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Hollow Man is a 2000 American science fiction horror film directed by Paul Verhoeven and starring Kevin Bacon, Elisabeth Shue, and Josh Brolin. The film is about a scientist who renders himself invisible, a story inspired by H. G. Wells' The Invisible Man. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Visual Effects in 2001, but lost to Gladiator. A direct-to-video sequel called Hollow Man 2 starring Christian Slater and Peter Facinelli was released in 2006.
| Hollow Man | |
|---|---|
 Film poster for Hollow Man | |
| Directed by | Paul Verhoeven |
| Screenplay by | Andrew W. Marlowe |
| Story by | Gary Scott Thompson Andrew W. Marlowe |
| Produced by | Douglas Wick Alan Marshall Stacy Lumbrezer (co-producer) Marion Rosenberg (executive producer) |
| Starring | Kevin Bacon Elisabeth Shue Josh Brolin Kim Dickens Greg Grunberg Joey Slotnick Mary Randle William Devane |
| Cinematography | Jost Vacano |
| Edited by | Mark Goldblatt Ron Vignone (extended version) |
| Music by | Jerry Goldsmith |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 119 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $95 million |
| Box office | $190,213,455[1] |
Plot
Scientist Sebastian Caine (Kevin Bacon) has developed a serum that can make a subject invisible. His team of scientists, which includes ex-girlfriend Dr. Linda McKay (Elisabeth Shue) and Dr. Matt Kensington (Josh Brolin), eventually enable the serum to work on a gorilla and restore it to visibility. Sebastian becomes obsessed with Linda while unbeknownst to him, she has become involved with Matt.
Instead of reporting his success to the military, Sebastian lies to the oversight committee which includes his mentor Dr. Howard Kramer (William Devane), convincing his team to go right into human testing. The procedure is successfully performed on Sebastian, but three days later, the reversion fails.
Sebastian is quarantined in the laboratory due to his condition and the researchers construct a latex mask for him to wear around the lab. Unable to cope with the isolation, he heads to his apartment to bring some things back to the lab. There, he spies on his neighbor (Rhona Mitra) and rapes her while fully invisible.
Linda warns him that if he leaves again, she and Matt will tell the committee about the experiment. Ignoring their threat, Sebastian assembles a device that runs a video loop of his heat signature in his quarters. He leaves the lab again and spies on Linda and Matt, becoming enraged when he sees them having sex.
The team soon discover that they have been watching a recording and that Sebastian has been escaping without their knowledge. Linda and Matt go to Dr. Kramer's house and confess their experiments. After they leave, Kramer attempts to warn the military, but Sebastian, who followed Linda and Matt to the house, drowns him in his own swimming pool.
The next day, Sebastian waits until all of the team is in the lab and then disables the phones and all of the elevator codes except for his own. He removes his clothing and latex mask and, invisible, begins to hunt them all down.
Linda and the others hide in the lab while Matt and another technician take tranquilizer guns to hunt for Sebastian using thermal imaging goggles. While on top of a pipe, Sebastian throws the technician toward a steel bar, which hits his carotid artery. Matt tries to shoot Sebastian, but is instead almost killed by Sebastian until Linda drags him to safety.
One of the researchers heads to the freezer to get blood for a transfusion but is killed by Sebastian. He then attacks the others with a crowbar and locks Linda and Matt in the freezer, leaving them to freeze to death.
Linda constructs an electromagnet using a defibrillator and uses it to open the freezer door. She then gathers parts to assemble a flamethrower. Sebastian goes to the lab and creates nitroglycerin and puts it in a centrifuge with a timer to destroy the facility.
Just as he enters the elevator to leave, Linda appears and fires the flamethrower at him. Sebastian barely manages to escape the flames and the two fight. Just as she is about to lose, Matt appears and hits Sebastian with the crowbar. Sebastian recovers and approaches Matt and Linda from behind with the crowbar, but Matt deflects the blow, throwing Sebastian into a nearby circuit box, electrocuting him.
Linda and Matt find the nitroglycerin about to explode, and decide to climb up the elevator shaft to escape. The two are almost out when a injured and partially visible Sebastian appears. He fights with Linda before she grabs the elevator cable and knocks the car loose, sending Sebastian falling to his death. Linda and Matt emerge from the burning laboratory, and medics take them away in an ambulance.
Cast
- Elisabeth Shue as Linda McKay
- Kevin Bacon as Sebastian Caine/Hollow Man
- Josh Brolin as Matthew Kensington
- Kim Dickens as Sarah Kennedy
- Greg Grunberg as Carter Abbey
- Joey Slotnick as Frank Chase
- Mary Randle as Janice Walton
- William Devane as Dr. Howard Kramer
- Rhona Mitra as Sebastian's Neighbor
Reception
The film received negative reviews. As of 2013, the movie currently holds a 27% "rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 113 reviews. The site's consensus states: "Despite awesome special effects, Hollow Man falls short of other films directed by Paul Verhoeven. This flick over time degenerates into a typical horror film." Most critics praised the visual effects employed on making Kevin Bacon invisible, which earned the film a nomination at the 2001 Academy Awards. However, many critics criticized the plot and acting, with some claiming it contains hallmarks of slasher films and misogynistic undertones.
A fake review attributed to David Manning was revealed in late 2001 as a hoax, created by Sony to fake publicity for the film.[2] Despite a poor response from critics, the film debuted at #1 with $26.4 million in its opening weekend. In total, Hollow Man went on to gross $190 million worldwide, making it a box office success by beating out its $95 million budget.
References
- ^ Hollow Man (2000) - Box Office Mojo, Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 13 August 2012.
- ^ Sony admits using fake reviewer, BBC News, June 4, 2001
External links
- Hollow Man at IMDb
- Template:Allmovie title
- Hollow Man at Rotten Tomatoes
- "Official Court Notice" (PDF). David Manning settlement. Blumenthal, Nordrehaug & Bhowmik. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-02-06. Retrieved 2011-05-23.