Hollow Man: Director’s Cut (DVD)
Steve Barton
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Starring Elisabeth Shue, Kevin Bacon, Josh Brolin, Kim Dickens, Greg Grunberg
Directed by Paul Verhoeven
Distributed by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
There are many definitions of the word “hollow”. Let’s take a look at some, shall we? Hollow can mean:
Hmmm. These really don’t apply here. Oh wait! Here it is —
Yep! That’s the one. The perfect description of not only the main character, but of this film itself! Apparently the powers that be figured we needed another version of this movie so here we are.
Meet Sebastian Caine (Bacon). He’s part of an elite scientific team who have discovered how to make matter invisible. Not content with making little things disappear here and there, Caine decides to go right for the gusto by trying out his new serum on a human subject. But who would be stupid or even crazy enough to volunteer for this experiment? Cain himself, that’s who. Things start off without a hitch. Caine’s invisible and his colleagues are thrilled at their team’s success. But then the serum begins to exhibit an unexpected side effect — it drives its host into a murderous rage. YAY!
The premise of Hollow Man is rock solid; it’s just the execution that kind of sucks. Verhoeven’s direction is wooden, and the film’s script is flaccid. The only real reason to sit through this empty mess is for the special F/X, which hold up well even after all these years. Still, the flick is kind of on the violent side, and that makes this horror fan at least somewhat happy!
As far as the director’s cut thing goes, most of the deleted scenes (which were included in the last DVD release as a special feature) have simply been added to the film. This neither helps nor hurts things, but I tell you what, the remastering of the film looks incredible.
As far as the other bits of supplemental material, it’s all back with the exception of the isolated score track (which alleviated the painful dialogue) and the commentary tracks. Ironically, there’s nothing new to see here.
If you have the first DVD release, then you’re still doing okay. If you’re a stickler for having the best looking and most complete cut of a film (even just slightly above average films like this), then break out your wallet and dive in. Those of you who have never seen this and are fans of Universal’s original Invisible Man franchise, be warned — all the additional footage in the world cannot help Hollow Man become more than the empty experience that it is.
Special Features
3 out of 5
Special Features:
3 out of 5
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