Movie Review: “The Invisible Man” is part thriller, part social commentary

Movie Review: “The Invisible Man” (R)

Universal Pictures had pretty big plans for their old-school monster-movie back-catalogue titles. But after the less-than-stellar response to their big-budget Tom Cruise-headlined take on “The Mummy,” the idea of an interconnected “Dark Universe” series of films (think of it as the Marvel shared universe with famed Universal monsters instead of superheroes) fell by wayside. One title that found itself a casualty of Universal’s decision to go back to the drawing board was a new version of “The Invisible Man” set to star Johnny Depp. Rather than going that route, the studio opted to join forces with Blumhouse and bring “Saw” co-creator Leigh Whannel’s low-budget take on the material to the big screen instead.

As “The Invisible Man” opens, it’s clear that emotionally and physically exhausted Cecilia Kass (Elisabeth Moss) wants out of her prison of a marriage. Seemingly trapped by Adrian (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), a brilliant but narcissistic husband with whom she’s more scared of than in love, Cecilia finally decides she’s had enough. After a carefully planned getaway that eventually finds her outside the confines of Adrian’s beachside mansion, Cecilia starts a new life by way of moving into a safe haven with police officer James Lanier (Aldis Hodge) and his college-bound daughter, Sydney (Storm Reid). As Cecilia attempts to put her life back together, she has a difficult time rising above the anxiety and fear brought on by her previous situation. Things slowly begin to look up for Cecilia, however, when word surfaces that Adrian has died by way of an apparent suicide. Unfortunately, it isn’t long before strange happenings in Lanier’s home have her wondering if Adrian is actually dead.

Ultimately, “The Invisible Man” plays like a fusion of “Sleeping With the Enemy” and “Hollow Man.” The film actually works best in the first half, when showman Whannel pulls out every nifty trick in the horror movie handbook to make the hair on the back of your neck stand on end. The “Upgrade” director uses a wonderfully effective sense of frame space, sound, and quiet to get under your skin in all the right ways. Simple moments in which Cecilia is walking around alone in her new home are elevated to near unbearable tension because the audience is watching under the assumption that she might not actually be alone.

The second half of the picture, while not without its moments of tension (a meeting between Cecilia and her sister in a restaurant is certainly an “Invisible Man” highlight), isn’t as effective. Once the source of contention reveals itself and the cat is essentially let out of the bag, the movie begins to lay it on a little thick. There’s a cool little spin on the science behind the invisibility that serves as an interesting alteration to the source material, but in terms of story, there’s quite a bit of grandstanding. There’s also a twist near the final act that’s as dull as it is predictable. And it all culminates in a showdown that doesn’t quite live up to the setup.

Moss is pretty good here as a woman everyone suspects is crazy. This is an emotional and physical turn in equal measure, and “The Handmaid’s Tale” star really commits. The other standout in the picture is a charismatic Hodge. As a good-natured Lanier, his natural likability shines throughout the film even when Lanier begins to question (rightfully so) his friend’s sanity. Hodge gave a gut-wrenching turn as a death row inmate in 2019’s “Clemency,” and while this is a role of considerably less depth, he’s still terrific in the part. On the flipside, Cohen comes across as more silly and one-note than menacing as the little-seen Adrian, but it should be noted that a lot of that has to do with the writing.

“The Invisible Man” boldly attempts to be both a thriller and a commentary on the hot-button issue that is “toxic masculinity,” and the end result is decidedly mixed. Again, the film works stronger as a thriller because Whannel is terrific at building tension. But as a commentary, the movie sometimes falters because it’s too on the nose and less than subtle in its overall approach. Be it the fashion in which absolutely no one believes Cecilia as she tries to convince everyone that she was and is being taking advantage of by a truly evil individual or a scene in which a man in a position of power makes a slight off-color remark to Cecilia during a job interview, or be it our heroine’s big moment of triumph towards the end of the picture, again, it’s often laid on pretty thick.

Further still, we never really get a true grasp of who these central characters really are, particularly when it comes to Adrian. It’s more about a volatile situation than character. Rightfully, Cecilia is given more to do, because this really is her story. Adrian, by contrast, is quite simply a manipulative, narcissistic monster out to get whatever he wants, nothing more and nothing less. But given that “The Invisible Man” is essentially a monster movie, perhaps that’s the point.

“The Invisible Man” has its strengths, and despite some of the heavy-handed polemics I appreciated that it avoids the sort of trashy sensibilities that often plagued Paul Verhoeven’s disappointing “Hollow Man.” It should also be noted that on a technical level this movie excels visually with a substantially smaller budget. That said, at the end of the day, I greatly prefer the 1933 original as well as John Carpenter’s light, breezy, and sorely underappreciated “Memoirs of An Invisible Man.”

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