Movie Review: You Should See "The Invisible Man" (or Try To, Anyway)

It’s a vision.

Wanna see a magic trick? Because writer-director Leigh Whannell, screenwriter of Saw, has evolved into a proper illusionist with his old school yet radical retelling of The Invisible Man.

He turns empty spaces into caverns of horror, as our heroine Cecilia (Elisabeth Moss) peers down corridors, wondering if she’s truly home alone, or if her maybe-see-through ex Adrian (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) is standing right in front of her. Cinematographer Stefan Duscio’s lingering camera forces the viewer to investigate the frame, actively seeking something to scare us: a footprint, an indentation, a breath of air, anything. We too begin to wonder, just like Cecilia, if there really is an Invisible Man in this movie at all. Whannell is basically gaslighting us, and we’re loving it.

Over the years—and through countless adaptations—audiences have been invited to revel in the crimes of author H.G. Wells’ Invisible Man, allowing us to ponder how we would put the power to use. Whannell’s version acknowledges just how skeevy invisibility would make everyone, and more than Paul Verhoeven’s exceptionally voyeuristic Hollow Man it puts us on the sympathetic side of the victim while also being deliciously nasty and thrilling. And still, it’s a better a 'believe women' parable than the hokey Black Christmas. Turns out you can have your cake and eat it.

It begins with Cecilia (everyone calls her Cee, geddit?) escaping from the sterile, fortress-like home of Adrian, an innovator in the field of "optics", following years of his psychological and physical abuse. Ferried out by her sister Alice (Harriet Dyer) and now hiding in the house of friend James (Aldis Hodge) and his daughter Sydney (Storm Reid), Cecilia soon learns Adrian took his own life. She’s awarded millions of dollars as part of his last will and testament, which she can keep so long as she’s not ruled to be "mentally incompetent". Sounds easy enough. That is, until she starts suspecting Adrian of faking his death and stalking her while somehow remaining completely invisible.

Like pulling a rabbit out of the hat, Whannell has remarkably yanked a fun film out of the wreckage of the Dark Universe. You may remember Universal Studios’ recent failed attempted at a shared cinematic saga featuring Dracula, The Wolfman and their undead friends, but it would be fine if you didn’t, since it began and instantly died with Tom Cruise’s The Mummy and was only ever otherwise documented by this photo. Johnny Depp was slated to star as the Invisible Man then, though The Mummy’s flopping has spared us from that sight (or rather, non-sight). What we have instead is a compact, ingenious and thoroughly unexpected take from Whannell, fresh from his novel and grisly Upgrade, which also had a lot of sterile fortresses, now that I think of it. Most excitingly, it asks you to see the original story through fresh eyes. Or rather, not-see it. (This is going to get confusing.)

Moss’ performance as the haunted, tormented Cecilia sells the concept, which involves her having to be terrified of unoccupied chairs, look bemused at floating knives, and, a couple of times, fight air. Amazingly, it works. Whannell also wowed with his fights in Upgrade, and here, he demonstrates similar ingenuity with a few showcase action sequences I wouldn’t dare spoil. To think this would become his calling card, when his career started with people sawing their own legs off.

And of course, let’s give a shout out to the sound designers, taken for granted so often, and then proven utterly essential when filmmakers have little else to hang their hats on. I particularly liked how the "sound" of the suspected Invisible Man is that of scurrying rats (for reasons that later become apparent). With a simple sonic flourish, Whannell and his collaborators convey the toxicity of the abusive ex, the psychological anguish of his disbelieved victim, and the terror of something unpleasant yet unseen. The Invisible Man is full of these small wonders.

4/5

The Invisible Man arrives in Australian cinemas 27 February 2020. It’s rated MA15+ for strong themes and violence.