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Hollow Man

Hollow Man

List Price: $14.95
Your Price: $13.46
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Sweet Special F/X
Review: OK...I'm sorry to say, but the cast in this film is a little too far fetched. The story was a good idea, but the film was excuted with shear stupidity. There are too many mishaps in this film that are too hard to believe. But...the special f/x make up for a lot of it. If you want to see a movie that is middle of the road, but has great special f/x...check this one out. If not, then just leave it alone.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: A Waste of Time
Review: Picture the group represented in the film "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" in charge of a super-secret Pentagon project to discover the formula to render life forms invisible, and you have an idea how this film develops. With great special effects and a great story idea, this could have been a sci-fi thriller. Instead we are given a group of college frat kids dressed like the local junior high crowd and using the language of a Marine drill instructor. And what do these kid scientists do while working on their project? Drool over centerfold models, curse at each other in senseless tirades, peek at female associates while they use the bathroom, window peep through the female neighbor's window and later rape her, expose a female associate's breast while she sleeps, etc... etc... As another reviewer wrote; what has happened to the writers? Surely, this film was made for those teenagers who possess infantile minds. Hey, aren't they the ones moviemakers want to attract? Totally absurd, I certainly don't recommend it. It is insulting to anyone with half a brain.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Makes "Showgirls" look like "Goodfellas"
Review: Note: This review contains minor spoilers, though there isn't much to spoil, plus you'll be doing yourself a huge favor if you read the review instead of seeing the movie.

I don't think I've ever rushed this fast to give something a bad review. Most of the other reviews say it all...but I desperately *need* to write down how bad this movie is and hopefully purge it from my system. You know, I don't ask for the impossible when I sit down to watch a movie. All I really want from a movie, at minimum, is to be entertained or to escape for 90 minutes or so. The movie started out OK but after the gorilla scene, and the two other invisible transformation scenes, it really went downhill. And got worse.

Oh yeah, in case you haven't seen the trailer, or read a review, the plot is: a group of scientists is working on an invisibility formula, for the government. The leader of the project is smart, but an arrogant jerk. He 'meddles with mother nature' (a no-no in a scary movie) and deliberately deceives people who trust him (again, another mistake) so the formula can be tested on him as the first human. You'll never guess what happens then: things go horribly wrong! People turn to murder! Disaster strikes! You waste 2 hours of your time and a rental fee because you could have just watched the trailer, which gave the whole plot away anyway!

I had low expectations for this movie-all I wanted was for something to surprise me, or there to be a special effect or shock that made me watch the scene/moment again a couple times. Or at least want to. For instance, "Deep Blue Sea" was stupid and mainly lame, but at least had that one big surprise (you know the one I mean-I won't give it away like someone did to me before I saw it). Nope.

I didn't find any of the characters likable. Sorry, but I don't have too much respect for any character in a horror/thriller movie that does any of the following: 1. walks backward when they know they are in danger 2. turns their back on someone dangerous that they've conked/injured and strolls casually away without checking to see if they've really been incapacitated 3. immediately separates when they first realize they are in an isolated area being stalked by someone or 4. says something to the effect of "well, I'm glad *that's* over" when things obviously aren't-and if you've seen even one other scary movie, everyone knows this is always a precursor to the villain/monster immediately swooping down on them again or lunging into frame. This movie has ALL of the above-which I could overlook if the movie was at least slightly entertaining (Bruce Campbell in any of the Evil Dead movies usually does all of the above, but makes it fun to watch, to name just one example).

Also-and I see by the other reviews that I'm not alone here- I get really insulted when, especially on top of all the other crud, a villain conveniently becomes indestructible in the last half hour or so with no explanation. About every possible debilitating injury happens to him and it doesn't seem to slow him down. All that was missing was him being shot and the bullets bouncing off him.

