This movie had been released in Indonesian theaters since few days ago but as the show time was not too suitable with my work schedule (mostly 6PM which was too tight from my office), I had to wait till the weekend to see this. My wife who just saw the trailer on Saturday morning decided it was interesting enough to accompany me. OK, let's continue with the movie.
Brief Story Line
Cecilia (Elizabeth Moss - The Handmaid's Tale TV series etc) was the abused wife of a rich scientist Adrian (Oliver Jackson-Cohen - The Haunting of Hill House TV series etc) who managed to escape from him with the help from her younger sister Emily (Harriet Dyer - The InBetween TV series etc) and her best friend James (Aldis Hodge - Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, Hidden Figures etc).
When news about Oliver committed suicide reached her, Cecilia thought she was finally free from him. However, she started experiencing strange things which made her suspect that she was still being haunted by Oliver in ways she could not have imagined. The lack of belief from James and Emily, made Cecilia started to question her own sanity while she had to save herself and the persons she love.
So what would happen to Cecilia? Find them all in this sci-fi psychological-ish horror movie.
End of Brief Story Line
You know when I read the movie's title, it somehow brought me the memory of one movie which was quite a personal favorite of mine titled Hollow Man starring Kevin Bacon, about a scientist who was able to make himself invisible. But when I read the synopsis, I did not think it had any similarities in term of story. So I did not have any further thoughts about it at all. However, after seeing the movie and read more about it, I found out it was based on the H.G. Wells novel of the same title where that movie was also based on.
Anyway, I went to the cinema expecting to see a lot of jump scares scenes which would make me feel the intensity throughout the whole movie. Apparently though, the movie maker had other thoughts. They decided to make the movie a bit more focused on the female side of the story, emphasizing on the psychology and experience of an abused woman. In this part I got to say that Elizabeth Moss did a great job portraying the role. But personally it made me feel the movie a bit underwhelming especially on the intense scary part as it was not continuously done. The intensity was felt more from psychological point of view rather than the terrifying invisible man part.
Aside from some really suspenseful moment in the middle, the early part to me felt a bit boring and moving at too slow pace. Now I realized that my personal views about the boring part would make me sound shallow, but I could not change the way I felt about the movie. The long duration of around 2 hours did not help either. Lucky for me though that the last one third of the movie was a lot more intense and suspenseful. Plus the ending was quite a surprise and it was the best part of the movie to my opinion, even if one or two questions were left unanswered. The special effects were not bad in here but what I liked the most was the sound effects. It successfully brought the intense moments to life.
Overall I thought that this movie was pretty entertaining with some truly intense moments during the final third. Pscyhological thriller is something that I like if I am in the mood for such, not when I expected a cool thrilling sci-fi horror movie. And if I'm allowed to compare with the other Invisible Man adaptation, I prefer Hollow Man as it was more intense from start to finish. So if you are interested in this latest adaptation with the above story telling style, then you might like this better, especially if you like what critics say as this one is having high critical score. But if you are like me and want to have more thrilling moments, then you might find this film to be a bit slow at first, though the ending should be able to satisfy you.
Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
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