The Invisible Man: Anxiety Cinema Triumphs Once Again
Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man is not only a terrific horror/thriller in which a victim of physical and mental abuse, Cecilia Kass (Elizabeth Moss), suspects that her deceased ex, Adrian Griffin (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) is stalking her as he has found a way to turn himself invisible, but it also has a chilling sociopolitical commentary that reflects our own invisible (mental) scars that victims of abuse unfortunately face. It’s a refreshingly exciting revenge-thriller that begs to be seen with a crowd full of people.
I have honestly never seen Elizabeth Moss this good — but she absolutely nails every character trait of an abuse victim. It’s funny how no one in her entourage believes what she’s experiencing — as they all think it’s PTSD. However, as soon as we start to see Adrian’s manipulation into making everyone believe that Cecilia is crazy, this is where the film rises above a “classic” Invisible Man thriller and does something completely new and unexpected with the gimmick. When the second act kicks into gear by a complete 180 of your initial expectations of predictability, you know you’re in for something special. I don’t want to give away that EXACT moment, but it’s the moment in which the audience GASPED loudly and went OH SHIIIIIIIIIIIIT. I was gobsmacked, flabbergasted, not believing exactly what happened. But it’s the moment in which I became fully onboard until the very end. Moss, in every stage of her performance, from scared, to a tad little joyful after she learns Adrian is dead, to completely batshit crazy when she is the only SANE person that tries to warn everyone that Adrian is alive, but invisible. It’s the best performance of her entire career — the best female performance of the year so far. She definitely sets the bar for what’s to come, and that bar is fairly high.
The action sequences in The Invisible Man are a thrill to watch. The famous scene that’s in every trailer and TV spot in which the titular character starts a killing spree in a mental institution where Cecilia is held. It’s by far the best sequence of the entire film — a must-see in IMAX to fully appreciate the scene at its best. The camera moves are sleek and excitingly kinetic, while the choreography is precise and tactile, but, above all else, unpredictable. The entirety of The Invisible Man is built on the destruction of the familiar tropes that have been perpetuating and infecting modern horror movies. Instead of using cheap, horribly built-up and PREDICTABLE jumpscares, Whannell builds-up the gimmick of The Invisible Man with small situations at first, until the film gradually escalates and does a 360 backflip to start the second act. There are so many cringeworthy moments that destroy themselves brilliantly due to the film’s extremely unpredictable nature, with twists and turns happening at every corner. You might think you know where the film is heading, until the film throws another twist at you and 180-backflips once more to make you more intrigued as to what exactly is happening. There is never a dull moment in The Invisible Man, every element foreshadowed in the first and second acts of the film are incremental keys for the film’s climax and I couldn’t believe how well-constructed and meticulous Whannell’s script is.
There are so many things that CAN be said about Whannell’s The Invisible Man, but that would require spoiling the film. If you can go into the movie without knowing pretty much ANYTHING, you will have an amazing experience watching it. It starts out simple, predictable, but that predictability is needed to destroy and deconstruct bad horror movie tropes to make the genre great again. It genuinely scared me — and there are very few horror movies that are actively capable of doing that. Apparently, I don’t love movies because I chose to see this over Straight Up (which isn’t playing in my area lol). As they say perfectly in french, chacun son goût and/or les opinions ne sont pas à discuter!
I think I need to start chain-smoking now.
✯✯✯✯✯
