I Saw That!

The Invisible Man (2020)

Remember way back in February when I listed a bunch of movies that I was going to see during that month? Yes? Well, here’s my review of the only one that I’ve actually been able to see (excepting the original King Kong, which I’ll review later today).

Elisabeth Moss heads up a very good cast in a very good film based loosely on the classic H.G. Wells book and the 1933 Universal film of the same name, The Invisible Man. In this updated version of the story, Moss portrays Cecilia Kass, a woman living in an abusive and controlled relationship with Adrian Griffin (Oliver Jackson-Cohen). Griffin is an optics wizard who controls Cecilia’s every move, emotion, and thought. She manages to escape his fortress-like home one evening with the help of her sister, Emily (Harriet Dyer).

Cecilia is given refuge by her friend, James (Aldis Hodge), at his home where he is living with his daughter, Sydney (Storm Reid). Having been controlled for so long, Cecilia finds simple things such as going out to get the mail to be a daunting task. Both James and Sydney do their best to help her get beyond her PTSD issues to mild degrees of success.

Cecilia told Emily to never visit her at James’ home, in fear that Adrian would follow her there and try to retake control of Cecilia’s life, so when Emily shows up one day at the front door, Cecilia becomes angry. Then Emily tells her that Adrian has been found dead of an apparent suicide. Cecilia becomes somewhat relieved but is still unnerved about her former boyfriend.

Cecilia is also given five million dollars through Adrian’s will, and uses a portion of it to help Sydney. She also begins to relax somewhat and even gets a job interview. As the days continue to pass, however, things begin occurring that make her believe that Adrian is still alive and still controlling her. The fear factor amps up as an invisible being starts creating all sorts of havoc in Cecilia’s life, driving friends and family away and creating suspicion about her mental state.

As her life spirals out of control once again and no one believes her claims about an invisible abuser, Cecilia takes matters into her own hands. Does she uncover the truth about her invisible tormentor? Can she save herself and her friends and family before it’s too late? You’ll have to watch The Invisible Man to find out!

Directed and written by Leigh Whannell, The Invisible Man is a truly suspenseful flick. It starts off almost like a traditional ghost film, with the “ghost” (the Invisible Man) setting off burners in the home, yanking on bed sheets, etc. Then it becomes more of a psychological thriller as the “ghost” begins manipulating Cecilia’s entire life. Finally, it becomes a story of both retaliation and freedom, as Cecilia systematically takes apart her oppressor’s own life. I liked the update to the invisibility aspect of the film and really loved how easily it transitioned from suspense to horror to revenge.

The cast is extremely good. Moss delivers a powerful performance of an abused woman who finds herself completely separated from her friends and family in a moment where she most needs them. Aldis Hodge is extremely convincing as Cecilia’s friend who is torn between believing his friend and protecting his daughter from Cecilia as she seemingly becomes more and more unhinged. Harriet Dyer’s role is quite a bit smaller than the rest of the cast, but she gave an excellent performance as a sister who feels rejected by Cecilia but still loves her. Michael Dorman deserves a special nod for his performance in the film. I can’t say too much about his character, but it’s quite enjoyable to see him work on the screen.

Sadly, the least impressive performance in the film is delivered by Oliver Jackson-Cohen. Yep, he’s the Invisible Man, but he’s extremely uninteresting whenever we can see him. The character works best when he’s not visible. While he isn’t terrible in his brief onscreen role, Jackson-Cohen was definitely a few steps down from Claude Rains, the Invisible Man from 1933.

The film does lag at times. I believe that Whannell could have shaved about twenty or so minutes off in the film and it would have been a better picture overall. Whannell does a great job of building suspense but drags it out for the payoff. It was also unintentionally funny at times seeing people battle an unseen enemy. There were also some extremely predictable moments and plot points in the film. This didn’t necessarily take away from the overall suspense of the film, but the dull moments between each revelation definitely hurt the movie.

So should you go see it? Absolutely, especially if you’re a fan of suspense thrillers and movies with genuine scares and surprise moments. It’s one of the best updated Universal Monsters films that I’ve seen in a long time, and I hope that both Universal and Blumhouse keep these films on a positive wave.

Thanks for reading. I’ll be posting late today about the TCM/Fathom Events King Kong showing later today.