Hollow Man
(2000)
Reviewed by Scott Marshall
Rating: 9 Beans

aul Verhoeven is the man to call if you want a
movie which combines slick special effects and
stylish direction- often with a story that is
thought-provoking and perhaps even a little
subversive (witnessed in THE NASTY GIRL,
ROBOCOP, STARSHIP TROOPERS, and even
BATMAN FOREVER).

Unfortunately HOLLOW MAN is all effects and
very little substance. Like other tales of invisible
men, there is some brief pondering about the
corruption caused by the sudden acquisition of
power; but mostly it is a little soap opera about a
genius scientist (Kevin Bacon), his ex-girlfriend
(Elizabeth Shue) and the rest of his research
team.

What would you do if you were invisible? A
bunch of really unpleasant things, it would
seem. You see, you would be driven mad due
to lack of rest since you would see right through
your eyelids and would never be able to sleep.
Unless, that is, you WORE A BLINDFOLD. And
the giant plot holes- or rather, the giant holes
around which some scraps of plot happened to
drape- only get better from there.

As an action hero, Elizabeth Shue has yet to
match her debut in ADVENTURES IN
BABYSITTING, but she does have a
McGyveresque scene which is the exact place
where the movie goes from merely
preposterous to downright goofy. Her nemesis-
easily the worst ex-boyfriend ever- becomes
strangely impervious to having all of his skin
burnt off, severe head injuries, and the urinary
tract infection which he surely must have
contracted from running around naked all the
time.

Looking forward to Bacon’s next movie, which
will hopefully show even less of his genitals.

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