Hollow Man [Region 2] |  | Director: Paul Verhoeven
Actors: Kevin Bacon, Elisabeth Shue, Josh Brolin, Kim Dickens, Greg Grunberg
Category: DVD
Buy Used: $28.96
Rating:  268 reviews
Format: Pal
Languages: Dutch (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), Hindi (Subtitled), English (Original Language)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 2
Discs: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Running Time: 112 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 5035822908567
ASIN: B00006JNC8
Theatrical Release Date: August 4, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com
In Paul Verhoeven's appropriately shallow Hollow Man, Kevin Bacon plays a bad-boy egotistical scientist who heads up a double-secret government team experimenting with turning life-forms invisible. How do we know he's a bad boy? Because he (a) wears a leather overcoat, (b) compares himself to God, (c) drives a sports car, and (d) spies on his comely next-door neighbor while eating Twinkies. Sadly, this is the most character development anyone gets in this undernourished action/sci-fi thriller, which boasts some amazing special effects and some amazingly ridiculous plot twists. After experimenting rather ruthlessly on a menagerie of lab animals, Bacon finally cracks the code that will turn the invisible gorillas, dogs, and so on, back into their visible forms. Does it work on humans? Faster than you can say "six degrees," Mr. Bacon appoints himself human guinea pig, strapping down for an injection of fluorescent-colored serum. Thanks to some phenomenal, seamless and Oscar-worthy computer effects, Bacon is indeed rendered invisible, organ by organ, vein by vein. And what's the first thing you'd do if you were invisible? Why, spy on your female coworkers in the bathroom and molest your comely next-door neighbor, of course! Soon, Bacon is thoroughly psychotic, and it's up to Elisabeth Shue (Bacon's coworker and ex-girlfriend) and hunky Josh Brolin (her current snuggle bunny) to defeat the invisible man, who's picking off the science team one by one. You'd think this would be a prime opportunity for copious amounts of cheesy sex and aggressive violence--which Verhoeven served up so well and so exuberantly in Starship Troopers and Basic Instinct--but if anything, the director seems to tone down the proceedings, and really, who wants a muted Paul Verhoeven movie? Shue (who got top billing and a bad haircut to boot) and Brolin (who, yes, does take off his shirt at least once) generate little heat, and while Bacon does give an effective, primarily voice-oriented performance, his character is so underdeveloped that, well, you can see right through him. --Mark Englehart
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| Customer Reviews: Read 263 more reviews...
 This movie is a big disappointment! May 11, 2009
Harmonybee (United States)
The trailer made this movie out to be better than it really was. This movie is the only movie I can say is worse than Troll 2 at least Troll 2 didn't have the pretense of being an awesome movie. This movie had a theatrical release and an awesome trailer so there is no excuse for this movie to suck!
Hollowman had awesome special effects and high caliber actors how come it's such a worthless piece of crap?
Oh because the script much like the title is practically non-existent!
 Shallow but watchable and well acted May 6, 2009
T. D. Welsh (Basingstoke, Hampshire UK)
I should lay my cards on the table and admit that I thoroughly dislike Paul Verhoeven's films (well certainly "Starship Troopers" and "Total Recall" - who else could ruin a Heinlein and a PKD?) I think his approach to making films is condescending, meretricious, and cynical; and I don't relish being patronised.
"Hollow Man" displays all the standard symptoms of advanced Verhoeven Syndrome: shallow plot, no character development, gratuitous violence, and a contempt for the laws of science that almost amounts to an organised campaign to subvert SF as a genre. Witness the dramatic idea (stolen directly from H.G. Wells, of course) of making animals and human beings completely invisible, without the slightest shred of scientific explanation except for some mumbo-jumbo about quantum shifts. Making organisms vanish is done by injecting them with a lurid orange liquid injected from an immense hypodermic that looks like a Fisher-Price toy (but only after it's been "irradiated"). Making the creatures visible again calls for the identical process - but this time with a bright blue liquid! (I'm not making this up, honest, although I might have got the colours transposed).
Bacon, who acts as brilliantly as usual, is represented as not too tightly wrapped at the best of times, and when his cunning plan to become world-famous by being the first human to vanish and reappear goes pear-shaped, he sulks and then goes psycho. Cue an outbreak of picturesque violence loaded with themes stolen from here, there, and everywhere - music reminiscent of "Predator", hidden menaces like those in "Aliens", and of course a huge explosion that hurls a fireball up a lift shaft after Shue and Brolin like those in every other "thriller" for years. Naturally the fire almost catches them, washing over Shue's legs without crisping them or even, indeed, giving her mild sunburn. (The same explosion hurls the lift itself clean past them faster than a BMW on the M40, but there seems to be no shock wave at all). The fireball recedes down the shaft but remains on active duty, chuntering quietly to itself, ready to consume Bacon's body as he hurtles back down (whoops, sorry, spoiler, but some things really can't be spoiled any more than they already are). Brolin is run clean through the guts by some sharp metal object, then semi-frozen, and seems to be at death's door - after which he runs, fights, climbs about a hundred yards of vertical steel ladder, falls a few yards onto a roof, fights some more, and is last seen walking away quite normally, arm-in-arm with Shue.
Yet, even as you wonder what second-hand trick or stunt will come next, you have to admire the acting and even the psychological insight of it all. How many of us have known bosses like the nut-case Bacon depicts? Fortunately, your boss probably can't make himself invisible in order to stalk you - yet, anyway. Imagine how much fun that would be!
Evil Wins April 18, 2009
M. Warner
In real life good and evil are not completely black or white but colored in shades of grey. Kevin Bacon's character was a "good guy" but his scientific ego made him slightly grey along with the others on his staff. After their invisibility experiment worked on him, he went insane and was definitely in the black (evil) zone.
Still, it was hard not to feel sorry for him given there were a couple of scientists more evil than he was. They were not only on scientific ego trips but decided to treat him as a lab rat.
This movie was nauseating because the less evil scientists all die and the most evil scientists live. At least Bacon could claim insanity as a reason for his evilness.
This movie stinks.
Invisible Bacon... March 16, 2009
Bindy Sue Fronkuenschtein (under the rubble)
Dr. Sebastian Craine (Kevin Bacon from Friday The 13th, Tremors, Flatliners, etc.) is a brilliant scientist. He and his team are working on an invisibility serum for the military. This is TOP SECRET stuff of course. After some success w/ animals, Craine decides it's time for a human subject, so, he volunteers. This sets the stage for some spectacular SFX and sophomoric perv action, when Craine goes bananas and uses his invisible state for eeevil rather than for good. Will Elisabeth Shue (Link) and Josh Brolin (The Dead Girl) be able to stop this madman before he murders everyone and escapes the underground facility forever? Will they ever figure out that wearing those special goggles would enable them to see Craine at all times? Now, I agree that the goggles aren't very fashionable, but they could have saved many lives! Anyway, I did enjoy HOLLOW MAN, in spite of its silly plot and imbecilic characters. William Devane (The Dark, Payback) has a small role as a pentagon hack. His death-scene is fairly interesting. HM is watchable for its high-tech cheeze factor...
 UMD Purchase December 28, 2008
A. Ramirez (Duncan, OK)
There was a hiccup at first but was IMMEDIATELY resolved. Absolutely please with the purchase.
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