WARNING: This Review May Contain Spoilers
I’m not going to hide it, I don’t know what it is, but I absolutely love the original Hollow Man film with Kevin Bacon. What I didn’t know until now, is that they made a second film 6 years later as well as a third. Of course, typical me when I love a film, I’m pretty sceptical about what follows, whether that be a sequel or a remake so let’s see if I was right to be…
Use of Visual Effects
The one thing you can never say about the first film is that it looks cheap! The reappearance of Isabelle the gorilla early in the film, stage by stage from veins to muscles to full re-emergence, looks amazing! Sebastian’s disappearance – even better, almost disturbing at first. Considering that Griffin is invisible from the opening scene which film?, I didn’t expect that we would actually see his transition in the same way as Sebastian’s in the first film. In a way I was right, as this does feature as more of a flashback meaning we don’t focus on him as much as we do both Sebastian and Isabelle. Even his reversal is barely shown. I don’t know if this is because it was a “straight-to-video” film and they had to be careful what they showed but it’s not like the original was gruesome.
What I did like, is that in both films, when our invisible characters are in pouring rain or caught under a sprinkler, the effect looks exactly the same, making the fight between Turner and Griffin look brilliant. Not that it lasts very long.
Involvement of the Military
Now, this is the place you would assume the films would be connected, considering we see Sebastian Caine and his team pitching the invisibility serum to the military at the Pentagon in the film and that our lead character in the sequel, played by Christian Slater, is a soldier. Now, the natural assumption is that the military got the serum from Sebatian and his team in the first film, considering that this is supposed to be a sequel after all, but there seems to be no mention of them and the army are using a completely different team of scientists. The best explanation they can give is by referencing the original team as a failed experiment and that there are only two scientists alive after the rest had been murdered.
Film Atmosphere
There’s simply something about the first film; I don’t know if it’s the music making certain scenes feel more sinister or the fact that they are genuinely as dark as they seem. Especially considering it looks like Sebastian rapes his neighbour whilst invisible! however,se, this film was made as a science fiction horror film in the first place whereas the sequel seems to try and hit the same tone with the opening music, however it weirdly comes across a little bit “superhero”. The sequel also a lot more fast-paced, seeming to leave no room for suspense like its predecessor.
A Difference in Motive
I wanted to discuss the difference between the two lead characters and their own decision regarding the invisibility serum however I feel like their motives are much more important. It pretty clear, from the opening scene of the sequel, that Griffin is trying to get hold of the antidote, doing whatever he can to get hold of it and save himself, whereas Sebastian turns on his colleagues because he had succumbed to the power that being invisible had given him. The only scene that didn’t really seem to fit with Griffin’s motive is that of him creeping around while the two teenagers were making a rather salacious video. Actually, it doesn’t seem to have any bearing on the film whatsoever. You assume from the following scene that he was hiding out there but it’s all a little bit weird.
In Conclusion
I realise this article seems really short but there really isn’t too much to say. I think if the second film had been made as an actual stand-alone instead of a sequel it probably would have felt like a better film. Other than a vague reference, there’s no real question to the original Hollow Man film so it doesn’t really make too much sense for them to be watched together. You can easily watch them separately and think that the quick clip of Kevin Bacon was just him stepping in to do the flashback.
