The Invisible Man (2020): Worth Seeing

Another reason why I’m glad Universal’s Dark Universe (aka, “re-imagining” their monster properties) crashed harder than Windows CE. Their 1999 take on The Mummy was still good. It didn’t need Tom Cruise repeating his Mission: Impossible crap and then meeting Mr. Hyde to set up another craptacular film like Justice League. There were plans to piss away the GDP of Belize to have Johnny Depp lead before they remade this iconic HG Wells tale with Elisabeth Moss for a fraction while getting ten times the fright.

Instead of the story focusing on a person gaining invisibility and it leading them to go insane and/or prove they do immoral acts; Cecilia is the focus as a woman in an abusive marriage. During the first act, you see her executing her plan to escape. It’s pretty thorough: a duffel bag with her passport, cash, etc. To be super safe, Cecilia then hides out at a police man’s house (I guess a friend of a friend) because the abuser knows all about her family, and he’s rich. The horrors Adrian inflicted are so traumatic, she still won’t go to the front door after two weeks. Then Cecilia’s sister drops by to give the news. Adrian committed suicide, the nightmare is over.

After a few days, Cecilia begins to sense a presence yet no one believes her nor can she produce evidence despite Adrian being a world-renowned expert on optics. It seems to be implied that he was researching the means to improve stealth tech and/or being invisible to the naked eye, cameras, proximity sensors, etc.

Is Cecilia right or is she delusional from the PTSD Adrian’s obsession to control every aspect of her life?

At this point, see the movie  to find out! Given these trying times, pay the money to download it or wait for theaters to re-open. Definitely put it on your watch list on the first streaming service to carry it. I totally enjoyed this take on 100-year-old story. Invisible mixes the #metoo zeitgeist of today and gets your heart racing.

Alamo Extras: Mainly trailers for different iterations of The Invisible Man; the original UK version, Memoirs of an Invisible Man starring the unfunny Chevy Chase ; Abbott & Costello meeting him; a direct-to-video adventures of The Invisible Mom comedy (very Eighties or Ninties, all bad); commercials featuring the Invisible Man such as underwear and Scotch Tape; lastly, a short-lived 1982 sitcom involving an Invisible Woman with Bob Denver as her friend applying gallons of foundation to make her tangible.

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