Current Events > JAKAS Presents Good Movie or Bad Movie - Hollow Man (2000)

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INTRO

Welcome to my series of topics! I'm asking the question of if a movie is "Good" or "Bad". Feel free to caveat in the topic, since there are definitely movies that are objectively terrible that someone can like. Also, I'm gonna go alphabetically usually so if you have a movie you want tossed in here, go for it and give me a recommendation.

NOTE : It is unlikely I will put in universally beloved films since I mean, the jury is kinda already out on that. No reason to really ask if Jurassic Park is a good or bad movie. I might break this now and then with my own personal favorites or universally beloved movies that I personally don't like since you know, it's my series of topics.

NOTE 2 : Why is there no "Meh" option? Cause that would dominate the topic every single time. I'm usually not picking universally loved or hated movies, so forcing you to pick whether it's good or bad, that dichotomy? It's kinda the point. If you can't hedge and you just gotta say it's a good movie or not... what is your answer.

FILM DISCUSSION *SPOILERS*

Ahhh, the film that basically ended Paul Verhoeven working with large Hollywood studios. By his own admission too! But we will get to it!

Hollow Man is the story of a scientist who is developing a drug for the military to turn people invisible. They successfully get it working on a gorilla and the lead on the project, played by Kevin Bacon, kinda just says Fuck It and does it to himself. However, the reversal process doesn't work and they find out that the side effects of the procedure is bringing about tremendous aggression in the test animals. Our "Hollow Man" slowly goes nutso, using his invisibility to play pranks on the staff, feeling up his ex-GF, and then getting more aggressive and becoming a brutal murderer.

In comparison to what had been done with other Invisible Man type stories, it was kind of disappointing that the concept of someone being invisible just turns into a bit of a slasher movie villain rather than exploring any sort of social message. This is especially true when you realize this is the last "Hollywood" film that Paul Verhoeven has done. His own direct quote about the film?

"I decided after Hollow Man, this is a movie, the first movie that I made that I thought I should not have made. It made money and this and that, but it really is not me anymore. I think many other people could have done that. I don't think many people could have made RoboCop that way, or either Starship Troopers. But Hollow Man, I thought there might have been 20 directors in Hollywood who could have done that. I felt depressed with myself after 2002... It is very boring. I felt that I failed to transform it. What I had made was an on-demand studio movie. I decided I did not want to do that again."

As he said, it made money despite how disappointed he was with the film. Most reviewers at the time basically said it became a slasher flick with a sci-fi edge to it, and that while that was ultimately, "fine", it wasn't really special in any way. The special effects were amazing at the time and everyone was praising it for showing a believable invisible man, despite all the ways in which it was difficult to achieve. It was nominated for an Academy Award for the visual effects. Apparently Kevin Bacon accepted the role in some part cause he was told he wouldn't need to be there the whole time, as his character would be "invisible" often and he could dub over a body double... which they didn't follow through on and he needed to be there for all the filming. Elisabeth Shue tore her achilles and filming was delayed by about 8 weeks while she recovered.

I think it is intriguing to look at it now less as a miss from Verhoeven and maybe look at it as a slasher/horror film instead. Is it a good film under that critical lens? I remember watching it and being impressed with what I saw from it with the effects but definitely it didn't feel like a Verhoeven movie. It felt like a pretty good slasher horror movie. Is that enough for you to give it a thumbs up?

https://youtu.be/XufZT_CRW88?si=YMfXzb7eFf-INv39

PREVIOUS POLL RESULTS

Angels in the Outfield (94) - 22 Good, 5 bad, 3 not seen
Brave - 20 good, 16 bad, 11 not seen
Couples Retreat - 4 good, 9 bad, 4 not seen
Demolition Man - 57 good, 4 bad, 1 not seen
Enemy of the State - 19 good, 3 bad, 6 not seen
Frozen - 20 good, 8 bad, 9 not seen
Ghostbusters 2016 - 12 good, 33 bad, 11 not seen
How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days - 7 good, 7 bad, 9 not seen
I Am Legend - 12 good, 13 bad, 7 not seen
Jurassic Park 3 - 7 good, 19 bad, 0 not seen
Kindergarten Cop - 45 good, 12 bad, 6 not seen
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider - 11 good, 21 bad, 6 not seen
Matrix Reloaded - 30 good, 19 bad, 0 not seen
National Treasure - 31 good, 6 bad, 7 not seen
Oz The Great and Powerful - 4 good, 6 bad, 9 not seen
Patch Adams - 12 Good, 7 bad, 10 not seen
Quiz Show - 6 good, 0 bad, 9 not seen
Role Models - 15 good, 5 bad, 4 not seen
Superman Returns - 8 good, 14 bad, 9 not seen
Titan AE - 11 good, 3 bad, 7 not seen
Uncharted - 2 good, 9 bad, 8 not seen
Van Wilder - 21 good, 7 bad, 3 not seen
Where The Wild Things Are - 11 good, 9 bad, 10 not seen
X-Men 3 The Last Stand - 13 good, 20 bad, 5 not seen
You've Got Mail - 5 good, 6 bad, 4 not seen
Zathura - 9 good, 2 bad, 9 not seen
Star Wars Last Jedi - 29 good, 45 bad, 4 not seen
Aladdin and the King of Thieves - 16 good, 6 bad, 11 not seen
Batman Forever - 13 good, 16 bad, 4 not seen
Clue - 39 good, 0 bad, 14 haven't seen
Donnie Darko - 44 good, 13 bad, 10 haven't seen
Event Horizon - 25 good, 8 bad, 6 not seen
Forgetting Sarah Marshall - 25 good, 6 bad, 5 not seen
Golden Compass - 8 good, 3 bad, 14 haven't seen

I'll say what I said before:

A) did not remember Josh Brolin was in this, that's pretty neat to see 20 years later

B) there's a scene in the movie that's pretty good foreshadowing to him being evil after he turns invisible if he finds stuff like sexual assault funny, which he in turn later tries to do in the very same movie

I always wondered if Kevin Bacon playing the villain in movies like Hollow Man and Footloose are what inspired the director to cast him as the bad guy in X-Men: First Class.

It's funny because I used to watch the shortlived invisible man show that was canceled where invisible man was a good guy so to see invisible man as a bad guy scared me.

This one:

https://i.imgur.com/MQ9JBZ2.jpeg

It was an actually ok film

Interesting to see the mostly positive reception so far.

Morning bump

It was pretty bad.

Bumpies!

Damn, it's been that long already? Anyway, I don't remember much about it but do remember that I liked it for the most part, except for the rapey scenes.

GeminiDeus posted...

Damn, it's been that long already? Anyway, I don't remember much about it but do remember that I liked it for the most part, except for the rapey scenes.

Yeah those scenes are uncomfortable.

...Why is kevin bacon always evil?

Love it has one of those movies i come back to, and always see something i didn't notice before. Last year, saw the "Cut" version, and boy...shouldn't show that at the movies.

It's special effects are still good.

The way Bacon tells the "Superman Joke" is amazing delivery

Bacon isn't ALWAYS evil.

Love it!

saspa posted...

I always wondered if Kevin Bacon playing the villain in movies like Hollow Man and Footloose

He was a villain in Footloose?

Kinda tbh

Likely gonna move to an I movie later tonight! Suggestions are open as always.