Seeing Is Believing?

At one point or another, we've all seen an "Invisible Man movie." Maybe it's the black and white classic, or the schlocky Kevin Bacon vehicle Hollow Man. It's all just an excuse to showcase whatever visual effects are cutting edge for the time, right? Hardly essential viewing?

Well that's certainly what I thought about 2020's "The Invisible Man," and why I didn't go out of my way to see it in the theater back in February. (Had I known then I wouldn't be going to the theater for anything for the rest of the year, maybe the calculation would have been different?) But I caught up with the movie recently at home, and was pleasantly (modestly) surprised.

Yes, this new version of The Invisible Man is a showcase for visual effects -- and they are incredibly well done. But what's more interesting is the psychological component to the way this story was put together. This movie revolves around Cecilia, a traumatized woman escaping from an abusive relationship with a mad inventor. The story almost feels only incidentally about whatever scientific breakthroughs her ex Adrian may have invented. It's much more about the emotional damage Cecilia carries with her now. This is part of a top to bottom effort to ground the movie more in reality -- and a modern reality at that. It's a "believe women" take on this tale, and more compelling than just another tale of tinkering with serums.

This wouldn't work as well as it does if they didn't have Elisabeth Moss in the lead role. She is excellent generally, and excellent here as Cecilia. Her trauma feels raw and real... but neither is she a shrinking violet; she is very much in charge of this narrative. It's exceptionally rare for a performer to receive award recognition for a horror movie, but Moss would deserve it here. She gives this movie her all, and it works because of it.

But it's hardly flawless. For one thing, the movie is exceptionally slow to get going. The script almost flirts with the idea that maybe everything really is all in Cecilia's head, to such a degree that I almost wish the movie did even more to make us the audience question that. And if it wasn't going to commit to something that daring, then I wish it had spent time showing us more of the man she's escaping from. (He's "invisible" from the movie even before he's "the invisible man.")

Eventually, though, the story does arrive at the movie it wants to be, and the movies it might have been fall away. There are good moments of tension, good jumps that don't feel too cheap, and solid characterizations along the way. No, it's not the best movie I've seen in a while. Not even the best horror movie. But it's not bad.

I'd give The Invisible Man a B. Maybe that's mostly Elisabeth Moss, but that doesn't make it any less entertaining. And if you like thrillers, you'll probably like this one reasonably well.