Columbia
Home Video | Review by Dan Taylor
What
happens when a director known for high-concept,
over-the-top thrillers updates a classic
tale of science gone awry? You get something
like HOLLOW MAN, Paul Verhoeven's effects-laden,
but empty-headed "hi-tech thriller"
that veers wildly out of control after a
promising opening.
Kevin Bacon stars as Sebastian
Caine, a research scientist working on a
government-funded program to render animals
– and eventually people – invisible,
and then make them, um, not invisible. As
the film opens, the driven Caine has broken
the barrier and discovers the formula for
making a currently invisible subject, um,
visible again.
Of course, we know he's driven
because he's up late while the other researchers
– namely Elizabeth Shue as Linda, his
perky former lover and Josh Brolin as Matt,
her current hunka hunka – are enjoying
some post-coital sleep. Man, these must
be some well paid researchers – they
all drive Porsches and Benzes and live in
snazzy apartments in some of DC's tonier
'hoods.
This is about as much character
development as something called HOLLOW MAN
– which wins the award for the most
ironic title of 2000 – is gonna give
us. We get some additional peeks at Sebastian's
obvious drive (people call him "genius,"
he refers to himself as "God,"
and he spends an inordinate amount of time
looking at tail when he should be doing
other things), but the storyline is really
there to serve one purpose and one purpose
only: get us to the cool special effects
sequences that were the (deserved) highlights
of the trailers.
From here the flick follows
a paint-by-numbers trail that won't surprise
anybody that has seen more than a half-dozen
mad scientist flicks: genius makes breakthrough,
decides to further experiments by testing
the serum on himself, madness and wacky
hijinks ensue. And that would've been all
fine, well and good had Verhoven kept the
thing going on the thriller course and not
let it veer so wildly off-track.
I'm more than willing to ignore
plot holes that you can drive a truck through
(where are the airholes for his nostrils?
how does he get the blood off so fast? why
don't they just pull the plug on the centrifuge?),
and I'm more than willing to accept a flick
that establishes certain outlandish rules,
but then plays by them. Two of Verhoven's
earlier films are classics that I can watch
over and over again, without pausing to
question character motive for one second,
namely SHOWGIRLS
and ROBOCOP. But, like in SHOWGIRLS, Verhoven
lets a nasty side creep into the flick that
isn't really necessary. Yes, SHOWGIRLS has
that hideous rape sequence which makes even
this jaded viewer squeamish, but our heroines
win out in the end and the creeps get some
good ol' street justice. Yay!
Unfortunately, HOLLOW MAN
turns into THE EROTIC ADVENTURES OF HOLLOW
MAN a bit too quickly and conveniently for
my taste. Yes, the Sebastian Caine we meet
pre-invisibility is a cocky, egotistical
asshole, but he doesn't seem like the kind
of guy that would be capable of rape, assault,
and murder. And, since the film never makes
the suggestion that the formula increases
aggression or strength, it's a little hard
to buy into his almost-automatic slip into
homicidal pervert!
Were that all that was wrong
with HOLLOW MAN maybe I could give it a
grudging recommendation. Too bad the idea
of it even being high-brow escapism gets
tossed out the window during the last 40
minutes as HOLLOW MAN sinks even further
into the morass and becomes nothing more
than a Z-grade slasher flick with name stars.
Okay, well, Kevin Bacon and Elizabeth Shue.
And William Devane used to have a career!
The flick's "exciting conclusion"
is a mind-numbing hodgepodge of clichés
that Sean Cunningham, Tom Holland and Steve
Miner would be embarrassed to trot out.
Watch as Sebastian gets clobbered with a
crowbar! See Elizabeth Shue torch his invisible
ass with an industrial-strength flamethrower!
Marvel as he continues to fight on despite
being shocked silly by a buttload of power
cables!
The Invisible Man is one of
those characters that deserves a good updating,
but neither John Carpenetr (MEMOIRS OF AN
INVISIBLE MAN) nor Verhoven have been up
to the task. Verhoven might've done a fine
job of addressing the Frankenstein concept
with ROBOCOP, but this half-baked, big-budget
slasher flick just doesn't get the job done.
If you have to watch this
one, make sure you have plenty of brews
on hand.
