The Invisible Man (2020) Review

 

The Invisible Man (2020)

Apologies for the super long radio science, been very busy. But finally carved out some time to go see this flick and I’ll tell you what, it could be the best film of the year and it’s only March.  I went into this with pretty high expectations and usually I get let down, but this far surpassed those expectations and truly blew me away. I’ll get into it all, but I just wanted to start by saying that this movie has 3 main reasons for why it is so so good: camerawork, story, and directing/effects. It’s the perfect storm of checked boxes that created an instant favorite for me.

Directed by Leigh Whannell, who did Upgrade, Saw, and Insidious, this film centers on Cecilia after she escapes her abusive relationship with Adrian, a leader in optic technology. After Adrian’s “death” though, Cecilia is haunted by something she cannot see—the invisible man.

Moving right into it, Elizabeth Moss is amazing in this. I’ve never actually seen her in anything before, so this was an amazing first impression on her acting ability. She is able to convey SO MANY emotions here and you really root for her this entire film. Overall, the acting was all very top notch actually.

Technically, this is my kind of film. As a director and cameraman myself, this film blew me away.  Instead of previous incarnations where they go out of their way to show that he/she is there, this movie does it subtly with camera movements and blocking. They’ll pan to or show an empty part of the room as a way of saying “Yes, he’s there”. It’s such a superb way of using the camera to tell a story, on top of the story, which was phenomenal.

Whannell took a classic and turned it into a film for the modern age without over-doing it, which is a common issue with remakes. This felt fresh and completely new, making the two’s relationship that of an abuser-abusee. She can’t seem to escape him or what he did, even after his death and that fuels this entire film through every twist and turn (literally). The story was well-grounded in reality, making it not a genetic thing, but a suit, whose effects were unbelievable by the way. Terrific use of CGI. Highly recommend.

9/10