Review: The Invisible Man (2020)
The Invisible Man, directed by Leigh Whannel, tells the tale of Cecilia Kass (Elizabeth Moss), a woman who escapes an abusive relationship with rich scientist Adrian Griffin (Oliver Jackson-Cohen). But when Griffin suddenly commits suicide shortly after Cecilia escapes, Cecilia doubts that her abusive ex is really gone. Soon enough Cecilia finds herself haunted and preyed upon by something, or someONE, she cannot see.
This is a re-imagining of the classic Universal Monster, which itself was based off the novel of the same name by H.G. Welles. The writer/director Leigh Whannel previously wrote most of the Saw and Insidious films and last wrote and directed Upgrade, which was a pretty clever horror film conceptually. Whannel brings that same level of uniqueness to this re-imagining of the Invisible Man character and I have to give him props for that. That being said, the actual film’s execution is not quite as good as its concept.
The original story of The Invisible Man is a fascinating character study, telling a story of a man who wants to reverse his genius but goes mad in the process. This version of the character ditches the character study in favor of a more typical “abusive boyfriend turned stalker” villain for a post #MeToo era. While that made this Invisible Man ultimately less interesting, the film was at least able to make up for its lack of depth with a great feeling of dread throughout the film with even a hint of psychological horror thrown in.
A lot of the shots in the film is cleverly set up to give the impression of an invisible man standing in frame. The audio design of the film is nuanced enough where you’ll find yourself listening for any invisible footsteps or breathing in the scene. Some of the creepiness factor is done pretty well, albeit with one too many jump-scares (because Blumhouse), the performances were well done all around especially from Elizabeth Moss, and some of the action is pretty inventive for a horror film.
While on a technical level this film is pretty well made compared to most conventional horror films, the writing and story is where this film loses me a bit. There were a lot of hokey dialogue scattered throughout the film; a lot of the lines coming out of these great actors sound kinda dumb and is pretty laughable at times. The film also drones on for too long with a lot of pointless scenes. Clocking in at two hours, this film is packed with scenes that never end, especially in the last third. Speaking of the last third, it was awful. There’s a shocking twist in the film that I won’t spoil here but it not only raises a lot of questions concerning some characters’ logic but also makes the film stupidly more complicated than it really needs to be.
Overall this film was a mixed bag to me. On one hand it’s a unique modern take on an iconic movie monster, but on the other hand it’s also a typical Blumhouse horror film with buttloads of cheap jump-scares and dumb moments. People who like horror films that’s made a little better than your average conventional horror film with a sprinkle of feminism tossed in will enjoy this movie just fine. People who were spoiled with art-house psychological horror films such as the ones that come out from A24 will be left feeling disappointed at this film’s surface level attempt at that genre. Personally there’s plenty to appreciate but ultimately not a whole lot to see here.
Final Verdict: 5/10