The Invisible Man (2020)

[AimingforYoko]

Quote

When Cecilia's abusive ex takes his own life and leaves her his fortune, she suspects his death was a hoax. As a series of coincidences turn lethal, Cecilia works to prove that she is being hunted by someone nobody can see.

This was way, way, way better than it had any right to be for mainly two reasons: Elizabeth Moss's performance and Leigh Whannell's script.

The way Adrian set up Cecilia was so brilliant and so evil, he automatically jumped to near the top of the list of all-time movie villains. And no slight to Oliver Jackson-Cohen, but he's barely on the screen. It's all down to how he was written.

When I first saw Elizabeth Moss on The West Wing, I was not impressed. She's come quite a ways as an actress.

[kiddo82]

I feel as if I have seen a different movie than most.  I thought it was fine but nothing more than slightly above average February fodder or a solid VOD choice a few months from now.  I'm glad it's doing well but I all but forgot about a lot of it an hour after I left the theater.

[Luckylyn]

Adrian was terrifying.   I think Elizabeth Moss gave an Oscar worthy performance.  My expectations were low, and I was pleased by how good this movie was.  There was something about the way no one would take her seriously and assumed she was hysterical that really resonated.  It had horror elements but also worked as a psychological exploration of the effects an abusive relationship can have on you even after you have escaped.   The mental wounds take longer to heal than the physical ones and full recovery may not be possible.   There was a depth to the story I had not expected.  

There were a couple of things I wonder about like when the baby was conceived.  She was very early in her pregnancy.  Did she get pregnant right before she left him or did he rape her after dosing her with the sleeping pills?  Messing with the birth control To force a pregnancy on her was a violation which fit their relationship where everything was geared to what he wanted without any regard to her feelings or desires.  I thought it was odd C wasn’t in therapy.
 

I liked the friendship between James and C.   It’s nice to see a platonic relationship between a man and a woman.  A romance would not have worked because C was way to traumatized to be ready for that.  I got a nice family vibe from the C, James, and Sidney interactions which made Adrian screwing with that bond so hurtful.  When Adrian went after C’s sister I was stunned.  When she found the knife in the ziplock bag in the attic I figured Adrian was planning to use a knife with her fingerprints to frame her for harming someone but was still startled when it happened.  It’s heartbreaking that the sisters never got to finish the conversation and repair the damage Adrian did to their relationship.  
 

[AimingforYoko]

34 minutes ago, Luckylyn said:

When Adrian went after C’s sister I was stunned.

I literally said "Shit" in the theater. That was bold as fuck doing it in public. Who knows if someone was filming or looking in that direction when he did it? That and when he didn't kill the guards at the hospital showed he wasn't a complete mastermind.

[Luckylyn]

10 minutes ago, AimingforYoko said:

I literally said "Shit" in the theater. That was bold as fuck doing it in public. Who knows if someone was filming or looking in that direction when he did it? That and when he didn't kill the guards at the hospital showed he wasn't a complete mastermind.

Killing the guards wouldn’t change that there were cameras in the hallway that recorded the attack.  Plus later we saw Adrian had a backup plan to let his brother take the fall.

[Ohwell]

I'd like to go see this movie because it's gotten some good reviews, but, I swear, Elizabeth Moss just gives me the creeps.  I've felt that way about her ever since Mad Men.  There's just something about her...

Anyway, I'll probably catch it later on VOD.

[lasu]

Wow, I haaaaaated this movie!  There were just so many plot holes, way too many for me to be able to handwave.  Not the least of which is this whole things could have been solved by just carrying around a bag of flour.

[Ohiopirate02]

On 3/1/2020 at 3:09 PM, Ohwell said:

I'd like to go see this movie because it's gotten some good reviews, but, I swear, Elizabeth Moss just gives me the creeps.  I've felt that way about her ever since Mad Men.  There's just something about her...

It's the scientology.

[Ohwell]

11 minutes ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

It's the scientology.

Wow, I didn't know she was a scientologist.  That explains it then.

[Lady Calypso]

I just came back from seeing it. I thought it was decent enough. I think that Elisabeth Moss put on a very, very good performance. I found that the way they shot many of the scenes was brilliant. And Oliver Jackson-Cohen did great with the little that he had when he was onscreen.

But...I don't know, I guess I feel like the script wasn't as strong as I hoped it would be. The idea came across, but there was a lot lacking in the script. Without the dialogue and the, imo, weaker plot points, it really was a great film. It had a solid message that got straight to the point. But the non-spoken moments worked a LOT better. 

For example, the opening sequence was probably the most powerful part of the film because they didn't need dialogue to spell out what was happening. The directing was really strong. 

But man, oh man, the direction they took with a lot of the characters had me frustrated. Yes, the frustration is based on reality, that women aren't believed a lot of the time when abuse situations happen. But...having James and his daughter go from being super supportive to turning on her in an instant? I get what they were going for and some of it worked, and then other moments didn't. Oddly enough, I feel like they may have RUSHED all of the plot points. I appreciate Cecilia being onto Adrian pretty much immediately, but then they rushed through people not believing her and I felt like things didn't even out again until the last 15 minutes.

