Why "Hollow man"? That's what you may rightfully ask before seeing the film or, say, reading H. G. Wells' novel "The Invisible Man". Both deal with discovering a way to become invisible, transparent. Both deal with how this can eventually transform a person into a monster. The film does not claim to be an adaptation of that novel, though. It is set in a different time and does not deal with a genius secretly making dangerous breakthroughs in science. It deals with a group of scientists headed by a genius and controlled by the government. The visuals of the film are brilliant. And they do explain the title of the film.
The main character, Kevin Bacon's Sebastian Caine is, from a certain moment on, invisible. But that does not go for his clothes. And when he's wearing them, he looks hollow. When he isn't wearing anything and comes in contact with smoke or water, you can see a hollow human form. The shape is there but it's like there's nothing inside it. Again, the film looks amazing. And it's not just the VFX. It's the cinematography in general. The lights, the colors, the picture looks great. Director Paul Verhoeven, I hear, would say this movie wasn't really his because there wasn't much he specifically could do with it. It's like any other competent director could have handled the material. Verhoeven is known for the stories he tells in "RoboCop", "Total Recall" and "Starship Troopers'', of course. But compare Verhoeven's "Hollow Man" to the "The Invisible Man'' released around 2020. The older one has more color to it and does not try to "look dark". Jost Vacano was the director of photography working with Verhoeven then. They don't shoot pictures the way they used to, do they? And not every invisibility related movie has music by someone like Jerry Goldsmith. By the way, that new "Invisible Man" movie isn't an H. G. Wells adaptation either.
2000's "Hollow Man'' looks and sounds great. But the story could have been better. It is simple. The main scientist goes too far and things build up to a big and bloody third act. Not that you don't get to know any of these people, not that you don't care about them, but the story could have gone in a different direction. Here is what I see as a missed opportunity.
Doctor Caine may be a brilliant scientist but he isn't a great person. He's proud, stubborn and tends to look down on others. First, animals are tested, and it's clear he does not care about them at all. But there is someone who does care about them. Kim Dickens' Sarah Kennedy is responsible for the test subjects. And you can tell from her very first scene that, one, these test subjects aren't just a job to her, she's a caring soul, and two, she has been very unhappy about how Sebastian treats them. There's a conflict here. But then Sebastian volunteers to become the first human test subject. This is what they call "Phase Three". Once the whole team learns this has been "green lit" by the government it's clear there are no more animal tests coming. Sarah should be happy. Even Sebastian understands this and he tells her that, specifically. Also, she seems enthusiastic about "Phase Three" once she knows the time has come.
Elisabeth Shue's Linda McKay used to be with Sebastian but she's now with someone else and he is alone. It's clear he does not have anything much in his life other than the science. He is a hard working genius but he is also a lonely man. And he still is unhappy about Linda no longer being there.
So, he is now the lab rat. He'll now know what it's like to be a test subject and there is a young woman whose job is taking care of them and, clearly, is more than a job to her. Sebastian and Sarah haven't been famous for getting along, only now he is going through a very hard time. And she, as a doctor, is still there. In a way, he's in her care. What if these two went from disliking one another to the opposite? She hasn't liked him because of how he looks down on test subjects but he basically is one now. And he is quite miserable. What if the hardships, instead of turning him mad, made him see things in a different way? What if her caring about him gradually made him like her? What if he was no longer unhappy with his previous love interest not being there for him? He isn't a teenager, after all, have him get over it and move on. Sarah, by the way, has no social life either, just the work, so that's what her and Sebastian have in common. This could have been very interesting.
What also could have been interesting is how Sebastian sees this whole invisibility as excitement and fun at the beginning, but then the tests and all that take their toll. What if he, eventually, grew tired of invisibility and, instead of going "crazy god mode", hated the idea instead and wanted it wiped out along with the whole data? Because it's dangerous to everyone, not just the invisible individual, but the human world in general, and nobody, no matter how well-meaning they may seem, should ever get their hands on such powers.
