The Invisible Man (Leigh Whannell, February 28, 2020) Movie • Page 5

I figured they’d go with the light bending route - the most plausible tech for something like that suit. The cameras look cool though so I get why they did that.

 

Chameleotech

 

This blew me away, some of the best direction I’ve ever seen from this type of thriller - framing and camera pans were masterful. The premise was great for establishing tension, anything could happen at any moment and I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. Every open doorframe or window became something ominous

Didn’t realize until reading back through this thread that Whannell also directed Upgrade but it makes a lot of sense in retrospect, two amazing films under his belt already, can’t wait to see what he does next

 

Also, it’s perfectly believable that some shitty tech mogul has developments unknown to the public? I’m sure they are all perfectly transparent

That being said, what a strange and stupid thing to nitpick in a movie that is about the long term effects of abuse/accompanying paranoia and not about how invisibility suits could plausibly work

 

Ok now I’m laughing at the “they didn’t explain the invisible suit enough” take.

 

My biggest issue with this movie is that I watched the trailer beforehand. Almost all the big scenes (besides the restaurant scene) were stripped of so much tension because I knew what was coming. Especially the paint scene. What an incredible scene totally and needlessly spoiled by the trailer.

 

Lol There’s an invisible suit involved? That sounds fucking stupid

 

Oof definitely a lot of missed distinctions here. Anyways did they ever explain the brother thing?

 

pretty thoroughly in multiple scenes? i honestly don’t get what part of the brother dynamic you’re so hung up on

 

Must have missed those scenes

 

I have no issue with Adrian having an invisible suit — but how Cecelia knew how to use it, mind you in a matter of a few minutes, is way beyond me

 

You wear it and press the on button?

 

...that doesn’t feel like a huge oversimplification for such an incredibly advanced piece of equipment to you? I mean I know it’s a nitpick but sheesh

 

I mean, she discovers the suits existence because she hit the off button earlier in the movie.

 

Yeah I guess I realized it’s the kind of horror you’re just supposed to take at face value not really ask questions cuz you won’t get any reasonable answers. Which to be fair doesn’t necessarily equal bad horror, except when that comes to plot - which was why I didn’t like this movie. There didn’t seem to be any apparent motivation for the brother to now be in the suit. For his brother he hates? Or he doesn’t hate? Or he was manipulated? Or he wants her to have his brother’s baby (lol?) Maybe I just missed the context of watching a remake of a classic original I’ve never seen, which is honestly what I think it is - for example I came in expecting a scifi element and got none, which I’m guessing I wouldn’t have expected had I seen the original.

oh yeah and when the girl was like “oi ya hit me” when she could clearly see she didn’t lol.

 

Tom was completely under his brother's control cos he'd been manipulated since they were children. which the movie explained, like, multiple times but

 

Yeah how was he manipulated though

 

Do he use that dank rich child money over him when they were kids

 

Also I could be wrong but I think the movie only “explains” that once and it’s done in a way where you don’t even trust what the brother is saying at that point

 

I think manipulation just happens in families. Even healthy ones. Imagine the level of manipulation going on in an unhealthy one where one of the family members is an actual sociopath.

 

just guessing here but prolly using the same tactics he used to manipulate Cecilia throughout the entirety of the film, eg isolating them from friends, making them feel alone or insane, turning everyone against them etc etc

 

Yeah, I guess that true!

 

Anyway, I liked this enough. The whole first act felt like the epilogue we never get to see in many other horror movies, which feels weird to say is “cool” since its depiction of the lasting effects of abuse is accurately pretty heartbreaking, but it's at the very least an interesting foundation to build on. From the literal opening shot of the movie, we never truly get to see Cecelia take a genuine breath of relief -- no "everything is okay" grace period like a horror movie would normally have before things start going south.

The element of empty space and the way the camera shifts around the room in certain scenes reminded me a lot of Paranormal Activity (particularly the third one) and I really enjoyed that. By the second act we've gone from being able to physically see Adrian's location and verify he's not around, all the way to being forced to assume he's in every room Cecelia is in without actual proof. It puts us right on the pins and needles with her, scanning the room for literally anything to validate the paranoia. My favorite instance is her staring at the empty couch in the facility she's being held in after Tom leaves the room, trying to figure out if Adrian saw her steal that pen.

But it's possible to understand the positives here and praise the movie for gracefully exploring those themes, while also acknowledging minor flaws in the actual functionality of the narrative itself — even if suspension of disbelief allows for them to not really matter anyway. This movie had its fair share of that imo. That said I personally don’t think any of it made this a Bad Movie​

 

People that have never met people in families that have life-long manipulation and "loyalty no matter what" engrained in them are really showing their asses here.

 

Agree, of all the little bones to pick in this movie, the Adrian/Tom dynamic is quite a choice