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Hollow Man

Hollow Man

List Price: $14.95
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This Movie Is Genius!
Review: Don't listen to any of the reviews saying this isn't any good. They don't know what they're talking about. If you liked Starship Troopers, Robocop or Total Recall you're going to love this. That simple. Kevin Bacon gives one of his best performances (he is genuinely creepy in this), and the special effects are some of the best I have ever seen maybe ever.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: yes
Review: one of the greatest horror movies made in awile the characters are disturbingly veary smart the hollow man himself is brillant i dont know why people hate the movie especiallly if your a horror buff theres naked women for men great spectacular effects errie tone and fair bloody gore and the last seconds or the endiing sucked but this is a must have movie

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Hollow Man? Hollow Movie...
Review: Paul Verhoeven directed "RoboCop" (1987), "Total Recall" (1990), and "Basic Instinct" (1992). His films all have a hard edge. "Hollow Man" has the edge. It's lacking the brains and heart of the others.

Sebastian Caine (Kevin Bacon) is a brilliant scientist in charge of a US Government-funded underground facility investigating into invisibility serums. They have the ability to turn animals invisible, but up until now there has been no way to reverse it. Now, Sebastian has found a reversal formula, and it works.

Sebastian, afraid his research will be stolen away from him, keeps all records of progress from the military. He is obsessed with power and he doesn't know what to do now that it's all over. ("It feels like the beginning of the end," he says.) And so without asking for permission from his funding, Sebastian becomes the first human to turn invisible to the naked eye - the only thing that can pick up his traces are heat goggles that look like something out of a science fiction movie. Oh, wait...

The serum starts to take a deadly turn, however, when Sebastian feels that everyone is out to get him. He is afraid his colleagues will turn him in, and so he traps them underground and starts to kill them off, one-by-one.

His fellow scientists include: Linda (Elisabeth Shue, who somehow gets top billing over Bacon), Matthew (Josh Brolin), Sarah (Kim Dickens), Carter (Greg Grunberg), and Kramer (William Devane). Linda was his ex-lover sometime in the past. Now she's going out with Matthew. Sebastian doesn't like this; it's part of what triggers his ferocious outbreak in the first place. In short, the guy goes crazy and there's nothing they can do about it except pray and hunt him down with their little goggles and stun guns.

Sebastian considers himself God. ("How many times have I told you you're not God? I am.") We can tell from the beginning that he has problems with control and superiority. The serum, which has some serious side effects like those you hear in fine print on commercials for medicine, only unleashes his darker side he tries to conceal.

And Verhoeven has a strong handle on the different phases of his personality change, unlike most films. Unforunately, whereas "RoboCop" and "Total Recall" seemed much more serious, "Hollow Man," like his 1997 film "Starship Troopers," feels too over-the-top and goofy for its own good. His earlier films always had a touch of that over-the-top action spectacular stuff. This one has too much.

If there were ever a movie for Paul Verhoeven, it is this. It's the tailor-made film just for him, much like "RoboCop" was. He has free roam to create an invisible man who slowly becomes hostile and hunts his victims. Think about "Total Recall"--remember how Verhoeven's imaginations were perfectly displayed on screen? How real it all was? How gripping and suspenseful?

There's something missing here. It's the perfect material for Verhoeven, and it has his distinctly hard edge, but it is dumb, and it feels more like an average slasher movie with a large budget than a smart thriller. Especially towards the end, which has its fun parts but becomes over-the-top and quite ridiculous. Of course, the bad guy always gets back up for one last scare, but (spoiler alert!) Sebastian gets up three times. And he's not even supernatural -- he's just invisible. He gets torched with a flamethrower, knocked over the head, electrocuted, and blown up his lab facility. Then he manages to climb up an elevator shaft and grab Linda one last time. HUH? And since when does electricity not spread through water? These guys are extremely advanced scientists, yet they never stop to ponder over why basic science knowledge has just been proved incorrect.

I'm being too harsh. I won't lie. The film has its moments of interest and truly amazing special effects--some of the best I've ever seen in a motion picture, in fact. If "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" was an opening for live action/animation and "Terminator 2" was the breakthrough motion picture for pure special effects, this is the next level. It starts with an intriguing premise, just as "RoboCop" and "Total Recall" did, only those two films kept elevating the action, suspense, plot, and emotional attachment, something that "Hollow Man" is lacking. Perhaps a better title would have been "Hollow Movie"?

"Hollow Man" is rated R for strong violence, language, and sexuality/nudity.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: A Hollow Movie
Review: Hollow Man was a film that got plenty of commercial time. I remember its previews, and to be honest, it looked appealing. Ah, but looks can be deceiving. It looked like a pretty fascinating horror movie, worth seeing, that maybe it would have some depth and avoid the cheezy mistakes of past horror flicks. The idea of an invisable man, creating havoc, intrigued me. So I saw it. My analysis is that this is a huge disappointment. The ultimate let down when it comes to potential.

