H. G. Wells started something quite amazing in his Science Fiction story “The Invisible Man”, written in 1897. It is an everlasting story that will be relatable to ANY generation to come, at the same time giving Wells the legendary stamp on Sci-Fi. The book is about a scientist researching optics and creates a way to turn himself invisible, then is incapable of reversing said procedure. Oops! However, with the newfound status of being invisible, the scientist leads down a path of evil deeds and violence.
Let’s jump forward 123 years to February 2020 (yowza!) and we have the release of Leigh Whannell’s rendition of The Invisible Man. This being the 21st version of Wells’ story from long ago, which is impressive in itself. Within that count of 21 there were other memorable takes on the story, including Hollow Man, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, as well as Abbot and Costello Meet the Invisible Man.
Whannell’s work has got to rate at the top of all these Invisible Men running around out there. The casting was spectacular with Elisabeth Moss as Cecilia (main character), Oliver Jackson-Cohen as Adrian Griffin (Cecilia’s husband), Aldis Hodge as James (close friend of Cecilia’s), and other great supporting cast. The intensity level in this movie has you on the edge of your seat from the very first minute and does NOT stop until the final minute or so in the movie. There are a lot of movies that claim that statement, but The Invisible Man truly pulls it off. Two hours of pure anxiety and suspense.
In the opening scene, we are dropped directly into the middle of Cecilia’s situation. No introductions necessary. The Invisible Man opens with Cecilia going to extreme measures to escape her own husband and her own home, attempting this without being caught by Adrian. It’s obvious from the start, that the relationship Cecilia has with Adrian is bad, as we learn she has drugged him with sleeping pills so she can sneak out in the middle of the night. It's obvious that there’s been significant lengthy planning on Cecilia’s part to make a clean getaway.
I mentioned the intensity of the movie…Yeah, the getaway is not clean.
As Cecilia is climbing into her getaway car quite a distance from her home, Adrian appears out of nowhere, certainly not sleepy from the drugs any longer, and power punches straight through a car window! We get a glimpse as to the person Adrian is in this first scene, and possibly why Cecilia would want to escape.
Regardless, she does get away and hides out at her friend’s house, James, who is luckily a police officer. Cecilia is highly anxious and full of paranoia, thinking Adrian will be able to find her at any moment. Shortly after, and I'm not spoiling anything as this is in all the previews of the movie, Cecilia is informed that Adrian committed suicide after her leaving him. This is the first of many twists in The Invisible Man.
This may possibly be the calmest The Invisible Man gets since Cecilia thinks she is absolutely free from Adrian and the physical/emotional abuse and from the complete control and “ownership” he had over Cecilia’s life. Her peace is short lived, though, as unnatural things start to happen around her. Cecilia quickly begins to suspect that Adrian is still haunting her somehow.
See, Adrian was a master in Optics Technology. Cecilia knew the capabilities he had with the technology and believed he was intelligent enough to create something that could fully hide his presence. This technology would allow him to move around unseen.
The torment begins with little things, like her portfolio missing all her documentation as she attends a job interview, the oven top heat turned up too high in the kitchen after Cecilia walked away, starting a grease fire. The harassment quickly escalates to greater degrees of severity.
Cecilia tries to explain what she thinks is happening to her sister and her friend James. She even confronts Adrian’s brother, who is the acting Estate Lawyer for Adrian, to “tell him to stop!”
Of course, they all think she’s losing her marbles as invisibility is a thing of fictional tall tales. Not to mention, there’s an urn full of Adrian’s cremated ashes on his brother’s shelf and pictures of his final suicidal act. As the events worsen, the harder Cecilia pushes to convince others, and the crazier she seems to those around her. Cecilia’s actions appear to be those of someone losing control of her sanity, which gets her thrown into a holding cell in a treatment center. It gets even worse from there as she tries to prove Adrian is doing everything unexplainable.
The Invisible Man was one of my favorite movies of 2020. I already mentioned the suspense and acting, which were the strong suits of the movie. The mystery behind who and how, or even if, Cecilia is being tormented was done well enough that the audience is guessing for most of the film, and then a certain twist throws everything we thought to be true into the trash. The twists and turns in the plot really keep the viewer on their toes and unsure of what is truth.
Also, the little details in The Invisible Man were thoroughly planned and executed. It’s those little details that provide the movie with great depth and additives to the mystery that is imbued in the story.
For instance, a small item, I love when writers and creators in the movie industry do this: The main character’s name in H.G. Wells’ 1897 novel was Griffin. The last name of the antagonist Adrian, and his brother Tom, is Griffin. Certainly not a coincidence. Also, the method of how they did the opening credits was really cool: the words don’t appear until crashing waves splash up into the air to reveal the letters. There are so many details that I caught watching the movie a second time, as I'm sure there's even more to be discovered.
The idea of being invisible is an alluring concept that so many people have discussed and fantasized about time and time again. The Invisible Man, by Leigh Whannell, was a great take on the original story. One of the better re-imaginings out there.
I highly suggest the movie and gave it 4.5 Bloody Reels out of 5.0. I hope you enjoy it as well!
The Invisible Man
Released: 2/28/2020
Rating: R
Genre: Suspense, Horror
Running Time: 2 hours 4 minutes
Director: Leigh Whannell (Upgrade, Insidious 3)
Writer: Leigh Whannell (Screenplays for a lot of the Saw movies, Upgrade)
Stars:
Elisabeth Moss (The Handmaid’s Tale, The One I Love, Us)
Oliver Jackson-Cohen (The Haunting of Hill House and the Haunting of Bly Manor))
Aldis Hodge (Straight Outta Compton, Hidden Figures)
IMDB Rating: 7.1 out of 10
Rotten Tomatoes: 92%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 88%
Metascore: 72 out of 100
Streamable on these Apps with subscription at time of Blog Post: HBOMax
Rentable on these Apps at time of Blog Post: AppleTV, Prime Video, Vudu, Redbox, etc.
The Invisible Man Official Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WO_FJdiY9dA
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