I expected there to be one interesting or memorable concept, especially since (I thought at the time) the movie had such meticulous attention to detail and seemed to take a very high-tech, scientific approach to the story. The trailers and background info on the making of this film, plus how long it took in post-production, gave me that impression. The reviews gave it more credit than it had. I was at first slightly interested in the fact that an invisible character couldn't close their eyes, because they had transparent eyelids. I never thought of that! Hmmm, maybe they came up with some other cool twists. No. That's about as inventive as it gets, and the only new idea they came up with. (then, that got shot all to hell, because about 1 minute later it occurred to me that the person could wear a sleep mask, or go in a completely blacked-out room). An invisible gorilla graphically re-materializing, layer by layer? OK, that hasn't been done before, at least not that I know of, but that's maybe 30 seconds that are slightly interesting. Let's face it, you thinking "hey, good CGI" occasionally is not enough to build a good movie on- in fact, it's a pretty sad statement when that's all you can say about a movie.

I would run out of room if I listed even half the continuity errors. Just look at the goofs page on the IMDB. Now, I'm the type of person who people have to point out continuity errors to before I notice them. Here I noticed ones I didn't even LOOK for. What happened? Did they run out of time? Money? The studio rushed them? What's really depressing is someone probably noticed, but they either were too lacy to care or figured the audience would be so impressed with the CGI that their IQs would drop about 50 points and they'd miss it. Not to beat a dead horse, but if the movie had a character that was interesting, or if any scenes surprised me, or entertained me, I could overlook it being stupid and built around some 'ground-breaking' CGI. Yes, I know what a 'popcorn movie/turn off your brain movie' is, where you just sit back and enjoy the mindless ride. Starship Troopers, Total Recall, Scary Movie- *those* are popcorn movies. It's also not a camp/so bad it's good type movie. Showgirls, Mommy Dearest, Glen or Glenda- those are ones you can sit and make fun of with your friends. No, instead The Hollow Man is just a waste of everyone's time and money, and that's putting it in way more polite terms than I want to.

I would only recommend this if you are a CGI/FX junkie, if you thought "Speed 2" and "The Klumps" were deep, insightful masterpieces of cinema history and you didn't understand why everyone said anything bad about them, or if you really have the hots for Kevin Bacon (though skip the 'becoming invisible' scene, among others, if you don't want to get completely turned off). Interesting premise that goes absolutely nowhere. You have been warned!!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: this is a good movie
Review: i've seen this movie the day it opened and i thought it was alright but not that good. after the dvd came out and i thought well let's give it try and i bought it. after i've watched the dvd i really started to like the movie. to everyone who didn't see it. give it a try. it's definetly worth the few bucks.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Great potential, big let-down.
Review: When I first saw this box and saw the trailers, I thought "Wow, looks pretty good." I made the mistake of buying it. This is by far one of the lamest movies ever. Almost no depth is given to the characters, the acting is out and out horrible (one woman has no facial expressions throughout the movie, no matter what line she spouts), and really bad logistics kill what could have been a pretty decent movie. While performing this experiment (on a human) they have NO M.D.s. The emotionless one gets blood for a trasfusion from a room filled with... human blood? In an experiment done mostly on animals, where would they get the proper blood? And how'd she know the guy's blood type? She's transfusing pig blood? And yet another hole; a man is stabbed with a crow bar. A (supposed) doctor pulls out the crow bar (first mistake), sticks her fingers in for no reason, takes them out, and patches up the deep wound with (get this) DUCT TAPE. And after that, the guy's good as new! This last bit is somewhat of a spoiler, so DO NOT read it if you intend to watch this horrible flick. The "hollow man" was set ablaze (walk off OK), beaten with a crowbar (falls down), and electrocuted (falls down again) and he didn't die. He was only killed after he was thrown into an exxageratingly large nitro explosion. The plot and efects to this movie were excellent, but the logistics needed some thinking through, and the acting needed serious touch-ups. Rent this movie for laughs. Doubles as a "Using duct tape as a medical supply" instructional.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good.
Review: The Hollow Man has a solid story, until the end. It is about a driven, egotistical scientist who is developing the power to make animals invisible for the military. Invisibility is easy, it appears. Making animals reappear seems to be the trick. Still, early in the movie, even this trick seems be solved. The other trick left - applying this new science to people.

