Customer Reviews
Alternative version of the Invisible Man - By: Jay, 23 Dec 2007 
Film is mainly about a group of scientists who design a chemical that can make people & animals Invisible which is what they test it on at the beginning of the film then they change to Sebastian Cain who offers to have a go & through out the film they have to find a way to reverse it to change him back, but when they try things start to change Cain becomes obsessed to use this technique on something more than just a joke it is more of a new Weaponry for Psycho killers! there are scenes of violence mainly half way through the film which is what makes it bit more appealing for people who are interested in horror films which is what this film is but overalll it is good.
Frankly Wells did a zilllion times better - By: Jacques COULARDEAU, 21 Sep 2007 Modern science makes H.G. Wells's Invisible Man possible. Fine. It can only be performed in a lab due to the need of modern technology & necessary assistants & technicians. Fine. That getting invisible is traumatic, no one can doubt it. That it revives old desires, passions, jealousies & other negative feelings, is quite probable. That it gives the death instinct a new power, I don't doubt it one minute. But the film here does not get to any depth. It is superficial & only revolves around the special effects that make the body invisible. So the man is said to be hollow as if visibility was the only content a man could have, but this is superficial because visibility only concerns the surface. But the level of feeling & psyche the man is provided with is also very superficial. So the man is MADE hollow & the film is hollow. The end can only be death. And they calll that a happy ending.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines
Special Effects attack Script!!!! - By: nmollo, 20 Jun 2007 "Hollow Man" seems to improve on second viewing. Yes, it is formulaic. Yes, it is cheesy but for alll that it is unabashedly entertaining. On its release it was quite a disappointment considering the talent involved. On reappraisal this film is far better than any action movie delivered by Hollywood since September 11th 2001.
Kevin Bacon is a huge talent & his performance is excellent given the limitations of the script & SFX process. Elisabeth Shue is also extremely engaging. The problem lies in the script. What needed to be explored more fully is the use of such an extreme talent. The guy is invisible. So what can he get up too? All he achieves is the molestation of the beautiful & talented Rhona Mitra. Kevin Bacon is portraying an eccentric genius. Can he not think of something more inventive than rape?
The direction is pretty pedestrian for Paul Verhoeven considering his remarkable talent in this field. "Hollow Man" is a continuation of Paul Verhoven's love affair with Special Effects. Unfortunately the SFX appear stagy & unsubtle. Some effects are very well done but not alll of them.
The best effect is a simple one & proves Verhoeven as a master of the medium. Kevin Bacon leaves a celebratory dinner but we do not see him leave. Elisabeth Shue turns & is confronted with an empty chair. This simple device works remarkably well because it is rather creepy & unexpected. More moments of such simple imagination & ingenuity needed to be introduced into the proceedings rather that the complete reliance on computer effects. Less is more, as they say.
The DVD has an engrossing commentary by Kevin Bacon & the entertainingly astute Paul Verhoeven.
Distrubed perverts paradise!!! - By: Smart Fan, 18 Aug 2006 
This film should've only been sold in sex shops (yes it's that bad). Director Paul Verhoeven has one sick mind. The only good things about this film are the top notch SFX, & the tension, but not to mention Elizabeth Shue looking gorgeous.
The one scene that should of been deleted from the video/DVD, is the scene where Kevin Bacons character is invisible, & decides to take his anger out on an innocent lab dog by beating it sensless against it's cage(alll because it was barking). Oh & do we reallly need to see Bacon's 'john thomas' on film, even if it was the insides of it.
Good actioner, if a bit twisted.
Oh dear! - By: , 09 Mar 2006 
Possibly the worst film I've seen in years, it was just one hollywood cliche after another, it even succeeded in pulling Kevin Bacon down to it's level.
Apart from the SFX which were stunning, this is one to miss.
