Blu-ray Review – The Invisible Man – UPHE

The Invisible Man

Director: Leigh Whannell 

Screenplay: Leigh Whannell

Minutes: 124 

Year: 2020 

Score: 8.07 

Release: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment

Fun fact, I am now very well aware that my wife is not a fan of home invasion movies in which the antagonist is invisible.

From UPHE.com:

What you can’t see can hurt you. Trapped in a violent, controlling relationship with a wealthy scientist, Cecilia (Elisabeth Moss) escapes in the dead of night and disappears into hiding. But when her abusive ex suddenly dies, Cecilia suspects his death was a hoax. As a series of eerie coincidences turns lethal, threatening the lives of those she loves, Cecilia’s sanity begins to unravel while she desperately tries to prove she is being hunted by someone nobody can see.

I am a big fan of the original Invisible Man, with Claude Rains. When I was a young adult I was a fan of Hollow Man with Kevin Bacon. Now, I cannot stand Hollow Man and am an enormous fan of new The Invisible Man, with Elisabeth Moss. 

What works in the 1933, “original” version is that the eponymous character is a lunatic who wants to use his newly acquired powers for, pure, murder and mayham, evil. What doesn’t work in Hollow Man is that Kevin Bacon just wants to rape people, I don’t remember it much more than that. And what absolutely slays in this modern version is that the bulk of the story is about a woman who is finding her inner grizzly bear to defeat her abusive spouse. Sure, there are hundreds of other versions of the story, but that’s another bop.

I am sure that this film would have worked well with other actresses in the lead, but I think Elisabeth Moss was able to perfectly embody Cecilia Kass, a woman who found herself in an abusive and horrific relationship with a maniacal genius, Adrian. He invents a onesie that uses technology similar to that of James Bond’s car in Tomorrow Never Dies, to transmit images from one side to the other to feign invisibility. When Cee finally musters the strength to leave Adrian, he fakes his own death in order to haunt Cee.

The trailer gives away some of the beefier sequences, but seeing this with an audience you could have heard a pin drop at some of the more intense moments. The film got me several times with quality jump scares and had me twisting in my seat during some of the more gruesome violence. The film works, and it is a brilliant twist on the more seedy plots of its predecessors. 

In such a charged time in the history of the world I think that the film works a little better than it would have a few years back, but would also have been much different if life wasn’t as truthful as it is now.

The newly released blu-ray also includes a handful of standard featurettes that you might find in any electronic press kit, as well as some rightfully deleted scenes and a feature length commentary with Leigh Whannell which I will eventually listen to but I still want to hold on to that.

Special Features:

  • Deleted Scenes
  • Moss Manifested
  • Director’s Journey with Leigh Whannell
  • The Players
  • Timeless Terror
  • Feature Commentary with Writer/Director Leigh Whannell

Director: 8 – Cinematography:7  –  Edit: 6 – Parity: 10 – Main performance: 9 – Else performance: 7 – Score: 6 – Sound: 9 – Story: 6 – Script: 8 – Effects: 10 – Design: 9 – Costumes: 6 – Keeps interest: 10 – Lasting: 10

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