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The Invisible Man is the first horror movie of the year worth… seeing. Writer/director Leigh Whannel reframes the H.G. Wells source material in a thrilling and fresh adaptation. After two months of truly mediocre horror releases, The Invisible Man is a gasp of fresh air.
The Invisible Man can be…SEEN in theaters now.
Film Synopsis
The Invisible Man follows Cecilia, played by Elizabeth Moss, as she fearfully escapes her manipulative and violently abusive boyfriend Adrian, played by Oliver Jackson-Cohen. Soon after she leaves him, he commits suicide and leaves her a considerable amount of money in his will. Her deceased ex was one of the world’s foremost experts on optics and was very wealthy. Cecilia is still mentally scarred by their abusive ex, that she finds it hard to believe that he is actually dead. This seemingly unreasonable paranoia gets confirmed to her as she is haunted and by an unseen tormentor.
This Invisible Man ramps up the terror and violence to the point that everyone around Cecilia assumes that she is having a mental break. Even her closest friends and family don’t believe her, leaving her hopeless as she tries to defend herself. She struggles to prove that her ex is still alive and continuing his abuse while he actively tries to frame her for murder.
Review of The Invisible Man
I’ll tell you what. This movie is a breath of fresh air after a stagnant two months of new releases in the horror category. It’s is written and directed by Leigh Whannell who you might know as the writer/director of Upgrade, or as an actor in The Bye Bye Man. He shows himself to be very competent at writing and directing with this film.
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The skill of Whannel is shown in the opening of The Invisible Man, which follows the motto of “show don’t tell”. So much is communicated about Cecilia and Adrian’s relationship just from her actions and facial expressions in the first 5 minutes of the film. The film also shows a lot of well tuned restraint by not focusing on the sci-fi elements like most other Invisible Man movies do.
It’s themes explore the topic of abuse in a really interesting and thought- provoking way. Abusive partners are often “invisible” to the world since that side of the abusers personality isn’t often shown to others. The historical abuse of Cecilia in this film feels real and tangible, even though it’s never shown in flashbacks. It’s communicated through the aftereffects and trauma that Cecilia displays.
This is a great example of a thriller that leans into the horror aspects of that label. There are genuinely surprising moments and many times that I jumped out of my seat.
This is a very very good movie, and you should definitely see it.
Score for The Invisible Man (2020)
9/10
Spoilers
Expand for spoilers section
Adrian
The Adrian character is pretty “invisible” to the audience throughout the whole movie. This isn’t just because he is physically invisible, but also because his motives are murky, and we are only given second-third hand information about him from the other characters.
We briefly get a glimpse of him when he attacks Cecilia in the car as she leaves, but we don’t get a good look at him until the very end of the movie.
It’s very effective. Once we do see him, the charmed veneer is completely undercut by what we have witnessed throughout the movie, allowing the audience to experience the distrust that Cecilia experiences first hand.
Cecilia’s disbelief
Cecilia when she is informed of Adrian’s death, it is is obvious that she is very suspicious. She is used to being ghostlit and manipulated.
Only until she sees the will and the urn with “Adrian’s ashes” does her countenance change to relief.
Once she starts experiencing unexplained sounds and occurrences, it seems like she immediately recognizes the presence, even without seeing Adrian.
Empty Shots
A lot of shots of this movie were of empty space, ala Paranormal activity. It was actually very effective. The premise of the movie tells us that something could be there at all times, and the audience is always looking for movement to betray Adrian’s presence.
James Lanier
The one stand out presence in this film was definitely Aldis Hodge playing James Lanier, the cop who is housing Cecilia.
He made us question our sexuality.
The Best Scene in The Invisible Man
The best scene by far is when Cecilia invites her sister to dinner to reconciliate, after Adrian sends a cruel email from her account. The scene feels like it is setting itself up as a turning point for Cecilia getting her only family member back on her side.
All of a sudden, a knife floats in the air, and then swiftly slits the sister’s throat. It is an instantly iconic scene that is genuinely shocking.
Adrian’s Brother
The mystery of the film is the question of how Adrian is invisible and really why he is still tormenting Cecilia. Eventually these questions are answered, and Adrian’s lawyer brother Tom is in the middle of it.
Tom is the lawyer that contacts Cecilia, and even though he is a little prickly, he confides that Adrian abused him all of his life, and that there was no love lost there.
It turns out that Tom didn’t really hate his brother, or at the very least was in cahoots with him. Adrian’s motives were to get Cecilia back and to have a child with her. Tom ends up being the messenger for Adrian.
The Invisibility was achieved with a suit equipped with thousands of cameras. Cecilia discovers that there are two of these suits and hides one.
Towards the end of the film, Tom is actually the one in the suit, and ends up getting killed.
Adrian is found tied up in his basement. This is an obvious ruse to frame Tom and get another chance at Cecilia.
The ending
Cecilia tries to get a confession out of Adrian, but he is too clever and knows what she is trying to do.
Cecilia excuses herself for a moment, and in full view of the surveillance camera, Adrian seemingly picks up a knife and slits his own throat. In reality, Cecilia has put on the extra invisibility suit and murdered him.
Cecilia then returns within view of the camera to “discover” Adrian bleeding out.
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