It may seem derivative of his past work, but when you’re Paul Verhoeven, you’re allowed to recycle your best ideas. Instead, he subverts the genre using techniques refined in both his action movies and his erotic thrillers. Yet when they show the car driving on the highway to the lab, all of the shadows are straight down. Hollow Man begins as what might have been Verhoeven’s transition into superheroes. Continuity mistake: At the beginning of the film, a phone conversation tells us that it will be morning soon and Kevin Bacon will meet them at the lab first thing in the morning. It’s like a turbo-speed tour of a “Bodies” museum exhibit.Įven Kevin Bacon’s portrayal of Sebastian, which mostly takes place via a creepy eyeless flesh-colored latex mask with nothing underneath, is incredibly impressive for being released 22 years ago. We see the muscles, the bones, and the organs until eventually all that’s left are the blood vessels. Inspired by medical illustrations, Verhoeven portrays the act of going invisible as literally tearing the body apart layer by layer. There’s another aspect of Hollow Man that renders it similar to more contemporary films: the special effects.
Sebastian comes face to latex face with his “human” disguise. But once Sebastian turns invisible, it gets harder and harder to see him as the hero. Sebastian is a brilliant scientist, cracking wise and annoying his colleagues while successfully bringing a gorilla back to visibility. Because it’s a Verhoeven movie, the procedure goes wrong and leads to terrifying consequences.Īt first, Hollow Man looks like the director’s attempt at a superhero story. It tells the story of Sebastian Caine (Kevin Bacon), a scientist who offers himself up as a test subject for a new technology that turns living creatures invisible.
Hollow Man is a film from 2000 inspired by the H.G.
Thankfully, Verhoeven’s most underrated triumph is now streaming on Netflix. Even 1995’s Showgirls, often critiqued as one of the worst movies ever, has amassed a cult following thanks to its sheer ridiculousness.īut while a unique filmmaker’s best and worst movies can soar to fame, their more commercially acceptable blockbusters often slip through the cracks. Whether it’s Starship Troopers or Basic Instinct, everything he touches is a delight. Paul Verhoeven is one of those directors with the Midas touch.
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