The Invisible Man!

[Mysteryman]

Sounds like a movie about an invisible stalker.

 

[terry78]

It's pretty low-key horror, like the original was to an extent, only Griffin is more of the unseen monster as opposed to a main character this time. Moss always knows how to play unstrung crazy and she does bring it lol.

 

[KaijuDude1992]

I really enjoyed this for the most part, but honestly I do see where TheVileOne is coming from when he says a lot of insane and illogical things happen, especially in the second and third acts of this movie, but it didn't completely ruin the movie for me. The set up here was great for that first hour or so and when it comes to the direction and performances overall I think Leigh Whannell really excelled in those areas. I found it pretty intense and suspenseful from beginning to the end and Elizabeth Moss is just fantastic all the way through. Her performance really sells you on the abuse that her character has suffered without actually even seeing it and that makes it even more effective IMO. I also loved the dynamic she had with Aldis Hodge's and Stormi Reid's characters.

Also, my god at that restaurant scene. It's honestly been a while since a film really caught me off guard like that and made my jaw drop. It was brilliantly done.

8/10

 

[Filmfan93]

This was one of the best horrors I've seen.

Moss was terrific, the film didn't rely on jump scares, but on long, tension-building moments, the cinematography was amazing (camera movements that move in and linger on an empty spot in a room, but you know it isn't empty) and the atmosphere was incredible. The sound design was just awesome, too.

Just wish they cast someone else as Adrian - someone who could convey the genius and coldness of the character better. I felt like whenever he was on screen, that's not who I'd imagine would be the Invisible Man in the actual "invisibility" scenes.

9/10

 

[antsman41]

This was amazing...

Having Leigh bring in his Upgrade filming techniques was a blast. The notion that the main guy was actually invisible instead of "barely visible" was also a nice touch. Those lingering hallways and room framing shots, very The Outsider meets Shining.

4 1/2 Stars from me.

 

[terry78]

I know there are more than a few shots that are gonna turn into memes down the line, haha.

 

[The Shape]

I thought this was really well done and really enjoyed it. While it doesn't share all that much in common with the original story, it is a clever, modern update of the "Invisible Man" concept that does a good job of showing how scary it would be if a psychotic genius could somehow become invisible. The power such a person would have to manipulate people and commit horrendous acts is something that would be truly frightening in reality.

Being that this film pretty much follows the typical "abused woman movie" formula (an abused woman is stalked and hunted by an abuser who destroys her life before she finds the strength to fight back), I did find the film to be fairly predictable overall since it was pretty clear how most things would ultimately play out. However, there are plenty of little twists and surprises to keep things interesting and the film is appropriately intense throughout. As mentioned above, both the sound design and cinematography were pretty excellent.

As far as "insane and illogical things" happening in the film, that's kind of par for the course when you have a concept that is inherently illogical and unrealistic. Like with any high-concept horror/slasher film, plenty of suspension of disbelief is required, but I didn't really find anything to be absurd or silly enough to take me out of the film. In reality, if an extremely wealthy/intelligent/ruthless man like this was somehow able to fake his own death and then become completely invisible, I think a lot of things could ultimately play out as they do in this film. His plan to systematically dismantle her life was pretty clever. No sane person would believe the things this woman was saying, and without proof, there would be no other way to explain the things that were happening.

 

[Kane52630]

My review

At the Movies with Kane and BN

 

[The Shape]

Also, for me, this movie served as complete proof of concept for something I've been proposing and waiting on for years -- a modern, non-musical, horror/thriller/mystery adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera. A story like Phantom's is ripe for a reinterpretation like this, but on a slightly bigger scale and set within a present-day location like the Metropolitan Opera House. Shake up and remix the original Phantom story while still keeping the core concept intact, adding news twists and turns throughout.

This version of Invisible Man even stole some of its swag from Phantom - a "ghostly" (unseen) genius with psychopathic tendencies is obsessed with a young woman, controlling and manipulating her from behind the scenes, and causing all kind of mayhem around her and towards anyone who gets in his/her way.

The time is now!!!

 

[Asr]

Saw it last night, solid 8/10 for me.

Leigh Whannell is officially 2 out of 2 for me now, since I also really liked his previous directorial film Upgrade. Very well-made flick that was very intense all the way through, and very effective as a super-serious suspense thriller type of movie. Definitely had horror elements, but I'd call it closer to a psychological thriller personally. I feel like if the movie had wanted to, it could've pulled off the Invisible Man character as a "monster" more and allowed him to act out as a villain against more people, but as it is, the Invisible Man pretty much just had a personal vendetta against Elisabeth Moss' character. I'd definitely be all for a more traditional horror type of movie featuring the Invisible Man after seeing this one—the Invisible Man in this movie was certainly a bad guy and killed people too, but here he came across more as Elisabeth Moss' obsessed pyschotic boyfriend, and less of "The Invisible Man" persona setting out for personal vengeance against society and scaring people and doing whatever he might be able to get away with.

Also after seeing this movie, I'm convinced that Universal should hire Whannell (along with his buddy Wan) to spearhead their Monsters universe. There are few other writer/directors I think could pull it off, and Whannell + Wan would do a great job no doubt.

Spoiler question about the ending:

Spoiler

So who the heck killed Adrian in that ending scene? It was pretty obvious it wasn't Cecilia.

Also this isn't as spoilerish, but I'll tag it anyway:

Spoiler

The Invisible Man's invisibility suit glitching after being shot made for some really cool camera shots. Clearly it needs to be made bulletproof though, to protect him from accidental (and intentional) gunshots.

 

[TheVileOne]

Spoiler

Pretty sure it was Cecilia. She had hid the other suit before and went to grab it and then put it in her bag away from the cameras.

