‘The Invisible Man’ (2020) Movie Review

Inspired by the classic novel by H.G. Wells, Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man is the story of Cecilia (Elisabeth Moss) and her ex-boyfriend, Dr. Adrien Griffin (Oliver Jackson-Cohen). Dr. Griffin is a brilliant scientist, but a very abusive partner. After Cecilia finally escapes, he kills himself. But after some unseen being starts tormenting her, Cecilia deduces that he is not only alive, but has also figured out a way to turn himself invisible. Everyone thinks she’s hysterical, including her sister (Harriet Dyer) and her good friend James (Aldis Hodge), a police officer who harbored her while she was hiding from Adrien. Now, Cecilia must not only prove that Adrien is alive, but stop him before he hurts anyone else.

Leigh Whannell is a bit of an unsung hero of contemporary horror. Despite not being a recognizable name to more casual viewers, he co-wrote the Insidious films and the first three Saw films (you know, the good ones). He actually made his directorial debut with Insidious: Chapter 3, followed by a really cool little action-horror revenge flick called Upgrade. With The Invisible Man being his third time in the director’s chair, and easily the most recognizable property with which he has worked, this was the opportunity to prove that he could helm a true major motion picture.

My god, did he succeed. This movie was an absolute blast! Contemporary updates of horror classics are always tricky. You’ve got some good ones, like Larry Fessenden’s Deranged (a modernization of Frankenstein) or Guillermo del Toro’s Oscar-winning The Shape of Water (which was loosely based on Creature From the Black Lagoon). But there have also been some truly terrible ones, like 2017’s The Mummy or Dracula 2000. It’s imperative that, if one is going to revamp a beloved classic tale and/or character for modern times, the filmmakers must have a good understanding of what made the original succeed, and why it connected with audiences. What makes this titular character work so well is the complete absence of consequences or accountability. He can literally get away with anything. Leigh Whannell decided to use that character’s most valuable advantage in a timely and terrifying way: gaslighting. With said lack of accountability, it becomes incredibly easy to torment someone and leave no trace, resulting in said victim having no way to back up his or her claims. Since this is all too common among abusive relationships, and with the #MeToo movement helping it gain a lot more (dare I say?) visibility, this was a brilliant choice. The horrors of women’s claims of abuse being dismissed are all too real, and this was an incredibly effective story element.

Elisabeth Moss is fabulous here. She’s had a pretty prolific TV career (“Mad Men”, “The Handmaid’s Tale”), but despite having been in plenty, her movie career often gets overlooked. She totally kills it as the leading lady, and she adds far more nuance and passion than one might expect from this type of character. This kind of dedication really helped elevate Cecilia above your typical “final girl” scream queen. I also have to give a shoutout to Aldis Hodge. He’s a veteran character actor, and he’s been in so many very different movies, from Hidden Figure to Die Hard With a Vengeance. He gives a really solid supporting performance, and I could easily see him succeeding as a leading man. Honestly, this entire cast is great. There are a couple of really emotional scenes with Cecilia and James’s daughter, Sydney, played by Storm Reid. She’s a great young actress, and despite having been in some pretty sh*tty movies, she was always a bright spot.

This film really delivers on the creepy. There will be scenes where you get the feeling that something is going to startle you any second, but they let the tension build for so long that it becomes much more unpredictable than your average jump scare-riddled thriller. The timing of said scares doesn’t really follow the more traditional rhythms, and the buildup is incredibly tense. A lot of that is thanks to the brilliant sound design. Every breath; every floorboard creak; every click of the doorknob; it’s all present in the deafening silence. This makes the jolt of a sudden loud noise feel more organic than just a cheap jump scare. The whole opening scene is a brilliant exercise in suspense (but that’s as far as I’ll elaborate).

There have been a couple of attempts to kickstart a sort of “cinematic universe” for the Universal Studios Monsters (Dracula, the Wolf Man, Frankenstein’s Monster, the Mummy, the Invisible Man, and the Creature from the Black Lagoon). One could even say that the original films from the 30’s and 40’s were the first cinematic universe, well before Marvel developed theirs. However, there were a number of reasons why said attempts failed. For one, they essentially tried to turn said monsters into superheroes, focusing on elaborate action sequences instead of any sort of atmosphere or even general creepiness. They seemed to have no interest in making actual horror movies, just crowd-pleasing action/fantasy blockbusters. With 2014’s Dracula Untold, they took Dracula, one of the greatest villains in literature and cinema, and attempted to turn him into a sort of antihero with an action-packed origin story. No longer was he sinister or unrepentant. He was just a generic, super-powered emo hunk. In 2017’s The Mummy, not only did they also commit the sin of making an action flick, rather than horror, but they also tried way too hard to plant the seeds of future movies. It was also trying to be a Tom Cruise vehicle, which drew inevitable comparisons to his own plethora of action movies. This made it feel completely devoid of its own identity. Both of them also just happened to suck in general. This film, on the other hand, not only found a way to appropriately modernize its titular villain, it was actually attempting to be a good horror movie. It wasn’t trying to emulate modern blockbusters, nor did it spend a good third of its runtime trying to set up future sequels and spinoffs. It had its own ideas, and it was made with both skill and passion. I don’t know if Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man is, yet again, an attempt to reignite a Universal Monsters shared universe, but if it is, this is a great start.

This modern update of the classic Invisible Man character completely succeeds in its efforts to reimagine a classic supernatural tale. Leigh Whannell clearly has an understanding of what makes a movie, and its villain, scary, and he applies that to a horrific real-life scenario. With a tour de force lead performance from Elisabeth Moss, a haunting atmosphere, and nail-biting tension, 2020’s The Invisible Man is one of the most intense, and timely, horror movies of the past few years.

SCORE: 5/5