Also, I actually called out almost every single major event to happen. I knew Cecilia's sister would die, and I also knew Adrian's brother would die. I also figured out that he was under the mask at some point. The only thing that truly stunned me, besides with the suddenness of Emily's death, was the ending. 

I found myself also muttering to myself in the theatre about Cecilia's actions throughout the middle of the plot. For example, not keeping her hands on Adrian's phone and not taking it to the police to prove that someone was stalking her, or even her deciding to leave Adrian's second Spy Suit hidden instead of carrying it out with her. 

I found the action sequence between Adrian and Cecilia in James' kitchen to be a little shoddy, actually. It didn't really work for me. The hospital scene worked way better. 

The friendship scenes between James/Cecilia were great, especially when they actually stayed just friends throughout all of it. Sidney got annoying when the hitting scene happened, just because I found that she was acting too hysterical for a seventeen year old. 

Overall, it was a decent film. It had a very strong message to it and the performance from Moss was incredible (imo, I was sick of her as June in The Handmaid's Tale to the point where I was tired of Moss' acting, but this film helped me like Moss again as an actress). It was just some of the plot points and dialogue that fell flat. 

Plus, great to see Oliver Jackson-Cohen after his fantastically underrated performance in the equally underrated The Haunting of Hill House.

[kiddo82]

5 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

But man, oh man, the direction they took with a lot of the characters had me frustrated. Yes, the frustration is based on reality, that women aren't believed a lot of the time when abuse situations happen. But...having James and his daughter go from being super supportive to turning on her in an instant? I get what they were going for and some of it worked, and then other moments didn't. Oddly enough, I feel like they may have RUSHED all of the plot points. I appreciate Cecilia being onto Adrian pretty much immediately, but then they rushed through people not believing her and I felt like things didn't even out again until the last 15 minutes.

The thing is we're told more than a few times what a master manipulator Adrian is, and there's no doubt Cecelia's fear of him is real, but the movie doesn't do a great job of showing us, which took me out of a lot of it.  The job interview/Diazepam thing was okay but other moments didn't feel earned.  For example, I didn't buy Cecelia's sister instantly believing the email.  First of all, who sends personal emails anymore?  At least for me, that would be red flag number one.   But aside from that, even if a friend or family member did, I think I'd at least be able to recognize their syntax and notice that something wasn't right.  Everyone has their own style of informal writing.  (unless it's possible for Adrian to have mimicked it but that's a bit of a leap.)  And most importantly, unless I missed something, there really wasn't any indication that there was friction between the two sisters.  The first meeting at the house wasn't overly warm and fuzzy but Cecelia wasn't exactly in a good place at the time and any weirdness may have come from her (rightful) paranoia about Adrian.   It's not as if we see them bicker or argue or that the sister had any inclination at all that Cecelia might have some underlying frustrations with her. Who gets an email out of the blue from someone they are on good terms with saying the things that Adrian's email said (I don't remember it specifically) and gives it instant credibility?  You'd be taken aback sure but I think most of us would confront who we believed was the sender before cutting them out of our lives completely.  And let's say you didn't actually believe your sister's dead boyfriend was sending you emails from beyond the grave, you'd at least see the sincerity in her that something fucked up was going on.  And lastly, who would send the email just to later deny it?  That wedge was driven in waaaaay too easily.

I also agree that Sydney's reaction to the slap/punch/whatever was too hysterical for a 17 year old whose maturity level seemed at least on par with her chronological age to that point.  I can buy James's reaction to Sydney's reaction but again it feels like the wedge between Cecelia and Sydney was also too easy. 

Edited March 8, 2020 by kiddo82

[Lady Calypso]

48 minutes ago, kiddo82 said:

I also agree that Sydney's reaction to the slap/punch/whatever was too hysterical for a 17 year old whose maturity level seemed at least on par with her chronological age to that point.  I can buy James's reaction to Sydney's reaction but again it feels like the wedge between Cecelia and Sydney was also too easy. 

Yeah, and it's a bit ridiculous, considering that Sydney should have realized that Cecilia was nowhere close to her when she was hit. Yet, she immediately started crying, as if Cecilia had just tried to murder her. With it being such a random moment after Cecilia/Sydney were having a nice moment, you'd think that Sydney would react better. 

And then Sydney also seemed to revert to a younger version of herself when she was attacked, saw her dad getting attacked, and just...sat there. 

Sydney REALLY ended up annoying me in the second half of the film because of how she basically didn't do anything. 

Also...I remember another thing that annoyed me. So, there's at least a week in between Adrian dying and Cecilia going back to the house. So...who the hell was taking care of the dog that entire time? You're telling me that either Tom or the police left the dog there all alone? There was enough time for a crew to cover all of the furniture, but they left the DOG BEHIND? 

And we don't even know what happened to the dog at the end of the film, unless I missed a line.

