I'm just going to come right out and say it. The Invisible Man is a horror masterpiece, and it cements director/writer Leigh Whannell as one of the best, most exciting filmmakers in the genre today. It's the best movie of the year so far (granted, that's not saying too much right now, but it still counts for something), and there's a good chance it'll stay that way.
When I first heard about this movie, I was a bit surprised. While I love the original Invisible Man, and I knew Universal Studios was still trying to find a way to successfully reboot its classic monsters, I wasn't expecting them to reboot this particular one just yet. But I'm really happy that they did because they found the perfect way to update this classic character and bring him into the 21st century.
This one is about a woman named Cecilia who leaves her abusive boyfriend Adrian in the middle of the night, and she lives in fear of him for two weeks until she finds out that he killed himself. She thinks she's finally free of the mental and emotional hold he had on her, but she couldn't be more wrong. Pretty soon, weird things start happening, and at first the movie feels almost like another entry in the Paranormal Activity franchise. Eventually, Cecilia figures out that Adrian faked his death, found a way to make himself invisible, and is stalking her. From there, things get more and more intense, as the invisible man makes everyone think Cecilia is going crazy, and he does some pretty terrible things while making it look like she was the culprit.
On the surface, that may sound silly, and in the hands of a lesser director, it probably would be. But Leigh Whannell handles the story perfectly, milking the concept for all its worth without ever letting it become a self-parody. He keeps the creepiness and tension high throughout the entire movie, as you never know where the invisible man might be. He can strike at any time, and the movie hammers this home with an ingenious use of camera angles. There are times when you look at Cecilia and her friends from weird angles that let you know you're seeing them through Adrian's unseen eyes, and there are even times when the camera focuses on seemingly empty parts of the room, letting you know that Adrian is there even though you can't see him.
But The Invisible Man isn't just camera tricks and scares. Leigh Whannell also found a way to make the titular character more culturally relevant than I ever thought he could be. The movie is clearly a metaphor for abusive relationships, a timeless issue that unfortunately never goes away, but it also hones in on an element of this problem that is uniquely modern. Nobody believes Cecilia that her supposedly dead boyfriend is actually alive and invisible, and only recently has society come to realize the pain we cause when we dismiss women's claims of abuse.
In typical horror fashion, this movie takes that idea and amplifies it so the point is impossible to miss. The worst part about Cecilia's ordeal isn't Adrian's mind games; it's the fact that nobody believes her. Everybody thinks she's losing her grip on reality, and that causes both her friends and her relatives to cut her off and leave her to face her tormentor alone. I've never experienced that kind of abuse and mistreatment myself, but I imagine that what Cecilia feels in this movie must be exactly what real-life women feel in these kinds of situations. It's heartbreaking to watch, but it's important that we see it because it gives us a glimpse of just how much pain we cause when we nonchalantly dismiss women's allegations of abuse.
In particular, this metaphorical element works so well because of Elisabeth Moss's performance as Cecilia. While the acting is good all around, she's the clear standout here, and she makes you believe that she's really going through this psychological torture. Her performance is phenomenal, allowing you to really feel her pain and get a glimpse of what it's like not just for her character but for all women in similar situations.
As I said before, this movie is a masterpiece, but that doesn't mean it's perfect. In my opinion, it has two main flaws. First, some of the events in the movie rely a bit too heavily on "movie logic." For example, Cecilia figures out what's going on a bit too easily. While the movie tries its best to make you think this is a reasonable inference on her part, a moment's reflection on the absurdity of the whole idea of an invisible man is enough to make us realize that no matter how well it might fit with what we know of Adrian, it's just too much of a leap to get it right on the first guess. There are a few other things like that as well, but these are admittedly more nitpicks than genuine problems.
Secondly, and much more importantly, the final scene stumbles quite a bit. I don't want to spoil anything, but the filmmakers made a big narrative decision that doesn't fit with the rest of the movie. I see what they were going for thematically, and I appreciate the effort, but in my opinion it just doesn't work. I can't say anything else without spoiling it, so suffice it to say that this was a pretty big misstep. But it was the only real misstep of this movie, and since the rest of it is so good, I'm willing to forgive the ending and still consider the movie a masterpiece of the genre.
