“Hollow Man” is large in scale, heavy in taste, and has a mediocre reputation; the remake of “The Invisible Man” was a big success!
“The Invisible Man” is a novel written by British science fiction master Herbert George Wells. It has been published for more than 120 years. The work has also been adapted into movies and TV series many times.
Among these film and television works, the more famous one is the movie “Hollow Man” 20 years ago, which was directed by Paul Van Hoeven and starred in Kevin Bacon, Elizabeth Sue, Josh Brolin and others.
“Hollow Man” has a strange taste. It is a large-scale and heavy-tasting B-level evil film with a collection of blood and vulgarity. It is also expensive to produce. The film budget is as high as 95 million US dollars (even at the current exchange rate The exchange rate is nearly 700 million yuan), which caused a huge sensation when the movie was released.
However, “Hollow Man” has a mediocre reputation. Douban has only 6.7 points, which is not a success.
Repeated defeats and repeated battles will always succeed! No, at the end of February 2020, the film “The Invisible Man” produced by Universal Pictures of the United States was very successful.
It can be said that it is my favorite recent thriller movie, and it is also the only excellent demonstration work among many movies reshot in recent years.
Although the film “The Invisible Man” is also adapted from the story again, it has brilliantly integrated modern social issues and atmosphere into the story, making it a masterpiece among many remakes.
Although the setting of the whole plot is very simple, the movie has successfully produced a frightening effect for the audience.
The opening of the film is straightforward, telling the story of the heroine Cecilia (Elizabeth Moss) escaping from the hero (her boyfriend, played by Oliver Jason-Cohen)’s big house, and almost the whole story of the movie is around The simple setting of the heroine to escape from the hero.
In the movie, apart from seeing the male protagonist chasing after the female protagonist and breaking the glass of the car at the beginning, we have never seen how the male protagonist treated the female protagonist before, how to use power, violence and fear to control the female protagonist’s life. .
Our cognition of the male protagonist is basically based on the description of the female protagonist.
After that, we learned from the character that the male protagonist had committed suicide. Although he has not shown himself in most of the movie, we can see him clearly in the ending, but he can continue to make the audience feel. To invisible fear.
Since we haven’t seen how he abused the hostess, nor have we seen him appear in real form, why do we fear him?
As mentioned above, our cognition of the male protagonist is basically based on the description of the female protagonist, and our fear of him is also due to the reaction of the female protagonist.
Since the male lead rarely shows up, there is basically only one lead in the whole movie, and Elizabeth Moss, who plays the lead, has become the focus of the movie.
From the beginning of the movie, Elizabeth Moss played the heroine’s panic. She was scared in almost every scene in the movie, worried that the hero would appear nearby.
After learning of the death of the male lead, she had finally let go of her guard, and Elizabeth Moss’ expression was less tense.
But it didn’t take long before she discovered that the male protagonist seemed to entangle and hurt her with an invisible body. She couldn’t detect his existence at all, and even talked about counterattack. Her fear was stronger than before.
The movie is close to the issues of the real society and the general climate, injecting a unique perspective into this story.
The most terrible thing is that the heroine cannot prove the existence of the hero to others, so he cannot let others understand this fear. As a result, what she said and her mental state were questioned by other characters.
Seeing this, the audience may also question whether the “invisible man” really exists? Is the story told by the heroine reliable, or is she simply insane?
Don’t such propositions have appeared from time to time in Hollywood’s violence and sex scandals in recent years?
These incidents have usually taken place for some time, and there is almost no objective evidence to prove that all the allegations rely on the testimony of the victim, and many outsiders question these allegations.
Hollywood has had many remakes in recent years, and this movie is one of them.
We have seen similar stories before in “Hollow Man”, but the film is close to the issues of the real society and the general climate, injecting a unique perspective into this story.
After a few years, we may be able to recall the real social situation of this era through this movie.
In the movie, no one would believe what the heroine said and the existence of “invisible people.” The heroine was even accused of being a murderer and locked up in a mental hospital.
But she finally proved the existence of the “invisible man” to the outside world with wisdom and patience, but when he was discovered, he was not the male lead.
However, she still believes that the male protagonist is behind some things. Since she can’t prove to the outside world and can’t convince others, she can only end this matter in her own way.
Will the heroine eventually become an evil person?
In the last scene of the movie, the hostess smiled when she walked out of the big house. It reminded me of the last movie “Upgrade” by director Ray Warnall. The same smile appeared in the last scene of that movie, both of them. It symbolizes that the character has gained freedom.
However, it is an evil character who is free in “Upgrade”. Does this mean that the heroine of the movie will eventually become an evil person?
The female protagonist lives in the haze throughout the movie, and she fears being hurt by the male protagonist every day.
In the ending, the heroine used the only way to get rid of this fear, and gained true freedom, thus showing this smile.
At the same time, the heroine has also gained invisibility and can do things that others can’t imagine. The way she uses the tool will determine the character’s good and evil.
In the real world, victims of domestic violence and sexual violence continue to try to criminalize the perpetrator through legal means. If they succeed in bringing the perpetrator to legal punishment or imprisonment, they may be able to have a little comfort.
However, if they cannot convict the perpetrator, they can only endure it silently. This kind of invisible fear and harm is beyond imagination.
If they choose to get rid of this pain in their own way like the heroine, how should we treat it?
The film production team is good at using the male lead’s invisible ability to create a disturbing atmosphere.
In addition to the wonderful performance of Elizabeth Moss, the film also uses wonderful photography techniques and sound effects to create invisible fear.
The horror of the movie lies in the invisibility of the male lead, and the production team is also good at using this feature to create a disturbing atmosphere.
They used steady pan and empty cameras to take pictures of empty environments, allowing the audience to guess whether the “invisible man” is nearby and pay attention to his actions.
This makes the audience, like the heroine, very tight most of the time.
The movie’s stunts are also amazing. In one scene, the heroine fights with the “invisible man” in the living room. Although we can’t see the “invisible man” in action, we can also see through the images. The scene is not long. , But the stunts are almost seamless.
On the other hand, the movie started with a big wave in the opening scene, making some external sounds particularly loud, so that the audience and the heroine would be frightened by these sudden sounds.
Also scary is the art design of the “Invisible Man”. It has a black body and no facial features. It looks like a humanoid monster, and it is composed of countless shots, close to the development of real technology, which is very suitable for this story.
The film remakes a story that everyone may already be familiar with, but adds some unique perspectives of this era.
Even if this story is remade several years later, everyone will remember the 2020 version of this movie.
