Universal has attempted to create its own ‘Monster-verse’ for a long time now. From movies like Van Helsing (2004) to Dracula Untold (2014) to the recent ‘The Mummy’ (2017), it became abundantly clear that Universal wanted to quickly replicate the success that Marvel has had, without laying a solid foundation to support such an endeavor. As expected, their ‘putting the cart before the horse’ approach crashed and burned every time and now, they seem to be taking things slower and in a totally new direction.

PS – remember this star-studded picture?

Hell, even Angelina Jolie was rumored to play the Bride of Frankenstein. RIP Dark Universe…

In ‘The Invisible Man,’ Cecilia escapes the clutches of her incredibly smart and opulent yet abusive boyfriend (Adrian) and seeks to start her own life. Soon after, she learns that her boyfriend committed suicide and left her his vast fortune, with a couple of (fairly-reasonable) stipulations. Good, right? Not so fast. Cecilia’s life soon becomes a nightmare, as she realizes that her supposed-dead boyfriend is back and is well– invisible and starts terrorizing her and her friends.

Positives

Elizabeth Moss gives such an excellent performance as the tormented Cecilia. Her multi-faceted performance is very similar to Lupita Nyong’o’s performance in Jordan Peele’s Us, where they’re forced to make people believe in something so ‘ludicrous.’ However, Moss completely sells the pain, anger, fear, and frustration so effortlessly.

Courtesy of Universal Pictures, Blumhouse Productions, Goalpost Pictures, and Nervous Tick

Cecilia, unfortunately, also deals with an incredible amount of gaslighting in the film, something all too prevalent in society today. She is sure that Adrian is indeed behind the mayhem (thanks to his expertise in the field of optics) but, she has no way to prove that her dead boyfriend is indeed alive and well and has also found a way to be invisible. As a result, Adrian capitalizes on her apparent descent into madness and starts alienating her from her friends and family. After all, he is presented as an extremely meticulous narcissist, who’s concocted a ‘clever’ plan to win her back. Apparently, Cecilia is the only woman to ever leave him, which hurt his fragile ego. Throughout the film, you feel for her and her powerlessness in the situation.  Furthermore, The ‘Invisible Man’ is definitely real (spoiler alert?) but more importantly, he is a parable for the pain and suffering that victims (especially women) endure, long after a toxic and abusive relationship has ended. Even seemingly-innocuous actions like going out to get the mail end up being difficult to overcome, as Adrian had such a deep control of her. She mentions the fact that he controlled what she wore, who she talked to, when she could leave, etc. Another theme of the movie is the use of surveillance and the role it plays in trivializing domestic abuse, as evident in the Weinstein case. Not to scare you any further but I highly recommend reading about a new facial recognition company called Clearview AI and its potential implications, should it ever be made available to the public.

Anyone that has known me for any period of time knows that I’m pretty stoic during a horror movie. A majority of the time, the jump scares are painfully predictable and lack any sense of build-up. Not here, folks. There are ‘jump-scares’ in this one that are well-earned and actually made me, well — jump. Clearly, director Leigh Whannell knows how to craft jump scares, without them feeling cheap. That being said, he never exclusively relies on jump-scares either. Instead, he puts his characters through situations that are arguably more frightening and awful than the ‘monster’ itself, which makes it all the scarier.

As mentioned before, the direction here is spectacular. One aspect I especially love is the use of spacing. Despite the houses being incredibly spacious, you can’t help but feel Cecilia’s claustrophobia. There is a constant, palpable sense of dread that the ‘Invisible Man’ is lurking around and watching her, which further adds to the suspense. In addition, Whannell clearly has an eye for action, as showcased in his last film, Upgrade. Check out Upgrade, by the way!

Negatives

Even though it was not a problem for me, some might get a tad bit bored by the slow-burn of the first 2 acts. For me, however, the first 2/3rd of the movie is more emotionally resonant and thought-provoking than the action-fueled final act. Don’t get me wrong, the third-act is really enjoyable but it’s definitely not as cerebral as the first 2 acts.

In addition, some of the twists are pretty predictable. Being an ‘Invisible Man’ movie, there are quite a bit of plot conveniences and logic is sporadically thrown out the window. Finally, there are a lot of events that transpire in public locations, with visible security cameras, but they’re inexplicably ignored.

Rating – Must-Watch

The Invisible Man is an incredibly powerful and empowering movie about an abused woman trying to overcome years of psychological trauma by confronting the monster from her past. Scares and suspense aside, this is a thematically-rich, thought-provoking movie that absolutely warrants a watch at the theatres!