her terrorizing ex. Trembling and tortured, Moss
makes her stalking terrifyingly palpable.
But there’s also a sense, from early on, that “The
Invisible Man” is more interested in utilizing a
clever and timely conceit for jump scares and
muscular, half-visible action sequences than for
any genuine exploration of Cecilia’s psychology.
We know, from this invisible man’s first foggy
breath, that he’s there; there’s no mystery, just a
perverse game of hide and seek. It takes much
of the movie for Cecilia to convince anyone else
of her unseen tormentor. But as Whannell turns
toward the third act, the once promising set-up
disintegrates and “The Invisible Man” gets lost
in a familiar torrent of bullets and blood, as well
as a few implausible twists that pull the movie
further away from Moss’s Cecilia.
While Wells imbued his invisible man with
comedy and tragedy, this one remains little
more than a lethal plot device, and one so
unhinged that any sense of realism vanishes.
Adrian turns out to be a psychopath whose
single-minded obsession with Cecilia squanders
all the more intriguing capabilities of invisibility.
(For that, we’ll always have “Atlanta.” ) Whannell
has the talent and cunning to turn “The Invisible
Man” into a chilling and well-crafted B-movie.
But if you’re looking for anything more than that,
you’ll probably come up empty.
“The Invisible Man,” a Universal Pictures release,
is rated R by the Motion Picture Association of
America for some strong bloody violence and
language. Running time: 124 minutes. Two and a
half stars out of four.
MPAA definition of R: Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying
parent or adult guardian
The Invisible Man - Prank Video with Elisabeth Moss
& Oliver Jackson-Cohen