Movie Review by Cindy Summers
The Invisible Man
Breeze rating from 1 to 4 palm trees, 4 being best.
Finally finding the courage to leave her violent controlling husband, Cecilia Kass (Elizabeth Moss) drugged him, grabbed her go bag, met her sister Emily on a nearby road, and sped off into the night to seek shelter with her sister’s ex husband and childhood friend James, who was also a police officer. Shortly thereafter, Cecilia’s ex husband, wealthy scientist Adrian Griffin (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), commits suicide leaving her a substantial fortune, though Cecilia doesn’t want it being suspicious that his death was a hoax. Cecilia becomes convinced through various events that her ex husband is alive and through his own research has found a way to be invisible, now using that to torment her and threaten the lives of those around her. Released by Universal Pictures, Directed and Written by Leigh Whannell and Starring Elizabeth Moss as Cecilia Kass.
Cecilia had numerous experiences proving that her ex husband was indeed alive and somehow invisible, but the problem was no one else witnessed these incidents and given the circumstances began to question Cecilia’s sanity. Following an incident where James’ daughter Sydney was injured by an invisible force framing Cecilia, she returns to her home to look for answers and finds an invisibility suit, which she hides, just prior to a violent fight with an invisible attacker.
After appearing to kill her sister in front of witnesses at a restaurant (a knife floated up from the table and slit Emily’s throat), Cecilia is confined to a mental health facility, where she learns she’s pregnant. Adrian’s brother Tom, the lawyer in charge of his estate, somehow found out about the pregnancy and visits the mental facility in an attempted to force Cecilia to take a deal based on the original agreement being hinged on her not having a felony or deemed mentally unstable.
Cecilia refuses and finds an opportunity to take Tom’s pen and stab Adrian repeatedly, who was at the meeting invisibly, which caused the suit to malfunction and flicker to easily be seen alerting the facility security. The suit was functional enough for Adrian to go on an invisible rampage killing most of the staff and implicating Cecilia as the primarily suspect, making a deal with Cecilia that because of the pregnancy he would not hurt her or the baby, but instead planned to target James’ daughter Sydney.
The invisible villain went to James’ house followed by Cecilia and attacked both Sydney and James. Cecilia used a fire extinguisher to reveal the invisibility suit and mortally shot him, only to find it was Adrian’s brother Tom wearing the suit. Police found Cecilia’s ex tied up in the basement at the house, supposedly a victim himself, though Cecilia was convinced that it was exactly like when he faked his suicide.
Knowing the only way to be free would be to lock him up or end him, Cecilia meets Adrian for dinner at their old home and tries to get him to confess to his actions while on camera. Unable to convince him to tell the truth, Cecilia uses the previously hidden invisibility suit and causes Adrian to take his own life, appearing to be an actual suicide on the home security system.
Elizabeth Moss is excellent at appearing both the vulnerable victim while also a fearless hero unstoppable against all odds in this constantly surprising story with many tense plot twists. The suspense will have viewers on the edge of their seats, experiencing over and over again the helpless feeling of watching terrible things unfold with no ability to battle an invisible villain.
R (for some strong bloody violence, and language)
110 minutes
