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A Review of "The Invisible Man (2020)"

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The Invisible Man is another movie that is based of the acclaimed novel by H.G. Wells. Fun Fact: this was originally going to be the second movie in the cinematic universe “Dark Universe” with Johnny Depp playing the titled character. However, the flop of the Mummy seems to have made Universal focus on standalone Universal monster movies. This new strategy seems to be the right move as The Invisible Man is an absolute thrill of a movie. The general summary of this movie is that Cecilia (Elisabeth Moss) who has escaped an abusive relationship from her ex Adrian (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) only for weeks later to find out he committed suicide. However, she suspects his death was a hoax and that she is being hunted by someone nobody can see.

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The biggest praise of this movie has got to be Elisabeth Moss performance.She gives an authentic performance of a character who has been in an abusive relationship.She makes the emotional stakes feel high and her agony feel genuine. However, she is also able to give a ferocity in her performance when her character decides to fight. She does an incredible job in carrying this movie. The score by Benjamin Wallfisch is also incredibly unsettling and intense when it needs to be. It manages to perfectly elevate the scene in every way and really make the audience invested what they are watching. I also have to praise their unique use of camera shots. The director Leigh Whannell uses a lot of wide shots and panning to make it really feel like there is someone else in the room watching our character Cecilia. The story is also really engaging and is a really smart narrative on woman who have been abused or manipulated. The movie has great scares and great suspenseful moments that are not just relying on jump scares(but there are some) and it is just a breath of fresh air for a horror movie.

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This isn’t the director’s fault but the trailers kind of ruin a fair amount of the surprise sadly. I highly recommend people don’t watch the trailer for this movie cause it will lessen the experience. My biggest issue with this movie is just the amount of plot holes that really make me question things. I will avoid spoiler territory. The first thing I have to question is the lack of cameras? There are security cameras in this world and this movie emphasises cameras but when there is a scene that 100% would have security cameras in the real world, the movie decides it doesn’t exist anymore. Also I have to question how a certain character is able to get to get from point a to point b so quick when there is clearly no transportation used by this character. Additionally, this character somehow knows where everyone is just baffling and unexplained. You have to suspend some of your belief to accept these and unfortunately that is kinda difficult especially considering the tech shown in this movie. The last act of this movie also feels really contrasting to the the slower and suspenseful pace of the first two acts of this movie and it kinda makes it feel like a completely different movie. Honestly, I also prefer the first two acts compared to the last one.  

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Overall, this movie is just a great horror movie and a fresh contemporary adaptation of the novel. If you want a unique and vastly different horror movie experience then this movie is a must watch for you.


 

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