Hollow Man (2000)

Directed by Paul Verhoeven

Produced by Douglas Wick & Alan Marshall

Starring Kevin Bacon, Elisabeth Shue, Josh Brolin, Kim Dickens, Gregg Grunberg, Joey Slotnick, Mary Randle, William Devane

I have to be the first to admit that I went into this one full well expecting to hate it with a passion. Paul Verhoeven is NOT one of my favourite filmmakers (although, to be fair, I can't think of a solitary filmmaker that I can cite as a bonafide "favourite" these days, as they're all so erratic in their output), and his bombastic style is one more at home in the excesses of the early eighties than the new millennium. To be perfectly honest, Verhoeven is the cinematic equivalent of last decade's US radio "shock jocks", the Howard Stern of the film world if you will. Bludgeoning his audience over the head with "shocking" visuals cannot disguise the fact that he has had precious few decent scripts to work from since his move abroad, and further more it's a decidedly passe route to travel in modern commercial cinema. That said, "Hollow Man" benefits from the reigning in of Verhoeven's usual excesses, a capable cast, and some incredible visual effects work. It's no masterpiece, but it's an aggressively entertaining waste of two hours that slots in nicely behind his superior "RoboCop" (1987) and "Starship Troopers" (1997).

Taking its cue from the Claude Rains original, Sebastian Caine (Bacon) is a brilliant young scientist working on unlocking the key to invisibility. His research team is comprised of Linda MacKay (Shue), Matthew Kensington (Brolin), Sarah Kennedy (Dickens), Carter Abbey (Grunberg), Frank Chase (Slotnick) and Janice Walton (Chase). Having run the practice on animals with moderate results, Caine cracks to code with a lab gorilla, successfully running the transition from visible to invisible then back again. At the behest of his team, Caine volunteers himself as the first (unauthorised) human guinea pig. With his government funded benefactor, Dr. Howard Kramer (Devane), threatening to cut the funding on his project unless results are produced, it's a gamble that must pay off. Caine soldiers forth into the realm of the transparent, yet is unable to reverse the process. Unfortunately (for Caine's crew) the process has a rather nasty side-effect, twisting his psyche and steering him into murderous desires. Without the constraints of visibility, and effectively morals, Caine is now free to commit any act he wishes, and eliminate those who would prevent his escape from the underground research institute into an unsuspecting world.

Okay, let's get the complaints I have of Verhoeven's "Hollow Man" out the way first before I delve into the bigger picture. There were a couple of elements of Andrew Marlowe's script, and Verhoeven's direction that I found largely quite offensive for a mainstream feature. Firstly, Sebastian Caine is given little to do with his scientific enhancement bar indulging his base animal instincts and playing out his homicidal fantasies. Surely a brilliant scientist, once blessed with invisibility, would eke out more intellectual pursuits than voyeuristically spying on an ex-girlfriend, fondling a workmate's breasts, raping a neighbour, murdering co-workers and killing animals? The premise is ludicrously exploitative in the extreme.

Hang on, what's that? Mr. "Italian Cannibal" fan decrying the killing of defenseless animals in movies? I could go into it, but the short of it is this: I expect it of the Italian films, I don't expect it of a major studio picture (even if it is simulated digitally). Especially when it's done just for a cheap shock. Sure, many would say Verhoeven is setting up his character (ie: if this happens NOW, what's going to happen NEXT?), but I felt the two scenes of animal mutilation were mean-spirited and unnecessary. We all KNOW where Caine's psyche is heading, we don't need to see him destroy a defenseless animal just to reinforce the point. My last complaint? Per all of Verhoeven's Hollywood pictures, the film is simply allowed to run out steam instead of wind up with a satisfying climax. I'm not going to spoil the ending, but you'll see what I mean once you get there. It's a bit like going to a fireworks show and being given a couple of piddling 'poppers' rather than that really BIG one you were expecting. Yeah, I was a little disappointed!

But anyway, this is one of those moments in Verhoeven's American career that the letdowns happily don't compromise the whole feature, per the likes of "Flesh + Blood", "Basic Instinct', "Showgirls", and to a lesser degree "Total Recall". Sure, it doesn't operate on the comic-book excess of "RoboCop" and "Starship Troopers" but it is a step back in the right direction after the box-office disaster of the Liz Berkley opus (that you'll be getting a review of soon). Bacon, Shue (who was simply brilliant in Mike Newell's morbid "Leaving Las Vegas" and the best thing about Philip Noyce's "The Saint") and Brolin all work well together on-screen, yet it is Bacon that steals the show from his co-stars. Even though given over to the film's mind-blowing visual effects (and the heavy toll they must've taken on him), Bacon seems to be having fun with his role on a grand scale. Everyone else though seem solely onboard as cannon-fodder for Andrew Marlowe's grisly script and Verhoeven's intrinsic love of over-the-top theatrics!

