What if you had the power of invisibility? Imagine the infinite possibilities that await you when you do not have to worry about people looking at you. Would you use your invisible powers for the greater good of mankind? Or would you use the aforementioned powers to sneak into the girls’ (or guys’ to be P.C.) locker room and peek at unsuspecting girls (or guys) changing clothes? Or would you preferably do both?

As you can tell, I am stalling on purpose because words cannot express the unequivocal hate I have for this movie. Let me tell you, Hollow Man made me feel downright despicable inside. Sure, I have watched plenty of exploitation flicks in my short, insignificant life, but usually, I can comfortably remind myself that these so-called “flicks” are all rather “harmless fun.” With Hollow Man, director Paul Verhoeven ( Robocop, Total Recall ) seems to put the accent more on perversity and smut rather than suspense and thrills. Basically, he took a pretty decent premise…and completely botched it. Hollow Man is listless, repulsive, and incompetent. Granted, Hollow Man contains some of the most elaborate and breathtaking invisible man special effects. Unfortunately, any potential that this film has apparently vanished into thin air and the film degenerates into a stalk and slash film with a more exploitative slant.


(The Hollow) Plot
Right from the beginning, after the requisite opening credits, we witness an innocent lab mouse running around. Seconds later, the mouse’s head is chewed up by an invisible gorilla and much blood splatters. Yes folks, welcome to Paul Verhoeven’s world. Anyway, Hollow Man asks the burning question, “What if you could use your powers of invisibility as a tool for revenge?” Meet Sebastian Caine (Kevin Bacon, Friday the 13th ), your typical idealistic and wacky mad scientist who will discover what life is like being invisible. He is currently working on a Pentagon-approved top-secret project to make living things invisible...and bring them back to their normal state. Already Caine and his gallant colleagues, including ex-girlfriend Linda (Elisabeth Shue, Leaving Las Vegas) and Matt (Josh Brolin, The Goonies) have successfully managed to make Isabelle, an invisible gorilla, reappear after much tinkering. (Oh, by the way, Linda and Matt are actually secret lovers but don’t tell Caine about this...)

Since this is a movie...the characters are motivated by the needs of the plot. So Caine—being imprisoned by his own greed and ambition—decides to lie to the Pentagon’s face and notify them that him and his colleagues have not yet cracked the code for reversing the invisibility process. Both Linda and Matt are understandably upset about this but Caine reminds them that since this is his project, he does not want the Pentagon to be screwing around with it. He decides to immediately volunteer himself to be the first subject of Phase III—human invisibility. Caine wants to be a pioneer, the first human being to experience the wonders and power of invisibility. His colleagues are naturally reluctant at first, but Caine manages to convince them that they have to seize the moment...

The invisibility serum is eventually injected into Caine’s body and this is where you get to drool at the amazing special effects shown here. As Caine’s flesh slowly disintegrates, his muscular system is shown. The muscle layers disappear and a skeletal system plus the vital organs remain. Eventually, what remains disappears and hence, he is invisible. In all honestly, this is an incredible effect. I liked how the effects artists put so much effort into detail here. The human anatomy is shown at its full glory.

As a way of checking on Caine, the scientists pour adhesive latex over his unseen head. Then they cut out circles where his eyes were to allow him to see and create an incision by his mouth to allow him to breathe and talk. This cool and chilling image—Caine wearing a rubber mask with huge eyeholes—is why he is called the “Hollow Man”. For the next couple of days, Caine is living it up as the Hollow Man. But unfortunately (and quite predictably), bringing Caine back is a whole different story. Needless to say, while Caine’s colleagues attempt to reverse the process and bring Caine back, somehow, the whole experiment goes awry. Caine is stuck in his invisible state and little do the scientists realize that this is affecting his erratic behavior. Even more predictably—since Caine was a jerk in the first place—the more Caine stays invisible, the more his sanity deteriorates...and his madness develops. Meanwhile, Linda, Matt, and the rest of the crew must find a way to restore Caine’s visibility before the Pentagon finds out about this and everything gets out of hand...


