by Yazmin Ghonaim

HOLLOW MAN Paul Verhoeven (2000) Hollow Man, directed by Paul Verhoeven (Basic Instinct, Starship Troopers, RoboCop), combines spectacular special effects with elements of horror to create a film about the dangers of tampering with revolutionary scientific knowledge. Scientist Sebastian Caine (Kevin Bacon) is on the verge of scientific revolution and world fame. Having successfully applied his invisibility formula on animals and reappeared a gorilla with the perfected serum that regains visibility, Sebastian and his chief colleagues, ex-lover Linda McKay (Elisabeth Shue) and her clandestine boyfriend Matt Kensington (Josh Brolin), are ready to approach the Pentagon scientist (William Devane: Space Cowboys) with their government-funded top-secret discovery. However, Sebastian is overwhelmed by ambition, and first convinces Linda and Matt to secretly aid him in applying the formula on himself in order to broaden his research and be the first human to experience the process. To their astonishment, the experiment proves partially faulty and Sebastian is trapped in invisibility. Horror ensues from Sebastian's mental transformation as he discovers boundless levels of power within his invisible state. Free to unleash all contained malicious tendencies, Sebastian will do anything to preserve his unique gift. Hollow Man revels in the spectacle of the physical transformations --from invisibility to visibility, and vice-versa-- of its two subjects, the gorilla and subsequently, the protagonist. Featuring the innovative work of the digital production companies Tippett Studio and Sony Pictures Imageworks (under visual effects supervisor Scott E. Anderson), Hollow Man may be regarded as a triumph of cinematic visual effects. Hollow Man successfully integrates special effects to character transformation, by showing the appearance or disappearance of the intricate layers of the body. The visualization of the layers between the skin and the skeleton is realistic, and thus, sustains Hollow Man's efforts to portray a world of futuristic science. In addition, the monstrous end-result of the protagonist's transformation offers an intriguing premise, one which Verhoeven relates to Plato's writings on invisibility which state that "...morality is...defined by what others know and expect of us." In this sense, the character of Sebastian Caine is adequately established as a futuristic monster with universal appeal. However, in spite of an attractive premise that revisits the biblical notion of "forbidden knowledge", and of a character that confirms the disturbing fact that "...scientific knowledge is never safe from [criminal] exploitation,"* Hollow Man fails to resist its own downfall: the story abandons the psychological exploration of the monster, and instead focuses on the sophisticated visual representations of it. Predictably, Hollow Man evolves into a story of persecution that focuses on containing the monster. * Roger Shattuck, "Forbidden Knowledge." New York: St. Martin's Press, 1996.		DVD Music Books Search by keywords:
Outstanding Features: Special Effects Hollow Man Movie Review © 2000 Cinephiles - All rights reserved Photo © 2000 Columbia Pictures, Inc.