But of those aforementioned visual effects, I wouldn't know where to begin to give credit where credit is due, or indeed begin to contemplate the "I don't think you're going to believe what you see" line! Between Tippet Studios, Sony Pictures Imageworks & Rhythm and Hues (encompassing too many supervisors & directors to begin to mention), you can now safely forget EVERY invisible man movie you have ever seen, as this one is now the definitive item! When Richard Donner's "Superman" opened in 1978, it rode with the tagline "you'll believe a man can fly"; in 2000 Verhoeven should have run with "you won't see him, but you'll believe he's there". At a cost of $95 million, I can confidently say that every cent is up there on screen! This is one of those effects films that simply begs to be seen for those effects alone, irrespective of what you might have heard about its paper-thin plot. Cinematographer Jost Vacano (a Verhoeven regular since 1977's "Soldier Of Orange") affords the production a colourful heightened reality look that has become a trademark of the Dutch director's American output. And genre veteran Jerry Goldsmith chips in with a memorable score that, although not one of his best, invokes passages of his work on "Basic Instinct" as well as quoting cues from his work on the "Star Trek" movies. Verhoeven also throws in a couple of choice rock tracks, including personal faves (though sadly now defunct) Skunk Anansie's disturbing ode to incest "Charlie Big Potato".

Discs like Columbia's release of "Hollow Man" really take the wind out of my sails. People expect you to say something about the transfer on a DVD, then along comes a disc like this that just torpedoes a critique. Letterboxed at 1.85 and anamorphically enhanced, this disc is what they mean by "reference quality", kids. In a word, the image quality is flawless and that's all I have to say on the matter as it would be pointless to waste space spouting adjectives just to say that the transfer is, ahem, flawless! The Dolby 5.1 track is similarly impressive, with plenty of surround activity, well utilised effects (watch out behind you!), and some ballsy kick to Goldsmith's score and the couple of songs (Sunna's "Power Struggle" and Skunk Anansie's "Charlie Big Potato". But let's be honest though…Skin, one of the greatest female vocalists in rock, doesn't need the extra support of 5.1 to sound ballsy, does she?).

Per the Hollywood blockbuster norm, the Extra Features on this disc are at overkill capacity. First up there's an Audio commentary by Paul Verhoeven, Kevin Bacon and writer Andrew Marlowe which, as they go isn't bad for what it is. I'm sure if you hold Verhoeven with the same reverence as God it will be a compulsory listen. Second audio feature is the Isolated Score with commentary by Jerry Goldsmith and in my books was a much better listen. Then we're on to the featurettes, that commence with the obligatory 'making of' short "Hollow Man: Anatomy Of A Thriller" which runs a compact 15m. Then it's off with the production & FX shorts that clock in at a grand total of 48m. For posterity, the featurettes are: Paul Verhoeven, Hollywood's Mad Scientist; The Invisibility Formula; The Muscle Man; The Human Bubble; Thermal Imaging; The Smoke Guy; The Gorilla Suit; The Mask; Flaming Sebastian; Elevator Finale; Ape Reversion storyboards (with commentary by Verhoeven); The Underground Lab; Reversion Progressions (with commentary by Scott Stokdyk); Invisibility Progressions (with commentary by Scott Anderson); Digital Body Parts montage & VFX Picture-in-Picture comparisons. Whew! That's a bucketload of extra stuff but, like those godawful infomercials, wait…there's more!

Also included are three Deleted Scenes with video interviews with Verhoeven concerning their removal. The film doesn't suffer with the exclusion of any of the scenes, possibly gaining the upper hand by completely leaving the rape scene to the imagination (as the deleted footage is vicious & unwarranted). Two theatrical trailers are tagged on (teaser & release), along with Cast & Crew biographies for Verhoeven, Bacon, Shue & Brolin. Yep, this disc is well and truly packed to the gills and bristling with bonus materials!

Well, though not quite as placid as Claude Rains' "Invisible Man" (1933), nor as briskly comedic Chevy Chase's turn in John Carpenter's "Memoirs Of An Invisible Man" (1992), Paul Vehoeven's "Hollow Man" is exactly the larger-than-life, blackly comedic and graphically violent exercise in cinematic excess that you would expect of him. As I previously mentioned though, the elements of implied rape and on-screen (simulated) animal mutilation came off as distasteful and unnecessary in this viewer's eyes, dropping this one down a peg or two from being a film that could have rated as a minor classic of the genre. But then again, one man's 'offensive behaviour' is another man's 'gory goodies', so you can take my cautions as either a warning or recommendation, that's up to you. I was otherwise pleasantly surprised by just how good "Hollow Man" actually is, as it sets out to be big effects-laden crowd-pleaser and succeeds in that goal admirably. If you want something to wash that bad taste out your mouth that Verhoeven's previous "Showgirls" may have left, then this might just do the trick!

International specifications: PAL format disc; Language options in English & Hungarian Dolby 5.1; Subtitle options in English, Dutch (also for audio commentaries), Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Finnish, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Swedish, Turkish

Review by Mike Thomason

© 2001, Icon In Black Media