HOLLOW MAN

"It's surprising what you can get away with"

Sebastian Caine (Bacon) and his team are on verge of creating a formula that could transform science forever. The formula makes living organisms invisible and the team has just perfected the serum that will make it visible again. When the test on a gorilla works perfectly, Sebastian decides to try the formula on himself but while the invisibility one works on him, the one to transform him back doesn't. As Linda McKay (Shue) and the rest of the team try and make the formula work, Sebastian starts to realise that he can go place and discover things that he never could when people could see him and he doesn't like what if discovers.

When it comes to visual effects driven, science fiction stories director Paul Verhoeven enjoys pushing the bar up as far it as can go but can he do the same with an invisible man?

Paul Verhoeven directed three of the best science fiction movies of the last twenty years, 'Robocop', 'Total Recall' and 'Starship Trooper' and at the turn of the new millennium he returned to the sci-fi genre and added a little horror in the mix with 'Hollow Man'. As always Verhoeven pushes the genre to its very limits but then throws his other favourite genre into the mix, sexual drama.

Invisible men stories have intrigued cinemagoers since the beginning of moving pictures but this is a very modern retelling of that classic tale. Employing state of the art visual effects, now instead of the man just simply disappearing before your eyes the lead character disappears in layers, from his skin, through his muscles, veins and arteries and finally seeing the skeleton itself Transforming from a driven scientist into a psychotic madman with a God complex, Kevin Bacon's Sebastian disappear into invisibility. This is a visually stunning visual effects spectacle and one that makes the film truly memorable but it is when Kevin Bacon's Sebastian Caine becomes invisible that the film really comes alive.

Caine is a truly impressive villain. Paranoid and desperate to keep his own work, he turns on the people who could take his formula away from him leading to murder. When an invisible man is doing the killing however, the murders becoming a lot more inventive and will have you on the edge of your seat. Taking place in an underground laboratory and with some murderous trips to the surface to inflict his punishment, director Paul Verhoeven keeps the tension high throughout.

The performances from the cast keep the tension high. With no real star names, anyone could fall at the hands of the invisible man but you still have a slight inkling as to who will survive in the end. Elizabeth Shue and Josh Brolin make a good pair of heroic protagonist against the hollow man's murderous rampage. There are also decent turns from William Devane, Greg Grunberg, Kim Dickens and Joey Slotnick. It is Kevin Bacon's show however and he revels in role of the murderous, psychotic Sebastian Caine. Giving in his all to the part, especially when he is playing the part while covered in the visual effects suits needed to bring the character to life, Bacon proves he is a character actor with some skill and this is a role that will be one of this best of a good career.

'Hollow Man' is a fascinating modern day take on the invisible man mythos that has been given the Verhoeven twist. With jaw dropping visual effects and good performances from the cast, this is another great piece of science fiction from Paul Verhoeven.

PICTURE & SOUND

The Blu-Ray disc presents the movie in High Definition wide screen 1:85 up to 1080p, with Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround sound.

BONUS FEATURES

Hollow Man: Anatomy of a thriller (15.04 mins/Standard Definition)
Director Paul Verhoeven, screenwriter Andrew Marlowe, producers Douglas Wick and Alan Marshall, visual effects supervisor Scott Anderson and stars Kevin Bacon, Elizabeth Shue, Josh Brolin, Mary Randle, Joey Slotnick and Greg Grunberg talk about bringing an invisible man into the new millennium. With behind the scenes footage and insight into how the visual effects were approached.

Fleshing out the Hollow Man (40.39 mins/Standard Definition)
Director Paul Verhoeven, screenwriter Andrew Marlowe, producers Douglas Wick and Alan Marshall, visual effects supervisors Scott Anderson and Craig Hayes, director of photography Jost Vacano, editor Matt Goldbalt, production designer Allan Cameron and stars Kevin Bacon, Elizabeth Shue, Josh Brolin, Mary Randle, Joey Slotnick and Greg Grunberg appear in a collection of featurettes entitled 'Paul Verhoeven: Hollywood's Mad Scientist', 'The Invisibility Formula', 'The Muscle Man', 'Thermal imaging', 'The Smoke Guy', 'The Gorilla Suit', 'The Mask', 'Flaming Sebastian', 'Elevator Finale', 'Ape reversion storyboard', 'The Underground Lab', 'Reversion Progressions', 'Invisibility progressions' and 'Digital body parts montage'.

VFX Picture Comparison (4.18 mins/Standard Definition)
View comparison between what was actually shot onset and the finished footage for 'Karmer's death', 'Sprinklers attack' and 'Sebastian's demise'

Trailer
A preview of 'Ghost Rider'

OVERALL

The Blu-Ray treatment of 'Hollow Man' is a little disappointing. While the film is presented superbly in glorious 1080p High Definition, the featurettes are a little lack lustre with no modern reflections on the film. Fans will be disappointed with the bonus features but the film has never looked better.

Blu-Ray

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