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User Reviews for: Hollow Man

Bronson87
8/10  6 months ago
When we look at classic horror characters (Dracula, The Wolf Man, Frankenstein's Monster), the attempt to give them a contemporary reboot is hit or miss. _The Invisible Man_ (1933) is an absolute disaster, almost the worst from that time. It's crazy that it took so long for a better version to come along, but come along it did.
Now, this movie is not trying to be the original - thankfully. It is definitely a horror movie, it does have a very sci-fi base, but it is very much horror. There is blood, there is violence.
The story is simple: a group of scientists, lead by Sebastian Caine (Bacon), are working on a formula that "phase-shifts matter out of the visual field;" In short, it makes one invisible.
Now, what this movie does right - in contrast with the 1933 version - is we get to know our "mad scientist" - more on that later.
The focus of the movie is Caine becoming invisible, and what happens as a result.
Having never read the H.G. Wells book, I cannot compare the two. What I can do is talk about the '30s movie: In that one, our invisible man, Jack Griffin, as a total mystery, and when he goes mad, it's just out of nowhere. Why is he crazy? I'on'ow, reasons.
However, with _Hollow Man_, we get to explore Caine's psychology more. He's vain, he has a temper, he feels entitled to what he thinks should be his. It's not a huge leap to get from there to when he really starts to slip.
That being said, I wish the movie dealt a bit more with him starting to lose his grip. There is a scene where Kensington (Brolin) questions if it was the formula or if Caine was always evil, but just needed a little put to get there.
It's an interesting question, and I wanted to see more of that.
Overall, the movie is great. Some of the CGI is a little dodgy, but this was 2001. It all looks good enough to not take you out of the movie.
I would totally recommend this to fans of horror/sci-fi. This would make a great double feature with _The Invisible Man_ (2020).

Post script: Being that this is a movie about laboratory science, we do have moments of animal experimentation. Thankfully, the bulk of that is done with CGI or just implied.
However, the opening scene is of a rat being held by his tail. The shot could have been filmed without causing harm to this little guy.
That being said, the movie does have somewhat of an anti-animal-testing message. The fact is, animals are still used in lab science, and it's not for inventing invisibility, it's for your soap, toothpaste, shampoo, detergents, et cetera. None of this needs to happen.
The next time you're in the store, and you're going to purchase makeup, personal hygiene products, cleaning products, you have a choice: you can buy the one that involved animal suffering or the one that didn't. It's an easy choice.
Remember, being vegan isn't about food, it's not a diet, it's a moral philosophy. Choose to be kind.
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