Special Effects
Obviously, the main attraction of Hollow Man is its special effects and the good news is you can at least appreciate the hard work put into the elaborate special effects. Besides Caine’s transformation from a human to an invisible man, there is another awesome transformation sequence involving Isabelle. In this breathtaking sequence, the scientists inject this invisible gorilla with the serum which will make her visible again. As the liquid flows through her veins, they become visible once again. We also get to see the gorilla’s heart pumping, and though it is obviously a CGI effect, it is still cool to see a beating heart. All of the gorilla’s important organs are slowly becoming noticeable and eventually everything is restored. I am not the biggest fan of CGI, but I have to admit that this sequence was incredible.

As a side note, contrary to what you may believe, Kevin Bacon does appear throughout most of the film’s duration. Sure, you do not see him, but he is there. In the documentary titled “Anatomy of a Thriller”, a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at Hollow Man, we get to see how it’s all done. In order for the invisible man effects to work well, Bacon often had to have his whole body covered in different color paintings (along with different color contact lenses, skin-tight leotards, etc.). This allows the special effects technicians to capture every single movement Bacon makes so that when all the digital effects are completed, the invisible man’s actions look real and convincing, and you have that eerie feeling that he is indeed, the Hollow Man.

Admittedly, Hollow Man also has a few haunting images which will be etched in your mind after you finished watching this movie. One particularly impressive visual is watching the water drenched invisible psycho try to drown one of his victims in his own pool. Another cool image is watching the blood-soaked Caine stalk one of the scientists. Hollow Man is indeed a visual treat for those who love to satiate themselves with eye candy.

What “Hollow Man” Could Have Been…and What it Really is.
Simply put, Hollow Man is a vast disappointment, even by Paul Verhoeven’s standards. I never claim to be a devoted fan of Paul Verhoeven, but I have enjoyed his work. Despite the general sleaziness of his works, they usually have some thematic content in them. For example, his two major sci-fi accomplishments, Robocop and Total Recall share a common theme about a person trying to piece together memories from his past. His lesser accomplishment, Starship Troopers, is a satirical stab at fascism. In any case, what makes Paul Verhoeven’s works memorable is that they have some substance beneath the flashy special effects. With Hollow Man though, this is not an example of style over substance; this is style over NOTHING.

What I found truly frustrating though is that the film does not seem to fully explore its premise. In the aforementioned “Anatomy of a Thriller” documentary, Paul Verhoeven claims his intentions were to explore how invisibility would affect a person’s mental stability. If memory serves me correctly, Verhoven even cited Plato’s philosophy of human invisibility (mentioned later) as the basis for this movie. However, instead of keeping his promise and delving into the psychological implications of invisibility on the human being, Verhoeven is merely contented on trying to “titillate” us with gratuitous nudity and violence. If this was a Fred Olen Ray directed B-movie with lowly aspirations, that’s fine. But quite frankly, the film’s excellent production values, superior special effects, and good cast give the indication that this is NOT a B-movie; it is something supposedly more ambitious. In sum, this film deserves better...

Plato’s “Republic” (referring to the “Ring of Gyges” which renders its wearer invisible) talks about how invisibility will corrupt a person’s soul and compel that person to commit bad sins. That same person would think of himself as a God who can get away with anything. With Hollow Man, the main problem lies in the fact that right from the beginning, you already know that Caine is pretty much a jerk who is unstable. Him becoming invisible does little to change that fact. Yes, you can argue that at first, Caine is seen as a scientist with the personality of a megalomaniac (“You’re not God...I am.”), but after invisibility, he transforms into a psychopathic lunatic. (Talk about mood swings!) But I would counter-argue that statement by mentioning that Caine has always been an unsympathetic character to begin with and his colleagues were too myopic to realize the inevitable…

As well, what also shocked me is how tedious and predictable Hollow Man really is. I wish that screenwriter Andrew W. Marlowe had focused a lot more on how invisibility could psychologically affect a person or what could possibly be the ethical consequences of exploiting the power of invisibility. But no, what do we get instead? A routine stalk & slash flick. That’s right, and like most stupid stalk & slash flicks, there is too much reliance on implausibility and cheap “jump scares.”

