‘Invisible Man’: Mediocre Film
“The Invisible Man” stars Elizabeth Moss who plays Cecilia, the protagonist who, from the beginning of the movie, suffers under the emotional and physical abuse from her very controlling, sort of “mad genius” boyfriend, Adrian Griffin.
She pulls off a harrowing escape from his house where she was virtually held prisoner and stays in a friend’s house recuperating when she learns of her Adrian’s suicide, but she doesn’t believe it as she has known him to be manipulative enough to perhaps even fake his death.
At this point in the movie, there would have been a good plot device where the audience wouldn’t know if Cecilia was going crazy or if her boyfriend actually made himself invisible, but the trailer showed too much of the plot and ruined this, what could have been the best part of the movie, by affirming the existence of the invisible Adrian at work making Cecilia seem crazy to the outside world.
The raw idea of the movie was good, the conflict of the abusive ex against his former girlfriend, but the plot felt like wasted potential. While it was decent, it could have been made so much better if there were fewer plot holes, if logic was used more and if the antagonist was actually as smart as he was supposed to be.
The plot twists were somewhat unexpected and interesting, but there were too many too soon. The best part of the movie were the scares, which were in abundance and were relatively good quality as they kept me on edge for a lot of the screen time, and the numerous shots where the camera hovered over an empty portion of the room for several seconds enhanced the horror aspect of the film.
The music score was well-written and added to the suspense and horror aspect of the film. While there was a slight overreliance on jump scares, the scares with more lead-up to them felt more well-earned, and the tension and fear of something happening were very fearful as well. The ending felt too easy and convenient and was a rushed way to provide a satisfying ending by the director.
Overall, it was a good horror flick for the good scares while lacking in character development and plot logic.