What You Can't See Can Hurt You!

Kaleidoscope's newest is on Blumhouse's & Universal's production of "The Invisible Man".  Written & directed by Leigh Whannell, the movie stars Elizabeth Moss, Aldis Hodge, Storm Reid, Harriet Dyer, Michael Dorman, & Oliver Jackson-Cohen.  Rated 'R', it has a running time of 2 hr., 4 min.

The exposition is depicted in a near wordless sequence.  Cecelia Kass (Moss) is trapped in a loveless, controlling, abusive relationship with billionaire optics scientist Adrian Griffin (Cohen).  Determined to leave, she drugs him with Diazepam.  Having already packed her bags & disarmed the security system, she quietly travels thru the house, stopping at his lab where she sees a strange, empty, hanging apparatus.  As she gets to the garage to leave in the car, the family dog sets off the car's alarm.  Cecilia then races to the road, climbs over the security wall that surrounds the house, & flees to a nearby road to await her sister Emily (Dyer), with whom Cecilia preplanned the escape.  With the tripped alarm awakening him, Adrian gets to the road just as Cecilia gets into Emily's car.  Altho he breaks the passenger-side window, Emily manages to get the 2 of them away.  As the car speeds away, Adrian picks up the the bottle of Diazepam that Cecilia dopped outside the car.  Having prearranged with her friend James (Hodge), a police detective, & his daughter Sydney (Reid) to stay with them, Emily drops Cecilia at their house.  2 weeks later, Cecilia learns that Adrian has committed suicide.  Contacted by Adrian's lawyer brother Tom (Dorman), Cecelia meets with Tom & learns that Adrian has left her $5,000,000 in his will.  This concludes Act I as the script transitions to the main film conflicts.

During the past few years, Universal has tried to update its stable of monsters that began with 1931's "Frankenstein" & "Dracula" with a concept it called Dark Universe.  The first iteration was 2017's "The Mummy" which also featured Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde; it did not do well  The studio has since abandoned this direction.  Writer/director Whannell (producer & writer of both the "Insidious" & "Saw" franchises) has created the 1st film in Universal's new concept of modernizing its batch of creatures, & it is a rousing success.  Instead of focusing on a disgruntled individual who seeks solace and/or a dive into madness as the previous 'Invisible Men' had done, Whannell pinpoints his POV on Cecilia--a victim of the 'Invisible Men' of modern times--the Bill Cosby, Charlie Rose, Harvey Weinstein-types who hide behind fame, money, etc. to prey on, control, & abuse their female partners with the hope that their fame & power will make them 'invisible' to the outside world.  Whannell could not have found a more current, disturbing motif to use as his central conceit.  Director Whannell builds suspense slowly--mirroring Cecilia's slow realization of the truth behind Adrian's suicide.  With some innovative camera angles & the effective use of Benjamin Wallfisch's alternately moody & piercing score, there are some remarkably eerie scenes.  Writer Whannell's script well-matches the themes of his direction.  Moss is excellent as a celluloid representative of the #metoo movement who takes matters into her own hands when left to her own resources.  Moss's role as June Osborne/Offred in Hulu's adaptation of Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale" has prepared her well for Cecilia.  Hodge has grown from the wise guy Alec Hardison in TNT's "Leverage" series to the strong individual of James here.  His growth as an actor is quite evident.  Reid well-complements Hodge & Moss.  The other actors in much minor roles are all very good.  Stefan Duscio's cinematography & Andy Canny's editing are both superb in conveying the turmoil that Cecilia is experiencing and the slow realization of the same by others around her.  As previously mentioned, Wallfisch's score expertly captures the suspense and both the inner & outer turmoil of Moss's character through well-placed leitmotif's.  Additionally, his use of strings at key points reminds one of Bernard Herrmann's superb scores for Alfred Hitchcock's thrillers "Vertigo", "North by Northwest", & most especially "Psycho"!

I give "The Invisible Man" 8 out of 10 nuggets.  Blumhouse & Universal have a sure hit with this well-produced horror/thriller that jump-starts Universal's revamped concept of its Dark Universe.  Whether you are a horror fan or not, head to your local cineplex at such a rapid speed that you will be invisible to others and sit back & enjoy a great 2 hours of cinema.