The project leader, played by Kevin Bacon, volunteers to be tested. This isn't your mother's Bacon. That is, in the past, Kevin Bacon often played a sweet boy next door roles like "He said, She said." and many others. Recently he, (Bacon) has been portraying a darker side of humanity. In "Wild Things" he was an evil police officer. Here he is actually worse.

Before he becomes invisible, his character already has "issues." The process of becoming invisible seems to makes him worse. (It does badly affect some of the animals.) His companions and co-workers, concerned about him and the project, try to put some controls on him. They don't work. Eventually they attempt to report him to the military supervisors, when his character finally goes bezerk.

From this point on, "Hollow Man" has a similar feels to Alien, but not as good, as Kevin's character hunts down each scientist in the underground research complex. For a while, this movie seemed like it was distinguishing itself by the smart characters within in it as each person comes up with different, but effective, ways to find an invisible person.

Unfortunately, "Hollow Man" slips considerably in the end with a series of endings which go on and on and become less and less believable. Had they ending this movie 20 minutes earlier, it may have become a cult classic. As it is, "Hollow Man" is still worth seeing, but it will probably disappoint you at the end. Still, it is worth renting and seeing, but I wouldn't advise buying the video or DVD. It was average.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Great special effects, weak plot.
Review: Hollow man is definitely eye candy, but it changes from suspenseful at the beginning to a slasher-type film at the end. It's good for horror movie fans, but matrix fans may only appreciate the dazzling special effects it has to offer. It's an OK DVD, I guess.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Disappointing invisible man 'thriller'
Review: Hollow Man

Score: 45/100

This is basically a double episode of the TV show The Invisible Man. There is not much else to be said, except how lacking this film is in both a horrific and dramatic atmosphere. No, wait! I forgot all the other bad things about Hollow Man! Oh, well, I might as well put them into a review. Here goes!

A group of scientists, led by the brilliant yet eccentric twinkle-addicted Sebastian Caine (Kevin Bacon), are successfully researching invisibility. Having accomplished making animals invisible, Caine insists on being the next subject for the experiment. Unfortunately, the serum effects not only the external physical nature of the subject, but morphs the internal personality too. And that's when things start to go horribly wrong...

And that is also where the script and lots of other things start to go wrong in the film. Hollow Man starts promisingly, with a shocking opening scene and a thrilling gorilla chase, but it quickly puts itself down and starts to be overly-silly, using a whole bunch of original ideas to try and keep the audiences entertained, while all we're doing in our seats is yawning and trying to keep our eyes open as much as possible. The performances are awful, Elisabeth Shue is just so terrifyingly horrid in her role that she deserves a big, fat Razzie, and a gigantic knife in the back. Kevin Bacon overacts stupidly, and turns what could've been a chilling performance into one big joke. The characters Shue, Bacon and all their co-star's play are far from likeable, and Paul Verhoeven's direction effort isn't plausible, it seemed like all he was waiting for was the fake-looking and typical CGI ending we see in crappy blockbusters just like this ones.

Not exactly the worst film of 2000, but this is far from been anything but a wannabe and completely pointless invisible man 'thriller.'

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good flick...not great!
Review: Love Kevin Bacon when he is despicable! An interesting premise, told in a non-stop fashion with great special effects. Plot and characterization are a little shallow, but still an entertaining thriller!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Waste of a rental fee
Review: This is probably the worst movie I have ever seen, and I have been known to enjoy some pretty bad movies. I wanted to turn it off, but for some reason, I just kept watching. Afterwards, I was so mad that I wasted my time and money on this piece of c***. I am seriously embarrassed for the people involved in making this movie. It just kept getting worse. There is a post below that mentions the ridiculous elevator scene. I just kept thinking "How stupid do they think we are?" I know it's tempting, but please, for your sake, resist the urge to buy or rent this.


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