Paul Verhoeven’s surprisingly pedestrian direction does not help either. I might have had too high expectations, but I was expecting more out of this movie than watching the invisible Sebastian Caine being driven by his voyeuristic impulses. Think about it, there could have been so many cool scenarios. As Caine said it himself, “It’s amazing what you can do when you don’t have to look at yourself in the mirror anymore.” Well, Caine could be invading the police station and humiliating the cops. He could be committing one of the greatest robbing sprees in America. Or he could even be causing the Pentagon problems. Hell, if I ended up being invisible, I would be a lot more ambitious than Caine was. This film could have had its moments but no, Caine’s definition of having fun is acting horny and thus, there is more emphasis on perversity than expected.


Huh?
This brings me to another complaint about Hollow Man: at times—especially during the do-or-die stalking sequence where the invisible Caine wants to punish all of his colleagues—this film relies too much on contrivance and not enough on suspense. Contrivance? Yes. For example, how can a guy who was whacked clean in the head by a crowbar still survive...and without suffering severe brain damage? Also, explain Caine’s near invulnerability as the Hollow Man. Like most psychopaths such as Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, and the Tall Man, Cane appears to be seemingly indestructible. He has been torched, shot, and whacked in the head by a crowbar...yet he acts like he has barely been fazed. Never once in this movie do the scientists talk about the invisibility serum giving its patient near-invincible powers.


Potentially Offensive Material
Well…at least Hollow Man is better than Showgirls but unfortunately, it is still pandering. Keeping in mind that since this is a Paul Verhoeven film—for crying out loud, he directed Basic Instinct—you are guaranteed plenty of sordidness. However, this time, I felt that he crossed the line one too many times. The most obvious example is the infamous rape scene—where Cane molests a woman (played by Rhona Mitra, the original Lara Croft model). Much of the controversy stemmed from this rape scene, but if you ask me, what I found just as upsetting was what happened afterwards. Never again does the rape victim appear. We never find out how emotionally scarred she felt. Instead, we jump to a conversation between the invisible Caine and a fellow scientist. The fellow scientist asks Caine about what it is like to be invisible and how it gives him the freedom to live out his sexually charged fantasies. Cane brings about the aforementioned girl he “scared a little” and said, “I like it.”

It seems that this is a pathetic attempt at making light of a serious event, and indeed this is filmmaking at its lowest common denominator. Some may think this is Verhoeven’s subtle attempt at satire, but I think this scene is rather inane and fruitless. What is Paul Verhoeven trying to prove here by not showing the consequences of rape on both the victim and the victimizer?


Other Reasons Why I Hate This Movie
The arduously slow pacing does not help make my viewing experience any better. This is one of those incidents where you have to slap yourself constantly as a reminder to stay awake during the movie. For those of you looking for mayhem, you will have to wait till the last third of the movie when the blood truly starts flowing.

Yes, there is humor in this movie but it is absolutely corny, rife with weak sex jokes. One such example is Caine talking about a horny Superman having sex with Wonder Woman. Another involves a rotund guy looking at a Penthouse magazine and ogling at a picture of a voluptuous woman. Has Paul Verhoeven really sunk this low? (Okay, I take that back, Showgirls was his nadir.)

The acting is nothing special. Kevin Bacon hams it up as usual as Sebastian Caine. This is probably his best performance since his role as Chip Diller in Animal House. Elisabeth Shue’s character acts a little more—I hate to use this word but I have to—“ditzy” than I expected. Josh Brolin is simply unmemorable though give him credit for trying to remain dignified especially when he has to be on-screen with Kevin Bacon.


In Conclusion...
Like its title would suggest, Hollow Man is indeed a hollow and empty movie. Sure, the film looks very slick, but content wise, it is not any better than its lower-budgeted counterparts such as The Invisible Maniac (also a film about a smart invisible pervert). If you like blood and female breasts, then knock yourself out. If you are looking for an intelligent sci-fi flick, I pity you for even thinking about this movie.

Too bad all of the wonderful state-of-the-art special effects cannot salvage a movie that is mired by a sub-par script, a dismal plot, and unrealized potential. Bummer, credit the filmmakers for squandering Hollow Man’s $95 million budget—and guys, let’s remember this important lesson: special effects are not a proper substitute for substance.

Recommended:
No

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: None of the Above
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age