Movie Info
Movie Name: Hollow Man 2
Studio: Destination Film
Genre(s): Action/Adventure/Horror
Release Date(s): May 23, 2006
MPAA Rating: R
Make me invisible…what could go wrong?
The bizarre murder of a scientist in a bathroom during a party brings in Detective Frank Turner (Peter Facinelli) and his partner Detective Lisa Martinez (Sarah Deakins). When Turner and Martinez find themselves bumped to security detail by federal agents, they are assigned to protect another doctor named Maggie Dalton (Laura Regan). Someone is hunting Maggie and her classified work is the cause. When the unseen killer (Christian Slater) attacks, Frank and Maggie find themselves on the run and not only from the killer, but from the men hunting him.
Directed by Claudio Fäh, Hollow Man 2 is a horror action movie. A sequel to Hollow Man from 2000, the film was released direct-to-video.
I didn’t watch Hollow Man when it was released (not only did it seem kind of generic, but it had a stupid name). I picked up a cheap double Blu-Ray of Hollow Man and Hollow Man 2 and after staring at them on my shelf for years, I finally watched both. While Hollow Man is a bit smarter, Hollow Man 2 drops almost all of the science-fiction for action and horror.
Sometimes it feels like you look right through me, Maggie
The story is essentially an invisible killer hunting the woman who has what he needs to survive and the police officer trying to protect her. The movie mixes in a conspiracy theory involving the organization that made the invisible man (played by Christian Slater), but the stronger aspect of the movie is the cat-and-mouse core plot. The movie does some things right with ways to attempt to keep taps on the “hollow man”, but it also drags out the story for too long. It does lead to a decent different direction near the end that doesn’t necessarily feel like a stretch.
The first movie had a strong cast led by Kevin Bacon and Elisabeth Shue, but this movie is step down. Slater is in it (playing Michael Griffin which is a nod to the original H.G. Wells creation), but mostly not seen and his hollow man doesn’t have much personality unlike even the original Claude Rains Invisible Man. Peter Facinelli and Laura Regan don’t have much chemistry and it doesn’t help the movie. It also feels like there should have been a bigger name for the person in charge of the military operation…wasn’t Michael Ironside available or something?
Imagine two men fighting…then imagine they are both invisible!
The movie doesn’t have as impressive effects as the original movie, and it also seems to sometime forget the mechanics of an invisible man. The movie shows a needle being inserted into the man (it should disappear once inside) and at one point Slater is spray-painted across his eyes which should have shown up around his mask. The level of absurdity really reaches a peak when you realize you are watching two invisible men fight…it is like the start of a bad joke.
Hollow Man 2 is an average movie that won’t wow the viewers. It is slightly better than a lot of straight-to-video sequels but not much better. The movie is tied to the original movie just in passing, and it feels like it was created with an open ending for more sequels if the movie had done well…which never happened. The invisible…or hollow man fades away again.
Related Links:
