Hollow Man really tries to be a good movie. As much as Paul Verhoeven tried, there's really nothing that could have been done. The script is laughable and the acting mediocre at best. If you've seen the trailers, you know the plot. While performing tests for the government of a serum that can turn a person, animal, or other living thing invisible, Sebastian (Kevin Bacon), decides to jump to phase 3 and test it on himself. The experiment was only supposed to last 3 days, but unfortunately, because it wasn't throroughly tested, the serum to bring him back from invisibility doesn't work and he's stuck without anyone being able to see him. What a shame - no one can see you. What would you do? I know what I'd do - I'd have some fun - but what does Sabastian do? He decides that rather than escaping, having some fun, and enjoying his invisibility, he's going to wreak havoc on his scientist teammates and take them down.

Quite possibly, the first mistake was casting Kevin Bacon in the lead role. While he did a good job in Stir of Echoes as the title character, he's still not leading role material. And Elisabeth Shue is better suited for the supporting actress roles. But even the acting abiliby of Kevin Bacon and Elisabeth Shue is superb considering the performances turned in by the rest of the supporting cast. I found myself laughing at the characters of Matt (Josh Brolin) and Sarah (Kim Dickens) more often than not - and that wasn't the only part of the movie that makes you laugh. The plot is ridiculous with holes and inconsistencies throughout - does Hollywood think that movie-goers don't see these problems, or do they just let them slide because they realize that there are so many of them, the audience will just ignore them?

It's a shame that there wasn't any plot, any acting, or any real redeeming value to this movie, because the special effects were amazing. Or at least most of the effects were amazing. The first real effect is when the scientists test a serum that brings a person back from invisibility on a gorilla. Since the serum is irradiated - thus a bright red color - we see it as it is injected into the gorilla and as it travels through his veins, into his heart, and is then pumped to the rest of his body. Once the serum begins to take effect, we see the gorilla slowly become visible again with each different layer of the body being constructed on top of the other. On the opposite side of the effects side of the movie is the explosion that comes later in the movie. For some reason, Hollywood thinks that every movie they come out with needs to have a bigger explosion than the previous. With some Matrix-like effects, the explosion is huge, but it does no good in the movie. But I guess that's the main theme of the movie. Put in some great special effects that don't really further the plot and hope that you can get a movie even though you're lacking a script and acting. Unfortunately for Hollow Man even the special effects couldn't save this movie. It's a complete waste of time and money. But until movies like this stop making money, Hollywood will continue to make them, and I'll be forced to continue to review them. Please, please, please - send a message to Hollywood - we don't want crap like this.

Genres: Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Rated: R - http://www.outermost.net/mra/images/hollowman.gif
Runtime: 114 minutes
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