Film Review: Hollow Man (2000)

Few film makers made such a large and diverse set of enemies like Dutch director Paul Verhoeven did during his tenure in Hollywood. Activists from the left hated his films over his allegedly bad treatment of women, gays and other characters belonging to oppressed minorities. Conservative preachers from the right lambasted his explicit treatment of sexuality, violence and other content that could lead young audience to the wrong path. Even science fiction fans, who had plenty reasons to love Verhoeven for his genre masterpieces like RoboCop and Total Recall, had faction admiring Robert A. Heinlein and never forgiving Verhoeven for turning his cult novel Starship Troopers into satire with eponymous film. By the end of millennium, commercial failures and controversies began to accumulate in the way that made Verhoeven’s days in Hollywood numbered. The end came with spectacular fiasco of his 2000 science fiction horror film Hollow Man.

Main character, played by Kevin Bacon, is Sebastian Caine, top scientist in top secret government laboratory. Plot begins when he finally makes discovery that should solve the problem that had eluded him for a long time. He and the team that involves his girlfriend Linda McKay (played by Elisabeth Shue) had found the serum that can make people invisible, but all their experiments with animals failed to produce anti-serum that could restore visibility. Caine finally demonstrates new formula on animals and, following its initial success of those tests, volunteers to become first invisible human. His colleagues reluctantly agree to put him to complicated and painful procedure but, once invisible, Caine feels comfortable with his new condition. His friends and colleagues, on the other hand, are quickly losing enthusiasm because Caine begins to abuse his invisibility with increasingly vicious pranks. Problems arise when it turns that the anti-serum actually failed and Caine, fearing that he might stay permanently locked in laboratory, decides to escape.

Verhoeven from the start suggests that he had little or no interest for the film. He obviously did the film as hired gun, in ultimately unsuccessful attempt to please studio executives and maintain his relevance in increasingly hostile Hollywood. As a result, there isn’t any personal touch in the film. The only thing that stands out are the special effects, but they can’t compensate for gigantic plot holes and terrible cliches in the script written by Andrew W. Marlowe (loosely inspired by Invisible Man, classic novel by H. G. Wells). Even the casting reflects complete lack of imagination. Kevin Bacon again plays demonic villain, while Elisabeth Shue again plays scientist, this time even less convincing than the similar character she played in The Saint few years earlier.

At the beginning there is some hope that Hollow Man might offer fans of the genre something to think about and explore medical, psychological and ethical aspects of invisibility. Yet, by the half of the film, all those hope are dashed and Hollow Man turns into horror film that looks cheap despite its special effects. Again, audience is subjected all the worst cliches – like the villain miraculously resurrecting after seemingly being killed or protagonists successfully escaping fireball. Verhoeven here even abandoned his trademark erotica and failed to give some explicit fan service in the scene when the Caine stalks an attractive woman played by Rhona Mitra. Hollow Man represents the lowest point in Verhoeven’s career and with it he achieved something deemed impossible – to make a film worse even than Showgirls. Despite its terrible reputation, this film still had enough box office success to justify 2006 direct-to-video sequel Hollow Man 2 starring Christian Slater.

RATING: 2/10 (-)

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