HOLLOW MAN

Kevin Bacon 

HOLLOW MAN (2000). Director: Paul Verhoeven. 

Brilliant scientist Sebastian Caine (Kevin Bacon) leads a team working on developing invisibility for military purposes. Caine takes the plunge and decides to inject himself with the formula, but a man who was already a bit of a conscienceless egomaniac turns into a dangerous and violent megalomaniac when attempts to make him visible again fail. In a nod to H. G. Wells' classic novel The Invisible Man, Caine goes on a reign of terror, trapping the other scientists in their underground bunker and taking after them one by one. Will anyone be left alive when the dust clears?

Elisabeth Shue

Hollow Man received some criticism because it follows a tried and true path instead of treading new territory in its treatment of invisibility. But on its own terms the movie works beautifully as a modern retelling of Wells' tale and as a thriller with many exciting scenes --especially a breathless climax in an elevator shaft -- along with superb special effects showing animals and humans disappearing as muscles, organs and bones, the covering flesh vanishing, are gradually revealed. The movie has a fast pace and nary a dull moment. 

Dickens, Brolin, Shue, Grunberg, Slotnick

Bacon gives an excellent and energetic performance, and is matched by a feisty Elisabeth Shue as a co-worker who used to be his lover. Josh Brolin, Kim Dickens, Greg Grunberg, Joey Slotnick and Mary Randle are also good as the other members of the team, and William Devane scores in a small role as another scientist overseeing the project from afar. Some of the characters are a bit cold-blooded and there are questionable scenes regarding some of Sebastian's sleazy actions. However, this is a very entertaining  and well-made picture with stunning and Oscar-nominated FX work, Nice score by Jerry Goldsmith, too. The 2020 film The Invisible Man was another notable Wells-influenced thriller. 

Verdict: Visibly exciting thriller. ***. 

GONE GIRL

Rosamund Pike and Ben Affleck

GONE GIRL (2014). Director: David Fincher.

A not terribly concerned Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) goes to the police when his wife, Amy (Rosamund Pike), disappears. His twin sister, Margo (Carrie Coon,) who seems to care for her brother a little too much, doesn't like Amy and remarks that whoever took her will probably want to bring her back. While the police repeatedly question Nick, and Amy's very controlled parents appeal to her kidnapper -- or murderer -- on television, Nancy Grace-type Ellen Abbott (Missi Pyle) stirs the pot regarding Nick's involvement. But what's really going on here ...? Gone Girl -- some might say tastelessly inspired by all the recent cases of men accused of murdering their wives -- does have some interesting aspects and characters which help disguise the fact that it's actually a fairly routine thriller that becomes increasingly implausible as it progresses. To maintain its twists it simply ignores forensics, logic, and indeed reality, and it has an ending that is one of the sheer dumbest that I've ever seen. Affleck is terribly adequate as Nick and nothing more. Pike is a bit better, but the movie is nearly stolen by Neil Patrick Harris in his turn as an ill-fated suitor of Amy's who has his own personal demons. The main plot twist in this is nothing new. There are some decent supporting performances by Tyler Perry as a lawyer, Kim Dickens as a detective, and Carrie Coon as Nick's sister, among others. Gone Girl is entertaining for much of its length but then it pretty much goes to shit.

Verdict: You've got to be kidding me! **.