Kevin Bacon is a fine actor, I like him, I really do. He makes a good hero and villain, and in this one he plays the villain. He plays Dr. Caine, who turns out to be this reckless, arrogant mad scientist who breaks rules to break ground. Fine, this is a good character that we can follow. His ultimate dream, project if you will, is to create invisibility. So after many animal experiments, he decides to test it, with him as the guinea pig. Well it works, he's invisible, but he can't change back. And as it turns out, he doesn't want to.

This is good, but where the potential is dropped is when Sebastian Caine goes berserk. There really is no reason established in this movie why he suddenly turns to evil and does these murderous, mischievous deeds. The question "why" kept popping into my head during this movie. I suppose it could be answered that he loved the power of invisibility and never wanted to share it or give it up to anyone else. Or his envy and jealousy got the better of him. But this didn't work for me, there needed to be a better reason on why he snapped.

Elisabeth Shue was Sebastian's girlfriend, now is his best buddy's girlfriend, which is where the envy and jealousy comes from. What I felt would've been better to create the motive was not have the movie start out with Shue being the ex to Sebastian but to have them still be together. Then have her dump him for the better man. Soap operish, I know, but at least it gives us a better motive.

Well, you already know the plot, he goes berserk towards the second half of the film. He molests some pretty young woman in her apartment, then becomes aggressive with Shue, he's rude and utterly evil. Then he decides he's sick of everyone and he's going to kill them all. So one by one he hunts each of the team members who work on his project down. Again, this all came on suddenly. This film lacks understandment to why Sebastian mutated from this over zealous scientiest into this demonic madman. He just turns with no real motive. The plot would be fine if it just gives us a clear and definate reason to why Sebastian turns into this villain.

I thought the special effects were OK, maybe a bit over done. When he starts becoming invisible, we see his muscles and then his skeleton as he's transforming. This didn't look very real, it is so clearly recognizable as computer generated effects. It looked more cartoon like and therefore I wasn't very impressed with the transformation. I did like it whenever somebody threw something on him to visualize him. That seemed real and quite believable.

But you know what bugged me the most about this movie? Despite the sudden switch in Sebastian, despite the failure of potential to enhance the plot, the real issue with this movie is that it's just like all the other corny horror movies out there. It's got the corny lines, the cheap suspense, the typical ending, and the typical "take forever to die monster" formula.

I mean come on, how many horror movies have we seen where it takes forever for the bad guy to die? First Shue torches him with a blow torch, practically reducing him to standing ash. But yet, he's as strong as ever and still alive and still standing! No freaking way! Then he gets electrocuted and yet he's still alive and strong as ever! Then he climbs up a ladder, all burnt and fried, trying to get Shue only to get torched again this time for good. I mean, how corny. Just die, man.

If this movie had ended it with a more thought provoking, dramatic, maybe even sympathizing fashion we might appreciate this movie a whole lot more. But because it had to end with cheese, this film does not separate itself from the 1950's "screamers" or the 1980's "blood and guts" horror flicks. In the end, this film leaves us unsatisfied because I think most of us saw the potential for this movie, but the director stupidely turns it into a horror movie that we can see any time we want on the USA channel. Which after only three years old, that is Hollow Man's new home...the TV. What a hollow movie.

Grade: C-

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Terrible
Review: Hard to believe this is from the same director of Total Recall, Basic Instinct, Robocop, and Starship Troopers. Undoubtadly the worst film to ever be directed by Paul Verhoeven (yes, it's worse than Showgirls), Hollow Man is a prime example of a big budget bomb. The entire cast is wasted as the talents of Kevin Bacon and Elizabeth Shue are not put to their potential, and while the special effects are nothing short of phenominal, Hollow Man is a series of one disappointment right after the other. The characterizations of the scientists who Bacon is having homicidal urges towards are so annoying that soon enough you'll be hoping that he succeeds in his intentions.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: ABSOLUTELY THE BEST SCI-FI THRILLER EVER!
Review: I dont know why people are booing this movie? It has the greatest director directing it, great actors, and awsome special effects! Well anyways Hollow Man stars Elisabeth Shue, Kevin Bacon, Josh Brolin, and Kim Dickens. Kevin and his crew are scientists. They are experimenting on invisibility. They have already made a gorilla invisible and brought him back safely. Now Kevin wants to take it a step further. He volunteers to be the first subject. He does become invisible, but when they give him the antidote, they realize that they cannot bring him back due to his body functions.

As the days grow, Kevin becomes more psychotic. He goes out in the middle of the night and comes back 12 or even 24 hours later. He loves having the power that no one can see him and that he does not want to be cured, and starts to do some really bad things! Hollow man is rated "R" for Strong Violence/Gore, Language, and some sexuality/nudity. This is how I rated Hollow man.

