2000’s ‘Hollow Man’ was the film that drove Paul Verhoeven away from the film business for six years for him only to return to his Dutch roots with last year’s ‘Black Book’.
A visually inspired mess that was supposedly butchered outside of Verhoeven’s control, we now arrive at the ‘Director’s Cut’ that improves little on the ‘hollow’ script.
Never a prolific filmmaker, Verhoeven only made six films in Hollywood – ‘Robocop’, ‘Total Recall’, ‘Basic Instinct’, ‘Showgirls’, ‘Starship Troopers’ and ‘Hollow Man’ – where all except one share a common thread: a little bit of that ‘ol ultra-violence (and it could be argued that ‘Showgirls’ was more damaging than any of them). Going back to his original Dutch films like ‘Spetters’ and ‘The 4th Man’ and including ‘Black Book’, Verhoeven loves his violence, almost as much as he loves his sleaze. That he’s managed to take those sensibilities to make some highly entertaining pics is to his credit.
But with great love for the low-brow comes great responsibility – and a few times, he hasn’t been able to shoulder that responsibility. ‘Showgirls’ as entertaining as it is, will always be known as one of the worst films of the past twenty years – impressive only in its ability to miscalculate at every possible step. I know there are ardent haters of ‘Starship Troopers’ out there but I’m actually a big fan and thought Verhoeven knew exactly what he was doing with that film.
‘Hollow Man’, however, while not as ridiculous as ‘Showgirls’ is just a plain misstep. Not horrible but not effective on any level either aside from the Oscar-nominated special effects that in all honesty should have won against ‘Gladiator’ – mediocre special f/x in a great film, oh the irony.
To be fair, most of the blame falls on Andrew W. Marlowe’s script, as Verhoeven and the cast seem to do what they can with the material. Also giving us the vapid ‘End of Days’, Marlowe’s next project is the comic book adaptation ‘Nick Fury’. Remind me to be worried when that comes out. Obviously a play on H.G. Wells ‘The Invisible Man’, the film develops at first into a possibly intriguing morality play but quickly devolves into standard slasher film clichés – pulp trash but without the fun.
The story is as simplistic as it gets. We meet hot-shot ego-fueled Sebastian Caine (Kevin Bacon), a mastermind scientist working on a top-secret government funded formula for invisibility in an underground facility in the shadow of the White House. A crack in his arrogant veneer starts to show when his genius can’t wrap around the idea of a formula that makes the body visible again (apparently, the formula for making somebody invisible is all too easy, who knew?) And dammitt, that frustration combined with his inability to sneak a peek at his gorgeous neighbor as she closes the drapes at just the right, or wrong, time almost proves too much.
Yet, sudden inspiration hits and he meets his lab team back at the facility for a test on lab ape, Isabelle. His primary assistants include Linda (Elisabeth Shue), his ex girlfriend who is now involved with the other assistant Matthew (Josh Brolin) – a little secret kept away from the jealous, macho swagger of Sebastian. Also on the tight-knit team is animal-loving vet Sarah (Kim Dickens), nerdy Carter (Greg Grunberg) and background fillers Frank and Janice.
Outstanding, intense visual effects enter the pic when Isabelle is subjected to the new serum to make her visible again. With a nasty subtext that will remind some of the classic animated tale ‘The Plague Dogs’, animal experimentation in labs got a new unsettling high. Crisis is averted however and apparently the serum works. News that the team is excited to reveal to the military big wigs yet Sebastian has other plans.
Taking it upon himself to declare to the military that the serum is close but not quite a success, Sebastian convinces the team to keep this within their little group for the next phase – human experimentation. In a sequence that might be worth the watch alone, Sebastian volunteers as the guinea pig and has the team inject him with the serum. In a marvel of special effects that still hold up seven years later, Caine’s body slowly disappears layer by layer where he finally becomes completely invisible.
It’s at this point that the film quickly tumbles into a freefall that it never recovers from. Apparently the serum that made Isabelle visible isn’t quite there yet for humans so Sebastian is stuck being invisible. Committed to staying in the lab, he slowly becomes eager to use his new found powers and escapes the compound. Evil all along it seems, Sebastian unbelievably resorts to bad deeds right off the bat – not just hijinks but acts that a person would always need to be capable of, not just if said person was invisible.
For reasons unexplained, Sebastian returns to the lab, where upon learning what Linda and Matthew are up to, trap the team in the underground lair where he becomes a psychotic murderer that would make Mike Myers shy away. Some of the scene set-ups work quite well but the dialogue is so overtrumped that the whole thing becomes an exercise in soap opera-like theatrics. When Shue, in all seriousness, arms herself with a dart gun and declares to Matthew “We’re gonna take him down!,” try not to roll your eyes.
One other bright spot aside from the visual mastery is Jerry Goldsmith’s accomplished score. Haunting and lush, his score in combination with opening credits promises a much better flick. Also, the 8-minute difference between the theatrical cut and the director’s cut would be hard to spot for most as it shows a bit more violence and aftermath.
The rape sequence is the obvious example where we get to see the final result – a malicious scene capper that was clipped from the R-rated cut. This version would be the version to go for if given the choice as the brutality lingers a bit more here. That being said, those 8-minutes fix none of the flaws that dampened the theatrical cut.
The film is presented in a 1.85:1 widescreen aspect ratio and is enhanced for widescreen television. 3 of the special features from the older special edition release of ‘Hollow Man’ are included: the ‘HBO Making of’, ‘Fleshing out the Hollow Man’, 15 featurettes that run about 40 minutes total and give a nice, comprehensive look at the pic and ‘VFX Picture in Picture Comparisons’. Quite a bit is left out from the older version though including an entertaining audio commentary by Verhoeven so for those looking to update, be mindful of that.
The visual effects would warrant a viewing for most as does a cool concept that curiously has not been taken advantage of in the past 70 years (let’s see, we get ‘Hollow Man’ and Carpenter’s ‘Memoirs of an Invisible Man’…ouch) but the script is horrid - another typically insipid approach to an otherwise ambitious concept.
Hollow Man (Director's Cut) is now available at Amazon and AmazonUK . Visit the DVD database for more information.
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