Paul Verhoeven's "Hollow Man"

Verhoeven is back after the relatively poor stateside showings of "Starship Troopers" and the now legendary "Showgirls" with an altogether more box-office friendly proposition, a reworking of the invisible man story.

Sebastian Caine (Bacon) heads up a government research group into human invisibility. His team consists of ex-girlfriend Linda McKay (Shue), her current boyfriend Matthew Kensington (Brolin), veterinarian Sarah Kennedy (Dickens), anaesthetist Carter Abbey (Grunberg), computer specialists Joey Slotnick & Janice Walton (Chase & Randle) and of course Isabella the Gorilla (Tom Woodruf Jr. & Gary Hecker).

Invisibility is easy apparently as Isabella demonstrates in a spectacular special effects scene, the difficulty is the serum to make the subject visible again. When Caine believes he has cracked the problem he lies to Pentagon boss Dr. Kramer (Devane) and proceeds to test the new serum upon himself. What first starts off as a game soon turns decidedly sinister.

Verhoeven starts off by looking deeper into to the philosophical aspects of the nature of invisibility than any other movie in this genre. Taking at Platonic outlook on the nature of man Verhoeven tells us that an invisible man freed from the constraints of society would abuse the power, this is perhaps not a surprising attitude from a director who grew up in occupied Netherlands, it is not one that I personally share, but it none the less interesting.

Bacon is at his best as he suitably portrays the doctor with a god-complex in the movies first half and if he doesn't follow through in the second half this is more the fault of the script than the performer. Shue and Brolin are disappointingly bland as our so-called heroes while the other meat props play the role of f/x-fodder with a suitable lack of conviction.

Sadly, due it seems to commercial considerations, Verhoeven doesn't feel at liberty to pursue the avenue of intellectual investigation, in the scene where Caine makes an invisible house call on his neighbour played by the delectable Rhona Mitra, Verhoeven cuts suddenly, leaving much to our imagination, instead of following through. This surprisingly gutless performance from a director who I have a great deal of respect for greatly undermines the entire production.

The film never recovers from this early let down and quickly degenerates to a second half that is little more than an elaborate slasher flick as Caine locks down the lab and hunts down his colleagues one-by-one, taking them out in typically gory fashion, McKay and Kensington even go so far as to break out the "Aliens" motion trackers in their attempt to escape Caine's wrath.

Marlowe's script is second-rate at best, the sudden shift in gear from Caine the arrogant scientist to Caine the psychotic killer is never sufficiently explained, the characters are poorly sketched and the dialogue is crass and un-intelligent, there is no sign of the suitably of the post-modern slasher flick or indeed Verhoeven's own brilliant "Starship Troopers".

The only saving grace is Imageworks' fantastic special effects which take the voyeuristic nature of slasher films interest not only in the human form but also what lies beneath, turning the cameras penetrating examination of the bones and viscera, as Isabella and Caine phase in and out of visibility and the researchers are splattered, into a thing of true beauty.

Let's hope this disappointing film does well so Verhoeven can get back to doing what he does best.

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