8/6/2000
Hollow Man stars Steve Altes as Dad, Kevin Bacon as Sebastian Caine, Josh Brolin as Matt Kensington, Kim Dickens as Sarah, Greg Grunberg as Carter Abby, Mary Jo Randle as Janice, Elisabeth Shue as Linda Foster, and Joey Slotnick as Frank.
Hollow Man is the nth remake of the Invisible Man. That makes it very predictable. The story isn't anything that we haven't seen in movies before. However, the special effects are so good that you can't wait to see what Hollywood will do next. This film is about special effects and not the story.
Hollow Man is the story of a gifted ego maniac, Sebastian Caine, that is working on a (drum roll please) government funded project to make people invisible. That was not the hard part it seems that the real difficult part is to bring them back. Once the team successfully brings an ape back, Sebastian Caine tells the government committee that he needs more time so that he can try the serum himself. His colleagues Linda and Matt go along with the deception because they are part of another deception, they are lovers. This is the subplot to this film as Sebastian and Linda were a previous item.
Meanwhile, back at the secret underground lab, Sebastian is injected with the serum and becomes invisible. The plan is to wait three days and return him to being visible. The return does not work. At first Sebastian is content, but then as all mad scientists, he goes mad and feels like a lab rat locked in the lab. He escapes using the oldest anti-security camera trick in movies, the replay. (Please Hollywood Give us something else!) At first he is very subtle with his power, but then he realizes he must kill everyone. Then we have the Terror in the Confined Space or as I like to call them Corridor Films. Of course, good triumphs over evil! We also have the very predictable, who gets it first in the lab.
I liked this film as entertainment and special effects, the plot is so predictable I hope they actually hire someone with a fresh idea to make the sequel.. Elisabeth Shue, who won me over in Adventures in Babysitting, and Kevin Bacon give good performances, as do all the cast.
I give it 3 out of 5 Electromagnets: