“Hollow man – invisible danger‘ is a pretty big hit. And not only in terms of violence, but also in terms of misogyny of the completely egocentric title character. Dutchman Paul Verhoeven took on the staging of the 2000 title. The creator of modern sci-fi classics like “RoboCop” and “Total Recall” almost consistently receives negative reviews for his work. The almost caustic cynical sexism presented was just one of the criticisms. Most writers mainly complained about the extremely thin story, based on HG Wells’ novel “The Invisible Man”, which has been made into many films.
If you still want to take the risk: “Hollow Man – Invisible Danger” is on ZDF Neo today, July 5, 2023 at 11:15 p.m. If the date doesn’t suit you, you can currently stream the movie on MagentaTV’s regular schedule. Alternatively, online retailers like Amazon offer the thriller as a Blu-ray, DVD, or video-on-demand:
Those who enjoyed the sci-fi horror can check out the 2006 follow-up Hollow Man 2 – this time starring Christian Slater (“True Romance”) as the invisible one.
“Hollow Man” on ZDF Neo: that’s the story
Scientist Sebastian Caine (Kevin Bacon) has been commissioned by the US Department of Defense to invent a substance that can make people invisible. After much tinkering, he finally thinks he has reached his goal. Without hesitation, the ambitious Caine spontaneously injects himself with the serum for a self-experiment, which is actually successful at first: no one can see him anymore.
For now, he only uses his perfect camouflage to play a few pranks on his lab colleagues. But frustrated that the procedure can’t just be reversed, he flees the lab days later. He comes up with the idea of stalking his attractive neighbor (Rhona Mitra) and even rapes her. Apparently, the drug has drastic side effects in terms of inhibition threshold. And soon Caine doesn’t shy away from even worse deeds…
Paul Verhoeven regrets ‘Hollow Man’
Despite all the weaknesses of the comic, one aspect of the “Hollow Man”, which was quite successful with almost $ 200 million at the worldwide box office, still stands out: the special effects are really remarkably good for the time. Both the invisibility of the title character in all its shades, and the fire and slasher sequences were implemented in an amazingly lifelike way – for this there were several awards and even an Oscar nomination.
In addition, a look at the cast list can also lead one or the other to tune in. Joining the cast are Avengers 2-4 supervillain Josh Brolin and Elizabeth Shue from The Boys, along with Kevin Bacon, who was last seen in the Guardians Of The Galaxy Holiday Special. In other parts you will meet Kim Dickens (“Gone Girl”), Rhona Mitra from “Doomsday”, Greg Grunberg (“Heroes”) and William Devane (“The Marathon Man”).
in a interview from 2013 Director Paul Verhoeven also agrees with the criticism: he would regret making the film and would have been very depressed for a long time afterwards. To date, “Hollow Man” is Verhoeven’s last Hollywood project. Because after this negative experience he went back to Europe. There he apparently caught himself again and in 2016 delivered a late masterpiece with the brilliant “Elle”.
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