Doctor Caine is a brilliant scientist working for the government who has made a breakthrough. Unfortunately, he is a lonely man who has nothing much in his life except for the work he has been doing night and day. A proud man seeking greatness and tempted by the unique abilities he has discovered. Also, a woman in his team used to be his lover. She is with someone else now and Sebastian is lonely. Once "no visibility equals no evidence" starts doing bad things to his mind, he alienates from the team and becomes dangerous. He learns his previous lover is with another man from his team now and that, specifically, is why he decides to kill his entire team and live using his invisibility. His previous love interest and her new lover live but everybody else die, including Sebastian. The killings, the destruction, everything is the might of Hollywood. As for the characters, you do get to know them and you do get to feel bad when they die. But the story is primitive. I wouldn't label it good. It's the visuals and the sounds that are good or even great, the package. This is what is. Now let me share what I think could have been.
Doctor Caine is a brilliant scientist working for the government who has made a breakthrough. Unfortunately, he is a lonely man who has nothing much in his life except for the work he has been doing night and day. A proud man seeking greatness and tempted by the unique abilities he has discovered. Also, a woman in his team used to be his lover. She is with someone else now and Sebastian is lonely. Now that he is undergoing some seriously unique and dangerous experiments, he becomes a different man. He realizes that it isn't fame or powers that matter so much, it's life in general and the people around you in particular. That's where happiness could be found. Because when you dedicate all you are to some project, that project might just consume you whole, become your life and leave no place for anything. It will make you hollow. There's nothing to you anymore, just the project you're working on. When you're sick or in trouble, it's not your project you can turn to for help, it's the people around you. And Sebastian no longer looks down on the others in any way. He values them and respects them. The woman he loved is with someone else now and it is her business, not his. It's time to let go of that past and move on. Not just because it is reasonable but because there's someone else right here who could be very good for Sebastian. Apart from all else, neither him nor her have any personal life, that's what they have in common, and that's what could be a new beginning after what they've gone through with all these experiments.
And these experiments should not be. They are wrong. Nobody should ever get their hands on such power, no matter how well they seem to mean. This is where the third act could have gone Hollywood level explosive and violent, only for a different reason. Sebastian and the team could have united against the committee that controls them and who knows how that conflict could have worked. Maybe the team would use invisibility in some way because troops were sent to deal with them. Or maybe they decided to destroy the whole project. And the laboratory was pretty deep underground. Things could have been done here. Maybe they got blocked down there and ordered to come out in order to be arrested. And maybe they chose to sacrifice themselves to make sure the invisibility formula is buried for good.
The main character, Kevin Bacon's Sebastian Caine is, from a certain moment on, invisible. But that does not go for his clothes. And when he's wearing them, he looks hollow. When he isn't wearing anything and comes in contact with smoke or water, you can see a hollow human form. The shape is there but it's like there's nothing inside it. Again, the film looks amazing. And it's not just the VFX. It's the cinematography in general. The lights, the colors, the picture looks great. Director Paul Verhoeven, I hear, would say this movie wasn't really his because there wasn't much he specifically could do with it. It's like any other competent director could have handled the material. Verhoeven is known for the stories he tells in "RoboCop", "Total Recall" and "Starship Troopers'', of course. But compare Verhoeven's "Hollow Man" to the "The Invisible Man'' released around 2020. The older one has more color to it and does not try to "look dark". Jost Vacano was the director of photography working with Verhoeven then. They don't shoot pictures the way they used to, do they? And not every invisibility related movie has music by someone like Jerry Goldsmith. By the way, that new "Invisible Man" movie isn't an H. G. Wells adaptation either.
2000's "Hollow Man'' looks and sounds great. But the story could have been better. It is simple. The main scientist goes too far and things build up to a big and bloody third act. Not that you don't get to know any of these people, not that you don't care about them, but the story could have gone in a different direction. Here is what I see as a missed opportunity.
Doctor Caine may be a brilliant scientist but he isn't a great person. He's proud, stubborn and tends to look down on others. First, animals are tested, and it's clear he does not care about them at all. But there is someone who does care about them. Kim Dickens' Sarah Kennedy is responsible for the test subjects. And you can tell from her very first scene that, one, these test subjects aren't just a job to her, she's a caring soul, and two, she has been very unhappy about how Sebastian treats them. There's a conflict here. But then Sebastian volunteers to become the first human test subject. This is what they call "Phase Three". Once the whole team learns this has been "green lit" by the government it's clear there are no more animal tests coming. Sarah should be happy. Even Sebastian understands this and he tells her that, specifically. Also, she seems enthusiastic about "Phase Three" once she knows the time has come.
