Movie Review: The Invisible Man

The Invisible Man **** / *****

Directed by: Leigh Whannell.

Written by: Leigh Whannell based on the novel by H.G. Wells.

Starring: Elisabeth Moss (Cecilia Kass), Oliver Jackson-Cohen (Adrian Griffin), Harriet Dyer (Emily Kass), Aldis Hodge (James Lanier), Storm Reid (Sydney Lanier), Michael Dorman (Tom Griffin).

 

Leigh Whannell’s ingeniously clever horror film The Invisible Man does just about everything right – but its smartest decision was the first one made – to not concentrate on the monster, but instead to focus on his victim. All versions of the invisible man are basically creeps – whether it’s in the H.G. Wells novel, the James Whale film from 1933 or even copies like Hollow Man – people who turn themselves invisible inevitable become creeps, perverts, abusers, etc. And so Whannell makes the brilliant decision to take that as its starting point, and instead focus on that abusers target – his wife Cecilia (Elisabeth Moss) who he has terrorized even before he became invisible, and now that she has finally found the strength and support to leave him, has taken that terrorization to a new level. The Invisible Man becomes a horror movie for the #MeToo era – and a brilliantly executed one at that.

 

The films tense opening scene is Cecilia escaping from her husband Adrian – and their massive Bay area home, that Adrian owns because he is a leader in the field of optics. There are is a high-tech security system and surveillance system, as well as low tech system – like a very high wall. Cecilia sneaks away in the middle of the night – rescued by her sister Emily (Harriet Dyer) as the getaway driver, and then staying with her old friend James (Aldis Hodge) – a cop and single father raising a teenager (Storm Reid). Even as Cecilia is able to escape, she cannot really escape – she is paranoid to leave James’ house, paranoid that Adrian will find her as he always threatened to do. A temporary relief comes when Adrian apparently kills himself – she is called to his brothers office, Tom (Michael Dorman) who tells her that she will receive $5 million, $100K per month for just over four years, as long as she is not convicted of a crime, and deemed mentally unfit. And then, the real terror starts – Cecilia believes Adrian has found a way to make himself invisible – and is slowly ramping up the level of terror he is inflicting on her. And, of course, no one believes Cecilia – because that sounds insane.

 

This was another potential stumbling block – the “everyone thinks woman is crazy” in a horror film, when we, in the audience, know she is not, is an old trope – and yet, in this case, it works brilliantly. Part of this is because of Elisabeth Moss – this is another great performance by one of the best actresses on the planet, particularly if she is required to slowly spin out of control and be broken down piece by piece as she is here. And part of it is because it’s a narrative that fits nicely in the timeliness of the narrative as conceived by Whannell – what have we learned from the #MeToo era if it isn’t that too often society doesn’t believe women. It took dozens to take down Cosby or Weinstein – and men with “only” a few alleged victims more often than not skate away clean. And what Cecilia is accusing Adrian of really does sound insane – everyone believes he is dead, and she says that not only is he not, he is invisible. Adrian is brilliant in the way he makes his presence known to Cecilia – but not to anyone else.

 

As a director, Whannell has improved with each passing film. The writer behind the Saw and Insidious franchises, starting directing a few years ago with one of the Insidious films, moved on to the very strange sci-fi/horror/action film Upgrade (that I kind of feel I should see again – I may have underrated it at the time). Here, the camera moves slowly around the large house Adrian and Cecilia shared, and increases the sense of claustrophobia in the smaller places the narrative goes. You may well find yourself thinking of Fincher (Zodiac, for the foggy portrait of San Francisco, perhaps Panic Room for the interior scenes) or even Hitchcock at points. The special effects in the movie are excellent – and never overused. They are creepy – even when we start to get to the scenes we expect – with paint or flour or water, etc. showing us at least part of the “invisible man”.

 

All of this leads to a climax that is earned for once. We think we’re going to get to an special effects and action laden finale, but the film keeps going (and even that is better than they normally are) to an ending in which Cecilia doesn’t just use what has been held against her, and women in general, but weaponizes it. It’s a twist on the final girl image – and one finale clever twist on the expected in a film that is full of them.