'The Invisible Man': Trailer Review
Hollywood has been trying to get a new Universal Monsters universe off the ground for awhile now. I guess thats the latest property they’ve decided to make a stale reboot out of. Their first entry into the ‘Dark Universe’, as they've called it, was 2017’s ‘The Mummy’ which was a snoozer and a box office flop. After that miserable failure, they’ve apparently scrapped the shared universe idea and are opting for standalone films instead. And so, we’re getting a reimagined Invisible Man directed by Leigh Whannell, a creator of the 'Saw' franchise. Here’s the trailer:
Of course, the original version is notorious for it’s groundbreaking special effects, which still, almost a century later, don't look half bad. However, those effects are no longer difficult to achieve and it’s not impressive for a film to be showing them off in 2020. Judging by the trailer—and who the director is—it seems like this is meant to be a gritty, blood-spattered take on the 1933 original. Effects of floating objects and mysteriously rocking chairs are more fitting for a little kid’s ghost movie than this.
Another first impression to take away is that this looks like a “nobody believes me” movie. Thats a term I just made up for movies where the protagonist is the only person in the world who knows something that looks crazy to everyone else. In these movies, the main character almost always goes around ranting and raving, making themselves look insane and causing the plot to go round and round in a stagnant circle. Personally, I find this to be one of the most annoying movie tropes there is and I hope there won’t be much of it here.
There could be some hope for ‘The Invisible Man’. Leigh Whannell always seems to have interesting ideas. His last movie ‘Upgrade’ was definitely fun and original. It appears he has the artistic reigns and some of the liberties he’s taking look similar to what we saw in that film. This trailer doesn’t have me expecting much though.