Elisabeth Shue's Linda McKay used to be with Sebastian but she's now with someone else and he is alone. It's clear he does not have anything much in his life other than the science. He is a hard working genius but he is also a lonely man. And he still is unhappy about Linda no longer being there.
So, he is now the lab rat. He'll now know what it's like to be a test subject and there is a young woman whose job is taking care of them and, clearly, is more than a job to her. Sebastian and Sarah haven't been famous for getting along, only now he is going through a very hard time. And she, as a doctor, is still there. In a way, he's in her care. What if these two went from disliking one another to the opposite? She hasn't liked him because of how he looks down on test subjects but he basically is one now. And he is quite miserable. What if the hardships, instead of turning him mad, made him see things in a different way? What if her caring about him gradually made him like her? What if he was no longer unhappy with his previous love interest not being there for him? He isn't a teenager, after all, have him get over it and move on. Sarah, by the way, has no social life either, just the work, so that's what her and Sebastian have in common. This could have been very interesting.
What also could have been interesting is how Sebastian sees this whole invisibility as excitement and fun at the beginning, but then the tests and all that take their toll. What if he, eventually, grew tired of invisibility and, instead of going "crazy god mode", hated the idea instead and wanted it wiped out along with the whole data? Because it's dangerous to everyone, not just the invisible individual, but the human world in general, and nobody, no matter how well-meaning they may seem, should ever get their hands on such powers.
Doctor Caine is a brilliant scientist working for the government who has made a breakthrough. Unfortunately, he is a lonely man who has nothing much in his life except for the work he has been doing night and day. A proud man seeking greatness and tempted by the unique abilities he has discovered. Also, a woman in his team used to be his lover. She is with someone else now and Sebastian is lonely. Once "no visibility equals no evidence" starts doing bad things to his mind, he alienates from the team and becomes dangerous. He learns his previous lover is with another man from his team now and that, specifically, is why he decides to kill his entire team and live using his invisibility. His previous love interest and her new lover live but everybody else die, including Sebastian. The killings, the destruction, everything is the might of Hollywood. As for the characters, you do get to know them and you do get to feel bad when they die. But the story is primitive. I wouldn't label it good. It's the visuals and the sounds that are good or even great, the package. This is what is. Now let me share what I think could have been.
Doctor Caine is a brilliant scientist working for the government who has made a breakthrough. Unfortunately, he is a lonely man who has nothing much in his life except for the work he has been doing night and day. A proud man seeking greatness and tempted by the unique abilities he has discovered. Also, a woman in his team used to be his lover. She is with someone else now and Sebastian is lonely. Now that he is undergoing some seriously unique and dangerous experiments, he becomes a different man. He realizes that it isn't fame or powers that matter so much, it's life in general and the people around you in particular. That's where happiness could be found. Because when you dedicate all you are to some project, that project might just consume you whole, become your life and leave no place for anything. It will make you hollow. There's nothing to you anymore, just the project you're working on. When you're sick or in trouble, it's not your project you can turn to for help, it's the people around you. And Sebastian no longer looks down on the others in any way. He values them and respects them. The woman he loved is with someone else now and it is her business, not his. It's time to let go of that past and move on. Not just because it is reasonable but because there's someone else right here who could be very good for Sebastian. Apart from all else, neither him nor her have any personal life, that's what they have in common, and that's what could be a new beginning after what they've gone through with all these experiments.
And these experiments should not be. They are wrong. Nobody should ever get their hands on such power, no matter how well they seem to mean. This is where the third act could have gone Hollywood level explosive and violent, only for a different reason. Sebastian and the team could have united against the committee that controls them and who knows how that conflict could have worked. Maybe the team would use invisibility in some way because troops were sent to deal with them. Or maybe they decided to destroy the whole project. And the laboratory was pretty deep underground. Things could have been done here. Maybe they got blocked down there and ordered to come out in order to be arrested. And maybe they chose to sacrifice themselves to make sure the invisibility formula is buried for good.