by Aaron Mould

Aug 4, 2000

WOW Great movie. Everything I expected and more. Its The Invisible Man meets Psyco.

I loved the graphics of letting you see Kevin Bacon as you really would in different situations. It also makes invisiblity a little more realistic. Like what would you really do if you couldn't be seen? How would you sleep if your eyelids were invisible too.

I loved this movie and will defintly get it on DVD when it comes out!!!! GO SEE IT NOW!!! 

by SuthMatt

Aug 5, 2000

I was a little dissapointed by this movie. I thought this movie had a ton of potential, and it did. For some reason they didn't explore many possibilities.

I was hoping that hollow man would have been in more public situations. The movies was good, but could have been some much more. It took to long for him to became the hollow man, and then they really had no much time for him to do anything.

Still worth seeing, but it won't lose much if you wait to rent it. 

by Scott Jentsch

Aug 11, 2000

Paul Verhoeven's Hollow Man is an example of impressive special effects being better than the storyline, which is never a good sign for a movie. George Lucas set out to make Star Wars, putting the story first and supporting it with groundbreaking special effects (at the time).

Verhoeven's previous efforts were pretty good. RoboCop is one of my favorite films, and Total Recall was pretty good also. His most recent film, <A HREF="/ReaderReview?movie=StarshipTroopers">Starship Troopers</A>, was ok, but nothing remarkable.

Where Robocop and Total Recall had a combination of interesting premise and effective execution, it is in the latter category where Hollow Man rings, shall I say, hollow.

The concept of what happens to a person when they find that they can act without being seen (you only have your own conscience to guide you) is quite interesting. Kevin Bacon's comment about that very fact in the movie is something like "It's amazing what you'll do when you don't have to look at yourself in the mirror." As would be expected as a commentary of the base human condition, Bacon's character doesn't handle invisibility in a responsible manner.

The special effects dealing with the invisibility and the disappearance/reappearance on a very-detailed level is very cool. It's obvious that a lot of money and effort was spent making these scenes very impressive. Kudos to the visual effects teams! (if you stay through the credits, you'll see a lot of people listed)

Some of the plot is actually quite good, but in the end, it disappoints by degrading into a typical slasher flick which makes the viewer more uncomfortable than entertained. There are brief glimpses where we enjoy the events, and others where you think that maybe it would be a good time to get a popcorn refill. Bacon's mad scientist turns from arrogant genius to Jason wannabe much too quickly and without motivation, which prevents the audience from getting engaged in what's going to happen next.

I was also somewhat disappointed by the ending, since I felt as though it should have been handled differently considering the type of film that it was.

Should a film like this be judged harshly because the plot can't stack up to the special effects? I think so. Gone are the 80's, where you could make a slasher flick (Friday the 13th Series) that had only nudity and body counts to entertain the audience. The 90's brought us incredible special effects (Terminator 2, Jurassic Park), to the point that such strides are commonplace.

Hopefully, as we progress further into this decade, filmmakers will find a way to start with a strong story and then use the incredible visual tools they have at their disposal to make that story become a vivid reality. Hollow Man shows that we will have to wait a while longer for that occur. 

by Dan

Sep 6, 2000

Well made, but bad plot 

by Glen Kimberley

Nov 1, 2000

Standard 50’s B-Grade movie, ‘Brilliant scientist experiments on himself, goes mad, tries to kill everyone’ enhanced by turn of the century SFX.

This movie entertains……but only just.

Paul Verhoeven has given us much better fare in the past with movies such as RoboCop, Basic Instinct and, one of my all time Sci-Fi favorites Starship Troopers. He delivers the effects, and one or two decent shocks here, but the latter part of the movie just didn’t live up to the development of the first half and was way too predictable.

If you’re not in any hurry, wait ‘til video.

5/10 glenk@foxit.com.au
 

by George Jobson

Jun 8, 2003

An update of the "Invisible Man" with Kevin Beacon stepping in the role as the man who was enraged when he became invisible and can't return to normal. Some great special effects round out the movie. Elisabeth Slue plays his love intrest who must battle him in the end.