Story-8
Special effects-10
Action/Thrills-9
Acting-8
Directing-9

Average- 8.8

Hollow Man is a Thriller with Gore, Nudity, Explosions and scares! One of the best on its genre!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Awful!
Review: Then again any thing with Kevin Bacon usually means it sucks. This wasn't scary, suspenseful, and doesn't deliver on any level. Acting stinx, plot is hackneyed and boring, this makes Halloween Ressurection look like cinematic art. This has no room on this planet. So much time you could spend doing other things than watching an atrocious film like this. See something else.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Horribly Boring
Review: If it weren't for the exceptional special effects this movie would be a complete waste of time. The plot was forumalic (to be gentle). The effects are awesome but the plot is predictable with plenty of nudity and profanity added. Think of a Friday The 13th movie with loads of effects.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Good effects. Bad movie.
Review: Hollow Man (Paul Verhoeven, 2000)

Why, exactly, anyone lets Paul Verhoeven make movies in Hollywood anymore is completely beyond me. Sure, Verhoeven made the cult hit RoboCop (but really, it wasn't all that good a movie), and the Arnold Schwarzenegger money machine Total Recall. But in the world of "what have you done for me lately," why isn't he remembered for Showgirls? Well, the nodding heads in Hollywood haven't green-lighted anything for the guy since Hollow Man, so maybe things are looking up.

Kevin Bacon plays Sebastian Caine, your typical mad scientist who, after a whole lot of setup, turns invisible. (No, this isn't a plot spoiler. It was the basis of every trailer released for the movie, despite it having been intended, we assume, as a big plot twist). With a team of assorted misfits, Caine has been working on a secret government invisibility project headed up by one of Caine's old professors, Howard Kramer (William Devane, showing just how far a career can fall in a few short years). Caine, being the megalomaniac scientist he of course is, uses himself as a test subject, and, well, when you make a nasty person invisible... I think you can guess the rest.

First off, remember the flap after Showgirls, when Verhoeven and Esterhasz split, supposedly because Esterhasz was writing scripts too misogynist for Verhoeven? Here's all the proof you could possibly need that it was all a load. Verhoeven and new golden-boy screenwriters Gary Thompson (of the timeless script for The Fast and the Furious) and Andrew W. Marlowe (the even more timeless script for End of Days) do far more female-menacing in this movie than Esterhasz did in any two of his. There's all the usual reactionary stuff one expects from your basic genre film. Linda McKay (Elisabeth Shue of Leaving Las Vegas fame), Caine's ex, is now in bed with their other best friend and partner Matt Kensington (Josh Brolin, whose career has gone... well, from The Goonies to here. You do the math). In other words, hmmm, office relationships are a bad thing. Thanks for pointing that out, guys. There's more of a team (mentioned only so I can say "Joey Slotnick left Boston Public to pursue a movie career... for this? Best decision since David Caruso left NYPD Blue to make Jade), but they're essentially living blood dolls. And with most of the acting in this movie, you end up betting on "not if, but when."

Like the movie it completely rips off, The Invisible Man, Hollow Man was made pretty much for the purpose of spending a really big special effects budget. And the effects, for what it's worth, are pretty darn cool. In one of the opening scenes, Caine and his team are testing the invisibility potion on an ape, and they bring the ape back to visibility. Very cool stuff. (Of course, unlike 1933, the way to work in Hollywood today is "if it looks good, overuse it." So if you miss the ape scene 'cause you're already bored enough to be in the bathroom, don't worry.) Also unlike 1933, it would seem that Hollywood doesn't require things like a decent plot to spend said special effects budget. So if you're looking for a movie where a lot of things go boom (for unrealistic lengths of time, though the big last boom was rather inventive) and a lot of people go squish, Hollow Man will be right up your alley. If you want plot, characterization, intelligence, and real chills, you're probably better off ranting something made by Dario Argento. * ½

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not Great--But It Delivers
Review: Paul Verhoeven's HOLLOW MAN is not great cinema, granted; however, one could see that from the trailer that it was going to be a pumped-up, amped-up, sci-fi action thriller with incredible (and I do mean incredible) special effects--and on those counts, it delivers big.

The point of this film isn't character development (although I agree that it would have helped); indeed, when the first transformation scene took place, I was ready for the action to happen. Maybe it was all the bad press that I've read/heard since its theatrical release, but my expectations were set mainly for spectacle, not story. On that note, this film did not disappoint.

Kevin Bacon gives a very good performance. He is the right type of actor for this role; with his subtle facial expressions in the early sections of the film, he gives you an idea of certain feelings lurking beneath the surface, beyond what his character expresses in words. He is thusly able to overcome some of the deficiences in the script, which tends to paint with (very) broad strokes. Elizabeth Shue, oddly receiving first billing, is the dependable center of the action. Bad haircut or not, it's good to see her in anything these days. Josh Brolin (looking more & more like his Dad James did in his prime), does well in his rather sympathetic role.

Whatever you want to say about Paul Verhoeven, ya gotta admit that he is the undisputed master of the futuristic sci-fi thriller. After TOTAL RECALL and STARSHIP TROOPERS, he comes out with another film that employs cutting-edge visual effects. HOLLOW MAN may not be everybody's cup of tea, but guaranteed it will give you a rush. I may not necessarily want to see it again, but I've definitely never seen anything like it before!


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