Visible Abuse: "The Invisible Man" a smart, classy monster-movie update with a full-bodied turn from Elisabeth Moss

The Invisible Man (2020)

110 min.
Screened on February 25, 2020 at UA Riverview Plaza in Philadelphia, PA

Release Date: February 28, 2020 (Wide)

Horror maven Leigh Whannell (2018’s exciting gem “Upgrade”) confidently marries the domestic abuse of 1991’s “Sleeping with the Enemy” and the horror/sci-fi elements of 1933’s “The Invisible Man” and 2000’s “Hollow Man,” itself a variation on H.G. Wells’ 123-year-old novel. What was once planned to be an interconnected part of Universal Pictures’ now-defunct Dark Universe and wisely turned into a one-off, “The Invisible Man” is a smart, propulsive, classily orchestrated nerve-shredder of a monster movie filtered through a timely #MeToo lens and told from the perspective of the monster's victim. Writer-director Whannell not only directs a beautiful-looking film with Hitchcockian panache and precision, along with his own contemporary flourishes, but brings a vital emotional heartbeat to the story with a riveting, full-bodied performance by Elisabeth Moss.

One night when abusive, narcissistic partner Adrian (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) is fast asleep with some Diazepam, Cecilia (Elisabeth Moss) plans her escape from his Stinson Beach cliffside glass house that feels more like Alcatraz. With help from her sister, Emily (Harriet Dyer), she finds a safe haven by living with childhood friend and police officer James (Aldis Hodge) and his teenage daughter, Sydney (Storm Reid), but still battles PTSD in just leaving the front door to retrieve the mail. When Cecilia learns that Adrian has committed suicide weeks later and left her his $5 million trust, Cecilia isn’t buying it. Adrian, a wealthy optics innovator, has still somehow figured out a way to torment, manipulate and gaslight Cecilia “posthumously” while being invisible, but how can she prove to everyone that she hasn’t just lost her sanity?

Thrashing audience expectations and never taking the safe route through pandering, predictable genre beats, “The Invisible Man” is an intense, expertly paced thrill ride that actually makes its invisible human monster an omnipresent phantom to fear and makes him a metaphor for abuse. What’s worse than being trapped in a toxic, controlling relationship with an abusive person? Being terrorized by a now-invisible form of that abusive person. Following an inventive title sequence, in which the ocean waves crash against a rock to reveal the credits, the film's opening of Cecilia's escape is a slickly shot and edited masterclass in urgent, hold-your-breath tension. Leigh Whannell’s tight script efficiently lays the groundwork of Cecilia’s situation through performance and the telling details. Out of Whannell’s devious bag of tricks, there might be one twist too many, a few plot points not holding up to scrutiny without suspending disbelief, but in the grand scheme of things, those minor nitpicks are barely visible in the moment.

Visible in every scene, Elisabeth Moss (2019’s “The Kitchen”) is sublime as Cecilia, carrying the entire story, pushed to her limits, and making the isolation Adrian calculates for her feel palpable. Every choice made by Cecilia—and by default, Moss—feels believable in the context of each scene, as she must take matters into her own hands. The supporting cast also works as a sturdy support system for Moss’ Cecilia, including a wonderfully charismatic Aldis Hodge (2016’s “Hidden Figures”), as cop friend James; Storm Reid (2019’s “Don’t Let Go”), as James’ teenage daughter Sydney; and Harriet Dyer (2017’s “Killing Ground”), as Cecilia’s sister Alice, whom we all want to be safe.

As a psychodrama about an abused woman not being believed, “The Invisible Man” transcends the trappings of a Universal Classic Monster Movie into something more substantive while still being entertaining rather than didactic. Stefan Duscio’s cinematography is crafty in how negative space is used to suggest Adrian could be anywhere, breathing down Cecilia’s neck, and dynamic when an invisible Adrian violently attacks Cecilia in a kitchen or takes down an entire security team. Also top-notch: Benjamin Wallfisch’s score is sinister and jittery with Bernard Herrmann-esque touches. Leigh Whannell knows how to ratchet up the apprehension in several gripping set-pieces, including one in the attic of James’ house and a surprisingly merciless, gasp-inducing scene set in a crowded restaurant. The film isn’t heavy on jump scares or at least cheap ones because Whannell works them organically into the scene and allows them to serve their purpose. If other filmmakers are wondering how to rethink a monster movie and bring it into the 21st century, look no further than what Leigh Whannell does with the terrifically tense “The Invisible Man.”