[AimingforYoko]

1 hour ago, Lady Calypso said:

And we don't even know what happened to the dog at the end of the film, unless I missed a line.

The dog left with Cecilia after she killed Adrian.

[calliope1975]

I think I was in the wrong head space to see this now because while the acting and directing was really good, I sat through the movie pissed off and left angry at the end. The gaslighting and build up was good so I think I needed someone, anyone, at the end to tell Cecelia that they believed her and that she had been right all along. And I wanted public acknowledgement and maybe worse consequences for Adrian for what he'd done. Death is too good for him. I guess I'm tired of all the real life gaslighting, sigh; I don't need to watch a horror flick for that. 

I agree with others that her sister immediately believing that email and telling her sister to fuck off didn't make any sense. They seemed to have a decent enough relationship, and she knew Cecelia had just left a traumatic situation so maybe give her the teeniest benefit of the doubt. And the hit on Sydney - she was like 3 feet away and her wingspan isn't that far. I can see being confused, but she jumped super quick to Cecelia trying to beat her up. 

And gazillionaire tech bro Adrian and his spineless brother were really good at beating up and accurately shooting multiple people. I get they were invisible and had the element of surprise, but I didn't buy it. And yet somehow it didn't surprise me at all that Adrian invented some super suit capable of invisibility and instead of using it to change the landscape of technology from altruistic to militaristic reasons, this douchebro psychopath uses it to stalk his ex instead. Yeah, sadly, that checks out. 

 

[bettername2come]

I was convinced that both brothers were there trying to kill Sydney. After she sprayed him and he stumbled into the dresser, it seemed like there was already a guy in the hallway when she ran out. Not sure.

Seriously, Adrian was completely reckless in the hospital. I realize he was probably just gonna frame his brother at that point, but still. And people were a little unnecessarily stupid. Emily just believing her sister said such hateful things. Sydney not realizing that that punch came from nowhere near Cecilia. 

Elisabeth Moss put in a great performance, but I've been a fan since the made-for-TV Escape to Witch Mountain remake in '95, so...

Overall, I enjoyed it and the time went by surprisingly fast. A friend who saw it before me said there were little moments of him being invisible that went by fast snuck in, but I don't think I noticed any that weren't obviously placed.

 

[Milburn Stone]

Loved it. Was scared from the beginning, didn't stop being scared.

Still scared.

One question though. Maybe I missed something. So Tom is killed. How do the cops know where to look for "kidnapped" Adrian? Tom couldn't tell them. I doubt he left a note. Why would the cops even think Adrian was alive? Why would Adrian think the cops would think he was alive so that they'd come "rescue" him?

 

[Luckylyn]

7 hours ago, Milburn Stone said:

Loved it. Was scared from the beginning, didn't stop being scared.

Still scared.

One question though. Maybe I missed something. So Tom is killed. How do the cops know where to look for "kidnapped" Adrian? Tom couldn't tell them. I doubt he left a note. Why would the cops even think Adrian was alive? Why would Adrian think the cops would think he was alive so that they'd come "rescue" him?

 

I think they decided to search the house and then stumbled on him.  I’m trying to remember.  Did the dog somehow alert them to look at that particular wall? I think they were searching for the tech and checking to see if there were any accomplices.  Also I’m sure Adrian had a backup plan to alert the police to find him.  

[EtheltoTillie]

I caught this on demand as it was released early. Very slow moving at the beginning, then the end was inconclusive. The relationship of Elizabeth Moss with the cop was not clear. 

[Milburn Stone]

16 hours ago, GussieK said:

I caught this on demand as it was released early. Very slow moving at the beginning, then the end was inconclusive. The relationship of Elizabeth Moss with the cop was not clear. 

Obviously, one person's "slow moving" is another person's "agonizingly protracted dread and suspense."

[Anela]

I liked it, but I hated it when people didn't believe her - especially her sister. Only for the one guy to go all-out and start shooting people, when there were security cameras around. Way to kill their work before that, when getting her into the institution. 

I knew that she would do that, at the end. 🙂 Got him just like he got her sister. Loved the shower scene, too. 

[Ravenya003]

Just finished watching, and I enjoyed it without being blown away. In an odd way some areas were rushed while others went too fast: the best (that is, the most tense) part of the film was Adrian's gaslighting of Cecelia while she was in James's house: things got a bit too unreal and sci-fi once he was running around in the malfunctioning suit.

I thought they could have done more with the teenage girl, because if ANYONE was going to believe that there was an invisible man running around, it would have been an imaginative teenage girl. If the slap had played out with Sydney immediately realizing it couldn't possibly have been Cecelia, and then her father seeing a mark on her face and getting concerned about how his daughter was getting dragged into Cecelia's "delusions", that could have led to Sydney trying to get some evidence of her own, unnoticed by Adrian. As it was, she was pretty much useless.

I also would have liked to know what Cecelia planned to do about the baby.  

Ah well. It was a fun (as in suspenseful) ride. 

Edited March 31, 2020 by Ravenya003

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Critics' Choice Award nomination!

Best Visual Effects