Here's my main issue:

Spoiler

That restaurant had no cameras in it? I saw like a dozen cameras at the theater I saw my movie in. There's no CCTV footage that showed the knife was not even in her hand when her sister died? Security camera footage would at least create reasonable doubt for her legal defense.

Here's one of my problems with this movie. They only acknowledge security camera footage when it's convenient.

The ending was weak and anti-climactic.

 

[antsman41]

Spoiler

Pretty sure it was Cecilia. She had hid the other suit before and went to grab it and then put it in her bag away from the cameras.

Here's my main issue:

Spoiler

That restaurant had no cameras in it? I saw like a dozen cameras at the theater I saw my movie in. There's no CCTV footage that showed the knife was not even in her hand when her sister died? Security camera footage would at least create reasonable doubt for her legal defense.

Here's one of my problems with this movie. They only acknowledge security camera footage when it's convenient.

The ending was weak and anti-climactic.

THIS.

 

[terry78]

Every discussion says she did it, maybe it just wasn't framed right.

 

[terry78]

Spoiler

Pretty sure it was Cecilia. She had hid the other suit before and went to grab it and then put it in her bag away from the cameras.

Here's my main issue:

Spoiler

That restaurant had no cameras in it? I saw like a dozen cameras at the theater I saw my movie in. There's no CCTV footage that showed the knife was not even in her hand when her sister died? Security camera footage would at least create reasonable doubt for her legal defense.

Here's one of my problems with this movie. They only acknowledge security camera footage when it's convenient.

The ending was weak and anti-climactic.

I'm sure they'll hand wave that away.

 

[Asr]

Spoiler

Pretty sure it was Cecilia. She had hid the other suit before and went to grab it and then put it in her bag away from the cameras.

Spoiler

I'll agree with the way the scene started off, it seemed like Cecilia killed Adrian, but then she reappeared in the room way too soon for that to make sense—i.e., it sure seemed like she was in the room with the invisible killer at the same time.

 

[TheVileOne]

Every discussion says she did it, maybe it just wasn't framed right.

That's the problem with the writing of the movie. You could've done at least a throwaway line of like "The cameras weren't on."

"The cameras don't show what happened in the frame."

"Or the camera evidence is inconclusive and won't hold up to help you in court."

Literally something. They said nothing about that.

 

[TheVileOne]

Spoiler

I'll agree with the way the scene started off, it seemed like Cecilia killed Adrian, but then she reappeared in the room way too soon for that to make sense—i.e., it sure seemed like she was in the room with the invisible killer at the same time.

That makes no sense. Who else could it have been?

 

[Asr]

That makes no sense. Who else could it have been?

That's exactly why I got confused at the ending. It seemed like it should have been her, but her reapparance in the room happened way too quickly to make sense either, so it seemed like it was someone else.

 

[Man in the Suit]

This was one of my most anticipated movies of the year. The Universal Monsters franchise has been one of my favorite things ever since I saw them on AMC's Monsterfest and The Mummy (1999) when I was a kid. I've been waiting years for Universal to get it right again, and they finally did. Leigh Whannell's take on The Invisible Man is what the Monsters needed right now. Incredible course correction from Alex Kurtzman's nonsense from a few years ago.

 

[writer0327]

I enjoyed this film, even though it comes off as little more than a pretty good Netflix movie. A fun little thriller that was well directed, well acted but had a ton of conveniences and plot devices to help it along the way. Elizabeth Moss's performance was pretty solid and it was really her acting that held up what I thought was a shaky script. Most of the best parts of the film take place at the beginning and the 3rd act, while wholly predictable, was mostly enjoyable and made good use of action and tension. The middle of the movie kinda drags along and they should have trimmed out a good chunk of it. This is a movie that probably gets a good buzz with a large crowd, I saw it in a mostly empty IMAX and it kind of takes away from the experience. But overall I still liked it.

7.5/10

 

[TheVileOne]

That's exactly why I got confused at the ending. It seemed like it should have been her, but her reapparance in the room happened way too quickly to make sense either, so it seemed like it was someone else.

I think that's just narrative economy of what was being shown.

Spoiler

She knew the house well and this was basically a pre-meditated murder. So she carefully thought out the whole thing, how much time she needed, timing her phone call, getting the suit on, creating a distraction, etc. Knew she had to act quickly as well.

Elisabeth Moss is amazing in this movie. There's some cool intense stuff at times. No argument from me there, but the script is very flimsy.

Spoiler

She's close enough to the cop friend's daughter that the daughter will allow Cecilia to sleep in the same bed as her. I feel like you would know if the person sitting in front of you punched you or not.

I also feel the daughter would know if she feels safe around Cecilia or not. If she's allowing her to sleep in her bed that IMO at least implies they are very close and almost like sisters and she is not physically threatened by her or that she's afraid she might do something in any way.

 

[DarkKnight88]

Box Office: ‘Invisible Man’ Scares Up A Boffo $49M Worldwide Weekend

 

[terry78]

And on a 9 mil budget? Whannell is doing it up.

 

[writer0327]

A great weekend for this film even with a virus outbreak going.

 

[Lasirius]

Regarding the cameras in the restaurant, I always thought it was easier and a stronger argument

Spoiler

for people to highly suspect of Cecilia killing her sister rather than some...invisible entity. That and depending on the camera angle.

Also, it seems no time had gone by between the restaurant and when she’s locked up while chaos continues to ensue. It’s plausible all evidence and whatnot (including camera footage) was being reviewed at the time. An example, when the cop immediately thinks Cecilia was the one taking the cops out even when she’s obviously sort of removed from the situation.

All of these indicators of people thinking Cecilia was the one rather than some inexplicable reason is more plausible to believe that than what was truly happening. I did not find it to be a big issue because of this.