Hollow Man - Invisible Danger

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Movie
German title Hollow Man - Invisible Danger
Original title Hollow Man
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 2000
length 108 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Paul Verhoeven
script Gary Scott Thompson ,
Andrew W. Marlowe
production Douglas Wick ,
Alan Marshall
music Jerry Goldsmith
camera Jost Vacano
cut Mark Goldblatt
occupation

Hollow Man - Invisible danger is an American science fiction - thriller from director Paul Verhoeven . The main roles are played by Kevin Bacon , Elisabeth Shue and Josh Brolin . The story of the film is loosely based on the novel The Invisible Man by HG Wells . The film opened in German cinemas on October 12, 2000.

action

Sebastian Caine is a brilliant and egocentric scientist who works with a small team to make living beings invisible by means of phase shifting . The first tests he is doing on animals are promising. In the end, they even succeed in making a “phase-shifted” gorilla visible again. They are hiding this result from the United States Department of Defense (Dr. Howard Kramer), on whose behalf the team works, for fear of the project being withdrawn.

Sebastian claims that he is close to the decisive breakthrough and that he only needs a little more time. He tests the serum on himself and actually becomes invisible. Everyone on the team is thrilled until they realize they are unable to make it visible again. Caine stays in the lab for the time being, wears a latex mask to be seen, and becomes increasingly paranoid and hostile. One night Caine takes a first walk. He sneaks unnoticed into his pretty neighbor's apartment. At first he just scares her, but eventually becomes violent and rapes her.

When Linda and Matt inform the Secretary of Defense of the failed experiment, Sebastian strikes back with the most brutal means. First he drowns Dr. Howard Kramer in his swimming pool, then he strangles a member of staff, locks the rest of the five-person team in the underground research facility and begins killing the others too. The previous employees are inferior to the invisible despite thermal goggles and pistols in combat. The last thing he does is lock Linda and the injured Matt in a cryogenic laboratory. Linda applies laboratory tape to Matt's abdominal wound, then at the last minute - the temperature has already fallen below -40 ° C and her tears have started to freeze - she loosens the steel bolt on the outside of the door with an electromagnet made from a defibrillator. Meanwhile, Caine is preparing the destruction of the entire laboratory complex using a two-component liquid explosive (glycerine + nitrating acid: nitroglycerine ) in a centrifuge with a timer that cannot be stopped after it has started. He wears the latex mask, visible clothing, sunglasses and cap. Just as he is about to escape via the elevator, Linda attacks him with a makeshift flamethrower and burns him. Caine is able to escape, she triggers the sprinkler system, and he becomes visible as a shadow. In another fight, Matt pushes him into a control box. The current flows through the wet Sebastian, muscles, organs, bones and teeth become visible again. Only skin, hair and all connective tissue remain invisible. When Matt and Linda flee up the emergency ladder in the elevator shaft, they escape the explosion, but the partially visible Sebastian attacks Linda and falls with her onto the roof of the elevator that has fallen down and is trapped in the shaft. There he wants to kiss her one last time. Here Linda kicks off the last connection, the plug of the thick power cable of the elevator. She holds on to the cable, Sebastian crashes with the cabin into the sea of ​​flames.

Reviews

The film was panned by most critics because of its superficial plot and lack of depth of characters , it grossed about $ 190 million at a production cost of $ 95 million. Director Verhoeven then retired from the director's chair for several years.

“Horror thriller by Dutch director Paul Verhoeven, whereby the story is less based on James Whale's Invisible Man of the 1930s than on the Jekyll & Hyde theme of the Mad Scientist, who is becoming more and more of a beast. If it weren't for the usual, trashy 'with a knife in my back I'm a long way from going home' ending, this would be a film worth seeing, which skillfully plays with topics such as the responsibility of science and the loss of morality. This leaves a visually impressive genre film that unfortunately loses its profundity due to its audience appeal. "

- prism

“A film based only superficially on H. G. Wells' The Invisible Man , which, after a series of brilliant trick effects, slips into a tasteless story of jealousy and murder. Their drastic as well as repetitive patterns of action take on dramatic dimensions due to the excellent film music. "

- Lexicon of international film

annotation

Depending on the cut of the film, the rape of the neighbor is not clearly recognizable. In the TV version, the screaming woman is only thrown onto the bed.

What is particularly noticeable in the film is the attempt to convey a realistic explanation for becoming invisible. Hollow Man is one of the few films in which only people, but not their clothes, are made invisible. As a result, the animals are only ever anatomically restored - muscle by muscle, vein by vein. However, the injected substance, which causes a “phase shift” in the molecules and thus invisibility, also affects those parts of the body that are only slightly or not at all affected by the metabolism (tooth enamel, hair). Ingested food also gradually becomes invisible; other objects with which the invisible parts of the body come into contact are not affected.

Awards (selection)

The film's effects won the 2001 Saturn Award and received an Oscar nomination.

continuation

In mid-2005, Sony Pictures announced Hollow Man 2 . The script for this sequel was written by Joel Soisson and directed by the Swiss director Claudio Fäh . The soundtrack was recorded in Munich in 2006. The film was a direct-to-DVD production and was released in 2006. Christian Slater plays the leading role .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Certificate of Release for Hollow Man - Invisible Danger - Director's Cut . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , October 2007 (PDF; test number: 85 592 DVD).
  2. ↑ See boxofficemojo.com
  3. ↑ See prisma.de
  4. ↑ Hollow Man - Invisible Danger. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used