Hollow Man II (2006 Video)
5/10
Intriguing sequel with action,thriller ,suspense and low budget
26 March 2007
This is a horror feast and killing based on H G Wells' novella and the previous film.It concerns about a biologist(Laura Regan)using the same invisibility formula in a military experiment over a soldier(Christian Slater).A detective(Peter Facinelli) is assigned to protect her from invisible man whose invisibility formula drives him insane and the killing,but his mind definitely nut and he plans to use his power to vengeance.The investigator also inoculate himself the powerful potion to battle the mad soldier become in a murdering megalomaniac.But the process is irreversible degenerating into body-count. This invisible man cannot be compared to Kevin Bacon in the first one.We discover who he is and we find out that he was sent out to kill political enemies of the establishment.Slater to get the opportunity of following in Bacon footsteps.The picture follows a lot of rules with being invisible,for instance he can't have any clothes on if you're invisible,when he materialize it can be a little embarrassing like an invisible striker,gets chilly out there running around without clothes.The producers thought in Christian Slater originally for this role because he has such a distinctive voice and while he doesn't appear as much ,because,of course,he's the invisible man he has that voice which is just so recognisable.So much film is done electronically ,the actors are used to working with blank spaces in front of them,nowadays actors in situation having to work with nobody.Paul Verhooven's Hollow man I visual effects were trying what were,at the time,very groundbreaking effects and they were very expensive,in this sequel look better than the original but they're doing it for one-hundredth of the visual effects that they had in the first movie.So the visual detail is excellent ,in spite of the low budget though it can't hide screenplay's lack of imagination.Setting standards and stunning effects specials are copied from previous film because they are difficult to surpass.So,they strap the actors into harnesses,they yank them around on wires,they shove them around with poles and I think it's helpful for the actors to kind of react to a bunch of stunt people, a bunch of wires,it creates a more honest emotion and reaction.The director Claudio Faeh is really interested in making this one a lot creeper than the first one.Darkest in tone and more suspenseful ,it's all about not showing everything we know, a kind of withholding information,withholding bits and pieces.Claudio's vision for the film is to do a modern film noir,but he's still trying to keep it very natural and realistic,keeping it very mood but not too theatrical.
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