A ‘The Invisible Man’ Review
The Invisible Man is horror I.P. operating at its highest level, and its warm reception and success will have Universal hoping to soft reboot their ‘Dark Universe’ which will be an unfortunate side effect to one of the first great films of the year.
Through the numerous adaptations of H. G. Wells’ novel, The Invisible Man has kept the focus on a curious yet obsessive scientist who is driven mad, whether by hubris, chemical interference, or convenient story telling. What Leigh Whannell does instead, is craft a story of mental, emotional, and physical abuse from the perspective of a victim and the nature of the sorts of people that would attempt to convince their partners that they are going mad themselves. In the first two months of 2020, I wouldn’t imagine that the best movie I saw released this year would be an adaptation of a 123 year old novel that was previously adapted by Paul Verhoeven and Kevin Bacon.
Leigh Whannell is an Australian filmmaker, writer, and actor with a distinct pension for the violent and unnerving. Whannell most recently directed the fast and brutal Upgrade, an action-revenge film centered around the idea that an a.i. implant has given a widower the ability to walk again as well as superhuman abilities. Before Upgrade, Leigh Whannell was the guy writing some of the most successful horror movies of the previous decade. Whannell was responsible, along with James Wan, for the first three parts in the Saw franchise and all three Insidious films. This time around, Whannell takes on an already existing property, adapted time and time again, that he has said he had no intention of doing and was instead presented the idea for him to make it (I’m going to link to Whannell’s conversation with Sean Fennessey on The Big Picture below this post). With that stacked against him, his brilliant writing shines through. Flipping the script and instead focusing on a victim doesn’t feel like a classic horror move to put the audience in their shoes, but instead it is flipped to show us what a narcissistic and manipulative partner is like and how they choose to ruin someone’s life, though most people’s abusive partners don’t have a suit that grants them invisibility.
Elisabeth Moss steps into the role of Cecilia Kass, an architect living with her multi-millionaire optics pioneer boyfriend Adrian Griffin played by Oliver Jackson-Cohen. After escaping his tech bro mansion, one that she is only permitted to leave on his terms, with her sister, Cecilia discovers Adrian has ended his own life. Adrian leaves a sum of 5 million dollars to Cecilia, only on the conditions she doesn’t commit any crimes. From here, the story unfolds and invisible stuff happens, it’s tense, violent, and contains some of the most stressful and enjoyable moments I’ve gotten out of a movie lately. It reckons with gas lighting, partner abuse, and believing victims. It never lets us think of Adrian as some fallen genius that has lost his way, it reminds us that people can be very bad and that we need to create places of safety for those coming out of these situations. Aldis Hodge plays a detective as well as a close friend of Cecilia and her sister, played by Harriet Dyer, giving her a place to stay and the space to grieve and process through her pain.
For fans of prestige television, it is no secret that Moss is one of the most gifted actresses working today, while also being at the helm of indie darling Her Smell and the upcoming Shirley, as well as being one of the funniest parts of Us. She is also joining Wes Anderson’s troupe in The French Dispatch, coming in July. The Invisible Man isn’t a coming out performance or the revelation of a new star, but it is an opportunity to see her shine as the protagonist, heart, and soul of a movie staying in the popular consciousness. She sells all of her emotions, screaming, crying, trembling, and tip toeing in every scene of the film. The cherry on top of this performance that shoulders the film is giving her the chance to partake in my favorite female horror trope, the Mona Lisa smile that she holds as the last shot in the film (shout out to Florence Pugh, who I love very much). While I quite enjoyed some of the performances of the supporting cast, I wonder what this film would be like as a pure two hander, with one of the characters in the film never being seen. I’m imagining a nail biting and terrifying chase film where any other characters only appear on the outer fringes of the film and keeping Moss in every frame of the film.
I’ve never been the type to seek out horror movies, I have shied away from them for most of my life, but as I’ve dipped my toes in, I can’t say I have been disappointed. The Invisible Man is what I love most about horror movies, wonderful performances, beautiful locales (shout out to San Francisco and the Bay area, y’all are looking beautiful), and high caliber filmmaking. It is the kind of film that you pull the strings on your hoodie because you’re so scared and your jaw hurts from clenching it for two hours and four minutes. I’m impressed to say the least, go see this movie, support everything Elisabeth Moss is in, give Blumhouse your business, and keep watching movies that are out of your comfort zone.
As I mentioned, there’s a great interview with Leigh Whannell that you can find right here. Despite being behind some seriously depraved movies, he seems like a lovely guy. Thank you for reading, I’m getting a new laptop and will start working on some stuff soon that isn’t about current films.