a parking lot scene got me to jump, but I won't say any more than that.
I also liked how they made the story semi-realistic. The story didn't revolve around the Invisible Man, it revolved around Cecilia trying to escape a horrible abusive relationship with Adrian, a man that happened to be a world renowned leader in the optics field. The invisibility suit that Adrian created to stalk and mentally torment Cecilia throughout the movie was somewhat plausible and very creepy, even when turned off. Changing the story around to focus on Cecilia and not the Invisible Man, was a great way to get me to root for her and care about this story because let's be honest here - invisibility is a lame superpower. Which I have many thoughts on....
If you had a choice of superpowers, you wouldn't pick invisibility right? You would pick flight, or super strength, or anything else. I mean really, what can you do invisible that you couldn't do visible? If you have the power of invisibility, you are automatically labeled as a creep. On sight. No cap, as my high school students would say. Which is exactly what Adrian was in this movie! A total creep! There's not one good thing you can do while invisible that is not creepy. Plus, lets imagine for a minute that you could physically alter your body's chemical makeup to become invisible. I'm no optometrist, but if light passes through your body, you would be BLIND. Your eyes have to absorb the light to shape colors and images for you to see. If you are invisible, your eyes can't do that. Your are now invisible and blind. Congratulations on being completely useless to the other superheroes in your crime fighting gang. In The Invisible Man, Adrian worked around this by building a suit to wear that he can turn on and off to become invisible. Well that's great until you take it off and leave it lying around while it's invisible. How are you gonna find it? Not to mention the people constantly bumping into you. The bottom line here is that being invisible is a lame superpower. Give me an Ironman suit or Thor's hammer. Keep your invisibility.
Overall, I really did enjoy this movie. I'm going to start rating things on a 0 -100 scale so I can keep track of them all throughout the year. The Invisible Man comes in around an 85 for me. We got a fantastic performance from Moss, and I wouldn't mind seeing her become a scream queen in more horror stuff. I do think this movie kind of limped out at the end. A stronger ending could have pushed it into the 90s for me. It is well worth a watch in theaters, especially if you like psychological thrillers.
I'm not sure what my next review will be. Onward and The Way Back both look like they will make me sob. The start of the year is always weak, so I may do some throwback reviews of stuff on Netflix if you guys are interested in that. As always, thank you for reading and be sure to comment, like, and subscribe! Let me know what you thought of The Invisible Man!!
- BH
P.S. - LOOK AT THE ARMS ON ALDIS HODGE!
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