Hollow Man (2000): *

In this modern take on H.G. Well’s classic tale The Invisible Man, Dr Sebastian Caine (Kevin Bacon) is the arrogant Twinkie-eating genius leading a team to create an invisibility serum and reversion serum. After ‘successful’ experiments on animals – because increased aggression is not a symptom to be concerned about at all – Sebastian decides to proceed to human experimentation, using himself as the first test subject. Turning invisible is easy for Sebastian, it’s the reversal process that proves to be tricky. Hollow Man proceeds to show the audience how giving a jealous megalomaniac invisibility is a very bad idea.

Let’s quickly tackle the good aspects of Hollow Man….the effects are pretty remarkable. When the invisible Sebastian comes into contact with water, as it flows off and outlines every detail of his body, it is technically impressive. The scenes where the audience can see inside of Sebastian are straight out of a 17^th century anatomy book, as the skin fades away revealing the underlying muscular structure.

So top marks for the visual effects but otherwise Hollow Man is an awful film. 

Dr Sebastian Caine is a reprehensible character right off the bat; within two minutes of being introduced to him we witness Sebastian spying on his neighbour, as she undresses down to her underwear. As the film proceeds, Sebastian is shown to be blasé about ethical procedures, jealous about his scientist ex-girlfriend Linda (Elisabeth Shue) seeing another man, and jokes about rape. This is a man who proclaims that he is a God, habitually lies and sings along to heavily foreshadowing lyrics such as, ‘…You were made to die/But I was made to fly’. There’s no room for character development, as Sebastian does not have single redeeming quality to him, nothing to make the audience sympathise with him. Hell, even his team-mates don’t seem too distressed – and who could blame them? - when Sebastian is writhing in agony during his transformation scene. He can’t get better, he can only get worse. Consequently, when Dr Caine is turned invisible, the audience already knows where Hollow Man is heading on its nasty journey, and oh boy it gets really nasty. 

Hollow Man is deeply misogynistic and every female character is treated horrendously. Sebastian only has two ways to talk to women in this film it seems, insulting them or making sexual advances. When Sebastian grabs the chests of his two female colleagues, they just laugh it off. Linda suffers the most in Hollow Man, constantly cornered by Sebastian who tries to kiss her (later forcibly) and tries to get under her clothes, at one point violently pulling up her dress. Paul Verhoeven’s portrayal of these sexually violent acts is deeply disturbing to watch. The camera shifts to Sebastian’s point-of-view as he unbuttons Sarah’s (Kim Dickens) top and starts to grope her chest. Later the audience watches the terror on the neighbouring woman’s face as she is stalked, tormented then raped by Sebastian, again from his POV. In the final act, when Sebastian is killing off his female colleagues and stuffing them in lockers, there is never any sense that these characters have any agency. Even the final girl Linda has to be saved several times by her severely injured boyfriend Matt (Josh Brolin).

Even if you could bear the unpleasant aftertaste of Sebastian’s interactions with the women in Hollow Man, the film is incredibly stupid and clichéd. In this universe, scientific formulas are created by connecting the dots between molecules and patients suffer from ‘bioelectric shock’. As the characters lose sight of Sebastian in their thermal goggles, they cry out, ‘I’m losing resolution!’ and take off their goggles despite knowing that Sebastian is nearby and waiting to kill them. This is a film where Linda rips out a crowbar from Matt’s side, then sticks her fingers into his wound to check how deep it is. A film where Matt enters an invisible gorilla’s enclosure to give it a sedative, without even bothering to make the gorilla visible to him first (via spray paint). The invisibility serum also has the ability to make a person fire-proof, electric-proof and able to withstand heavy blunt trauma to the head. The actors involved in Hollow Man should have known better than to get involved, even if it meant passing up a chance to work with Paul Verhoeven.    

Hollow Man is a horrible film and should be forcibly given the invisibility serum, so no-one can ever see it again.