Director: Leigh Whannell
Writers: Leigh Whannell
Stars: Elisabeth Moss, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Harriet Dyer, Aldis Hodge, Storm Reid
Dreamt up by H.G. Wells at the end of the 19th Century, “The Invisible Man” has a long screen history and is considered part of Universal’s “monsters” stable. With his ingenious version of The Invisible Man, writer-director Leigh Whannell changes perspective from the mad scientist to the terrified victim he’s stalking, which effectively turns the film into a high paced thriller with a horror twist.
The story begins in the middle of the night, Cecelia (played by Moss) slips away from the bed she shares with her scientist husband Adrian (played by Oliver Jackson-Cohen) and carries out a plan to leave him for good. There are obstacles she faces though in order to depart, like the lonely cliffside location of their house and the high-tech security he’s installed as much to keep her in and intruders out. But at this point in the film, Adrian is still a visible menace and Cecelia has to dash out into the night to escape him.
Cecelia has her sister Emily (played by Harriet Dyer) help her escape as she picks her up from the house, and drops her off at an old friend’s home, James (played by Aldis Hodge). James is a policeman who offers her protection and allows her to bunk with his daughter (played by Storm Reid). Cecelia can hardly bring herself to face the outside world, until she gets word from Emily that Adrian has committed suicide and that she’s due for a multi-million dollar payoff from his brother (played by Michael Dorman), a lawyer who’s managing his estate. Yet she cannot shake the feeling that Adrian is still present, due to a series of events that are minor at first, but grow gradually as the film progresses.
As Cecelia gets pushed to the brink of madness, Whannell delivers the suspense with plenty of paranoid flavor. Leigh Whannell came to Hollywood as a writing partner to director James Wan, a fellow Australian, and the two hit it big with the original Saw movie, Dead Silence, and the Insidious franchise, but as Wan graduated to big-budget movies like The Conjuring, Furious 7, and Aquaman, Whannel has stayed in the genre trenches. But he made a huge leap in the Hollywood with the action film Upgrade.
In ‘The Invisible Man’, Whannell seems a lot more interested in showing the consequences of being haunted by an abuser than the psychological ones, but Moss holds the film together with her deeply committed performance. She understands that this is a film about a woman who’s stopped believing she’ll never really feel safe again. Moss perfectly captures the sense of invasion and helplessness. Her growing strength, in the face of such an overwhelming threat, is the movie’s most empowering element. At the same time, Whannell builds the suspense all the way ’til the closing moments. He’s succeeded by stepping away from blockbuster effects and engaging with an old monster in a new way.
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