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I recently polled some male friends on which of these superpowers they would most like to have: a) the ability to fly, or b) invisibility. "Flying," was the common response, but one pal answered "b"--because, he said, "think of all the naked chicks you could spy on!" Paul Verhoeven's Hollow Man was tailor-made for this dude: it suggests that the privilege, nay, responsibility, of a person who cannot be seen is voyeurism. The filmmakers move forth to equate invisibility with invincibility; the unaccountability afforded by transparency could turn a mild pervert into a sexually liberated criminal. Or an old-fashioned bogeyman. Or, gasp, a killer, driven mad by his physical advantage over normal society.
Hollow Man's biggest problem, after its devolution into standard summer fare replete with explosions, is that title antihero Sebastian Caine (Kevin Bacon), once rendered unseeable, makes a transition from cocky scientist to cock-eyed homicidal maniac as suddenly and gracefully as one operates a stick-shift. The movie's hasty story encapsulates a period of two or three weeks, and in that time Sebastian, after making a disappeared ape reappear, experiments on himself and successfully vanishes. Unfortunately, the same glowing serum that restored the primate's image doesn't take to Sebastian, and his colleagues, including an ex-flame (Elisabeth Shue) and her secret beau (Josh Brolin), whose late-night trysts are harder to conceal from Sebastian now that he can hide in plain sight, scramble to devise an alternate "reversion process." A man of apparent impatience, Sebastian soon opens up a can of whup-ass on the other doctors, in between fulfilling rape fantasies.
I'm glad that Verhoeven and screenwriter Andrew W. Marlowe addressed the perv factor from which the majority of flicks inspired by H. G. Wells' classic text have shied away. Indeed, upon the release of John Carpenter's Chevy Chase starrer Memoirs of an Invisible Man, its producers publicly called William Goldman a dirty old man for his (credited, thanks to a Writer's Guild arbitration) version of the script, which, they claimed, had Chase's character spending a lot of time in girls' locker rooms. (Chances are, it did--Goldman was hired to concoct a Chevy Chase comedy for director Ivan Reitman.) Hollow Man takes the alleged schoolboy naughtiness of Goldman's Memoirs to the next logical level when Sebastian ravishes the exotic lady across the street from his cluttered abode, but the attack happens so early in Sebastian's transformation as to be a greater indicator of Paul "Basic Instinct" Verhoeven's psychological make-up than the villain's: he's dying to see sex and violence.
Amid structural flaws sit weird inconsistencies. Why, for example, is the invisible Sebastian consigned to a cot in the laboratory while his co-workers research a cure? His handiwork, not theirs, has brought the project as far as it's come. And why attempt to restore the surely less expendable gorilla's third dimension ahead of the invisible dog's? To be fair, these questions occurred to me upon a second viewing, not the first; the film's Oscar-calibre special effects really do conquer its plot-holes, and they offer answers to nagging questions even the conceptually progressive Memoirs of an Invisible Man ducked--at last, some approximation of how The Invisible Man's facade looks in collision with the elements fire and water. What's awing is also damning here, however, and Hollow Man doesn't amount to much more than a lustrous, pocket-protected Friday the 13th sequel, despite potent, even poignant, starting ideas and an entertaining pace.
Columbia Tri-Star's Special Edition DVD of Hollow Man, with its feast of supplements and glossy transfer, confirms that the film is crutched on CGI technology. Anamorphically letterboxed at 1.85:1, the image on this disc is bright, colourful, and sharp, though what really stands out is the EX-encoded 5.1 Dolby Digital audio. Originally configured for 8-track SDDS, the downconverted six-track mix is very absorbing, full of gee-whiz split-surround effects and bone-rattling bass. I pity those consumers who won't get the chance to hear Hollow Man in all its discrete glory, the experience of which is pared down on a separate 5.1 channel featuring Jerry Goldsmith's isolated score and reflections from the seasoned composer on his pre- and post-Verhoeven career. This is actually my favourite of the DVD's extras.
Also worth a listen, although strangely hollow, is a threesome commentary from Verhoeven, Bacon, and Marlowe (who barely gets a word in edgewise). The conversation doesn't stray far from shooting to accommodate the F/X--forgivable, of course, since poor Bacon spent untold months wearing green face-paint and a skin-tight suit. We get to see him that way in a few of the 15 (!) featurettes (of ping-ponging lengths) filed under "Fleshing Out the Hollow Man": these mini-docs cover the spectrum of this time-consuming production, from principal photography to editing (included is one of the more useful storyboard-to-finished product comparisons), but their combined impact is superior to any of the individual segments, and I wish for an option to string them together, whatever the gargantuan length that might amount to.
Additional bonuses: a trio of intriguing deleted scenes, the latter two preceded by interview footage with Verhoeven; the HBO 'first look' "Anatomy of a Thriller"; a picture-in-picture, before-and-after the computer enhancements review of three incredibly complex sequences; trailers for Hollow Man and the upcoming Final Fantasy in 5.1, as well as previews for Starship Troopers and A Few Good Men; DVD-ROM weblinks; talent files; and an informative 2-page insert that suffices until you have time to explore the SE material at length. Another major effort from Columbia Tri-Star Home Video.-Bill Chambers
© Film Freak Central; filmfreakcentral.net. This review may not be reprinted, in whole or in part, without the express consent of its author.
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DVD GRADES:
Image A
Sound A+
Extras A- |
DVD VITALS:
Running Time
113 minutes
MPAA
R
Aspect Ratio(s)
1.85:1 ONLY, 16x9-enhanced
Languages
English DD 5.1,
English Dolby Surround,
French Dolby Surround
CC
Yes
Subtitles
English, French
DVD-9
Region One
Columbia Tri-Star
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Published: January, 2001
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