So if you're a fan of horror but you didn't get a chance to see The Invisible Man when it was in theaters, definitely check it out now that it's available on home video and online rental platforms. It's one of the best horror films I've seen in years. Hell, even if you're not a fan of horror, I'd still say you should check it out. This is one of those movies that can transcend the genre and appeal to people who aren't normally horror fans. It's just a great movie in general, so unless you're absolutely opposed to anything creepy or suspenseful, you don't want to miss out on this one.
Friday, June 26, 2020
Friday, June 5, 2020
Catch-Up Review: Underwater
I made things a bit difficult for myself by deciding to finally start this blog during a pandemic. One of the things I want to do with it is review new horror movies when they come out, but aside from a few VOD releases, it looks like we won't be getting anything new for a while. Luckily, I was able to see a few good movies before the theaters shut down, so while this dearth of new films continues, I'm going to be doing some catch-up reviews of movies that came out earlier this year.
Our first catch-up review is for Underwater, a movie that came out quietly in January without much fanfare or buzz. Admittedly, when I first heard about this film, I was skeptical. For one, its release month didn't inspire much confidence. January is usually a month when studios dump all their bad movies, so I thought this one would be just another January dump. Secondly, this movie is rated PG-13, and anything other than an R rating is often (but not always) a bad sign for horror movies. And finally, the trailers didn't look that impressive. They made it seem like just another generic monster movie.
But when I went to the theater and saw it, I was pleasantly surprised. While Underwater isn't a great film, and it's probably never going to be a beloved classic, it's a nice little monster movie. It's about a deep-sea drilling station that's destroyed by an earthquake, and the survivors have to find a way to get to safety. The escape pods have already been deployed, so their only hope for survival is to walk more than a mile on the ocean floor to the next station. On the way there, they have to deal with both the pressure of seven miles of water above them (if their suits crack even a little bit, they die instantly) and some mysterious monsters that mankind has never encountered before.
If you think that sounds a bit generic, you're not wrong. It's not the most original premise in the world, and the movie doesn't pretend it is. However, it's executed really well, and that makes up for the lack of originality. From the very first minute, the characters are under constant pressure (no pun intended) to survive in tense and very dangerous conditions. Even in moments of levity or relative safety, there's always a chance that things might go south in an instant and kill them all, and that unrelenting tension is what drives the movie. It keeps you on the edge of your seat the entire time, wondering what's going to happen next and what new dangers may be lurking just beyond the range of visibility in the murky waters.
The best part of all this is definitely the monsters, as the film strikes a good balance between showing them on-screen and hinting at their presence in other ways (like strange noises whose source you can't see). You see them enough to satisfy your hunger for monster mayhem, but the movie avoids the mistake of showing them so much that they lose their mystique. The creature designs are also pretty cool, so when they're on-screen, they're a delight to watch.
All that being said, the movie does have its flaws. Since the pressure is on from the very first minute, you don't get to know any of the characters before the action starts. Rather, you get to know them as the movie goes on, and unfortunately, that doesn't work too well. The film spends so much time on tension and suspense that it forgets to give the characters any real substance. It does the absolute bare minimum of character development, and it's just passable enough that it doesn't ruin the movie.
At about an hour and a half, the film is short enough that they could've easily added in an extra fifteen or twenty minutes to flesh these characters out and let us connect with them, and I really wish they had. While the movie does a great job of showing the danger they're in, you don't really care what happens to them. You can appreciate the suspense and enjoy it for what it is, but you don't feel a personal connection to anybody in the movie. Because of that, as good as this film is, it would've been a lot better if they had given the characters more substance. Things like tension, suspense, and danger always work better when you care about the characters, so the filmmakers really missed out on an opportunity to take their movie to the next level. While it's still a good film, its lack of character development keeps it from reaching its full potential and being more than just a fun ride with monsters.
Before we end, I have to make special mention of the last fifteen (or so) minutes. I don't want to spoil anything, so I'll just say that something pretty cool happens that makes everything that came before it even better. It made me want to immediately watch it again and see the whole movie through the lens of those last fifteen minutes, and while I didn't find the movie drastically different the second time, I did enjoy it a bit more.
