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Director
Paul Verhoeven likes creating memorable cinema moments. Remember
when Arnold Schwarzenegger's head opened up in Total Recall
while disguised as a woman or when Sharon Stone uncrossed
her legs in Basic Instinct.
It's no
surprise then that that opening sequence in Hollow
Man sees a rat torn apart by an invisible creature.
Blood and gore is not in short supply. Plenty more is spilt
over the next couple of hours.
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| The
diet seems to be going pretty well |
However,
Verhoeven gets more effect from what he doesn't show. The
real tension is built up by the lab animals you can't see
and when scientist Sebastian Caine (Bacon) turns invisible
himself.
Don't
be fooled by the films title. This is the Invisible Man
by any other name. Having said that, in terms of style
and effects, it's a million miles from the 1933 original staring
Claude Rains.
Watching
Bacon transform into an invisible state has to be seen to
be believed as does the size of the syringe used to inject
the brightly coloured magical formula.
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| Come
out, come out, wherever you are |
Sadly,
once out of sight, the former Footloose star realises
his unlimited potential as an invisible man, especially where
women are concerned.
It doesn't
take long for him to commit murder at which point Hollow
Man turns into a carbon copy of Alien.
Bacon
decides to kill the rest of his scientific team so no one
will know his little secret. Unfortunately his former colleagues
fail to learn the cast iron movie rule - always stick together.
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| You
think I'm hot. OK, let's turn up the heat some more |
One by
one they are picked off in Verhoeven's typical OTT brutal
style.
For all
it's predictability, Hollow Man is well worth a look
if only for the special effects which are genuinely special.
Good all
round performances from the cast, even if the climax stretches
credibility to the extremes with the superhuman recuperative
capabilities of some of the heroes.
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