BB DVD Review: Hollow Man 2

Yes. I actually rented Hollow Man 2. Yes, I do have too much time on my hands.






The sequel that no one demanded has become something of a movement of late in the straight-to-DVD world. Indeed, the bottom shelf of Blockbuster, a place that many will tell you I spend entirely too much time, is now awash with unnecessary sequels to movies that didn't exactly scream 'franchise me' to begin with. From Carlito's Way:Rise To Power to Urban Legends 3:Bloody Mary (note the colons, colons = franchise) movie studios seem to regard brand recognition as a far more powerful selling tool than, say, originality or quality. The latest example of this is Hollow Man 2, a sequel to the 2000 Paul Verhoeven directed original that I didn't even know merited a sequel until Hollywood told me so.

In fairness, the invisible murderous man idea is more suited to most that the DTV merry-go-round offering plentiful opportunities for gore, nudity and inexpensive effects. So what do the director of Coronado (Claudio Fah) and the writer of Highlander:Endgame (Joel Soisson. Note the colon. Don't laugh) do with such ripe b-movie pickings? Not very much as it turns out...

Problem numero uno. A complete lack of suspense, shocks or scares. The original was far from a masterpiece but Verhoeven was accomplished enough to exploit the obvious capacity for tension and frights that the unseen assailant notion provides. It may not surprise you to learn that this is not a talent that Fah possesses. He does, however, possess the ability to direct an entire movie where the audience can't see the killer but still fail to give that same audience a single jolt. Now, since I have some idea how to do the former and no idea how to do the latter Fah maybe deserves some respect but the talent to leave an audience completely unmoved is not exactly an enviable one. Or an ideal one to have if you intend to direct movies for a living.

Problem numero two. A script so clunky you could use it to beat an invisible assassin to death. Shuddering under the weight of its many cliches (untrustworthy military, cop with a past) and bereft of even a single memorable line (unless you count 'death by cellphone' but since this is delivered straight I don't think it was supposed to be a joke) it's so unnecessary you could watch the entire movie on mute. The whole thing might even be more enjoyable that way.

Problem numero trois. Christian Slater. Now in the wild and lawless lands of the pointless franchise it is the name actor (of which there is normally only one) that we trust to take our hand and guide us through the wilderness like Jean Claude Van Damme in the movie Cyborg. We look at the box and say 'well at least [insert name here] is in it, they're normally quite good'. Not so Hollow Man 2. Christian Slater appears on screen for about 5 minutes in total and provides maybe an additional 10 of voiceover work (and I'm not entirely convinced it was him doing that). In fairness, he is supposed to be invisible but it's obvious they didn't ever bother to use him as the model for the computer effects. He was probably tired from all that acting...

In amongst the dross, there are some positives. An unexpected third-act turn livens things up a little and there's a climactic battle in the rain between invisi-folk that's reasonably well done but the film rarely rises above pointless for the majority of its run time - distinguishing itself from the original only in its lack of ambition and accomplishment.