So all in all, if you're a fan of monster movies, I would definitely recommend that you check out Underwater if you didn't see it in theaters. It's not the greatest monster movie ever, and it's not going to win any Oscars or change the course of movie history, but it's a fun little creature feature that does what a film of this kind should do. It has a ton of suspense and tension that will keep your eyes fixed on the screen, and it features some cool monsters that you're going to want to see again after the credits roll.
Our first catch-up review is for Underwater, a movie that came out quietly in January without much fanfare or buzz. Admittedly, when I first heard about this film, I was skeptical. For one, its release month didn't inspire much confidence. January is usually a month when studios dump all their bad movies, so I thought this one would be just another January dump. Secondly, this movie is rated PG-13, and anything other than an R rating is often (but not always) a bad sign for horror movies. And finally, the trailers didn't look that impressive. They made it seem like just another generic monster movie.
But when I went to the theater and saw it, I was pleasantly surprised. While Underwater isn't a great film, and it's probably never going to be a beloved classic, it's a nice little monster movie. It's about a deep-sea drilling station that's destroyed by an earthquake, and the survivors have to find a way to get to safety. The escape pods have already been deployed, so their only hope for survival is to walk more than a mile on the ocean floor to the next station. On the way there, they have to deal with both the pressure of seven miles of water above them (if their suits crack even a little bit, they die instantly) and some mysterious monsters that mankind has never encountered before.
If you think that sounds a bit generic, you're not wrong. It's not the most original premise in the world, and the movie doesn't pretend it is. However, it's executed really well, and that makes up for the lack of originality. From the very first minute, the characters are under constant pressure (no pun intended) to survive in tense and very dangerous conditions. Even in moments of levity or relative safety, there's always a chance that things might go south in an instant and kill them all, and that unrelenting tension is what drives the movie. It keeps you on the edge of your seat the entire time, wondering what's going to happen next and what new dangers may be lurking just beyond the range of visibility in the murky waters.
The best part of all this is definitely the monsters, as the film strikes a good balance between showing them on-screen and hinting at their presence in other ways (like strange noises whose source you can't see). You see them enough to satisfy your hunger for monster mayhem, but the movie avoids the mistake of showing them so much that they lose their mystique. The creature designs are also pretty cool, so when they're on-screen, they're a delight to watch.
All that being said, the movie does have its flaws. Since the pressure is on from the very first minute, you don't get to know any of the characters before the action starts. Rather, you get to know them as the movie goes on, and unfortunately, that doesn't work too well. The film spends so much time on tension and suspense that it forgets to give the characters any real substance. It does the absolute bare minimum of character development, and it's just passable enough that it doesn't ruin the movie.
At about an hour and a half, the film is short enough that they could've easily added in an extra fifteen or twenty minutes to flesh these characters out and let us connect with them, and I really wish they had. While the movie does a great job of showing the danger they're in, you don't really care what happens to them. You can appreciate the suspense and enjoy it for what it is, but you don't feel a personal connection to anybody in the movie. Because of that, as good as this film is, it would've been a lot better if they had given the characters more substance. Things like tension, suspense, and danger always work better when you care about the characters, so the filmmakers really missed out on an opportunity to take their movie to the next level. While it's still a good film, its lack of character development keeps it from reaching its full potential and being more than just a fun ride with monsters.
Before we end, I have to make special mention of the last fifteen (or so) minutes. I don't want to spoil anything, so I'll just say that something pretty cool happens that makes everything that came before it even better. It made me want to immediately watch it again and see the whole movie through the lens of those last fifteen minutes, and while I didn't find the movie drastically different the second time, I did enjoy it a bit more.
So all in all, if you're a fan of monster movies, I would definitely recommend that you check out Underwater if you didn't see it in theaters. It's not the greatest monster movie ever, and it's not going to win any Oscars or change the course of movie history, but it's a fun little creature feature that does what a film of this kind should do. It has a ton of suspense and tension that will keep your eyes fixed on the screen, and it features some cool monsters that you're going to want to see again after the credits roll.
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