The Invisible Man (2020)
91% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 275 reviews)
Runtime: 124 minutes
Directed by: Leigh Whannell
Starring: Elisabeth Moss, Aldis Hodge, Storm Reid, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Harriet Dyer
From: Universal/Blumhouse
A review delayed because of... food poisoning!
Sunday evening I saw this film at an AMC; as I had a giftcard, getting the flatbread pizza-which I had ordered before-seemed like an OK idea. Unfortunately, because of that pizza I experienced what may be the worst case of food poisoning I've ever had... please don't ask for the gory details as to why. It was a restless Sunday night so all day Monday was spent recovering and while I am not 100% now, at least this review can be done, even if it won't be as comprehensive as I could do under better health. All the positive buzz and me thinking that the director's last movie-Upgrade-was pretty awesome meant that this seemed like the obvious thing to view.
Beforehand it appeared as if the trailers gave too much away; while some footage there wasn't in the final product, I wish a great scare which got a great reaction from the crowd wasn't in all the advertisements. All that said, the opening made me realize I was in good hands. With a great score and nothing being said for minutes, the lead (to borrow a phrase, Elisabeth Moss always looks as if she is constantly stressed, making her a great choice for this role alone, which doesn't even consider the fantastic job she did in the role) escaping her abusive uber-rich jerk boyfriend was a great scene, and there are other tremendous moments I dare not spoil here. I recently mentioned the term gaslighting and how it's unfortunately common in these modern times. Well, our heroine is gaslighted in a rather horrific way.
There are a few “hey, wait a minute now...” moments that have nothing to do with someone being invisible or how it is pulled off. That will be excused-at least by me-when the movie as a whole was so well-done between the music, the entire cast being solid, characters I cared for & had sympathy towards, the cinematography creating suspense as you don't know if the camera is pointing at nothing or if something unseen is present. Personally, I say that there is at least one moment where “an unreliable narrator” may be part of the plot. Plus, the way the story wrapped up...
I do not love this like I do Upgrade... that is no slight as Leigh Whannell and Blumhouse found a way to update an extremely old movie and make it modern by addressing the real life horrors of stalking, abusive relationships & fears of modern technology. I am thankful that with the approximately 500 movies or so a year that Blumhouse releases, I got to see one theatrically that is well worth checking out.
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