Yep. What a blast. I too was on the edge of my seat the entire time. In fact, I can't remember the last time I squirmed in my seat as much as I did in this. From the opening scene, it's just an unrelenting thrill ride. That, and the build up/incremental "reveal" of the invisible man is masterful. The we never truly see him in-full before the "transformation" is a stroke of genius and gives the whole thing such an effective, the-shark-in-Jaws vibe. Really, the way the camera strategically hints at even the faintest idea of him at first, which leads to the paranoia, which leads to the first tiny little reveal of him, which leads to the scary-as-sh*t-bedroom sequence, which then leads to more and more f*cked up "hauntings," which give way to his blatant "appearances" all the way through to the end is just so brilliant and pitch perfect.
There's one scene, in particular, that truly shocked/freaked me the hell out, as it did everyone else in the theater, like I haven't been socked/freaked out in I don't know how long, which is out of no where and straight up terrifying, in the best possible way. Before you can even register what you're seeing, you go from "Wait, what?" to "HOLY SH*T!" in no time flat and it's just jaw-dropping.
That said, I do have a couple very minor quibbles...
- Elizabeth Moss is really good at playing really scared, she sells the losing-her-mind thing incredibly well, and she was certainly better than I expected (and this is coming from someone who loved her in Mad Men). But frankly, I simply didn't buy her as the wife of a hunky/psycho tech genius millionaire, especially a hunky/psycho tech genius millionaire who would go to such lengths to control, torture, and pine after her. Maybe decades of more blatantly attractive women in this type of role have unfairly set my expectations, but Moss just feels "off" not because of her performance, but because of her look/vibe, as superficial as that sounds. Maybe if *he* was a little more of a nerd as well I would have bought it, but as-is it's admittedly somewhat distracting.
- Speaking of, on one hand, I totally get why this has the cast it does. It was somehow made for only $7M and does have a bit of a B-movie vibe. But on the other hand, it's so well done that I'm surprised they either weren't able to garner a bigger-name cast or didn't want to spend the money on one. I have no problem with any of the performances whatsoever, but as you're watching it, it really does have such a surprisingly "event" feel, to the point where you're wondering how the hell this hasn't been done since Hollow Man twenty years ago. It's just so cool and feels so "classic" in a way that you can't help but wonder what this would have been like with even just slightly bigger, more mainstream names in a couple of the roles.
- Finally, the plot is admittedly a little contrived at times, and there are a couple of awkward beats/lines as well. As masterful as the slow, incremental build up of the invisible man is, again, the movie never quite sheds itself of its slight, B-movie vibe. While writer/director Leigh Whannell knocks it out of the park for the most part, I wish that another writer could have done just one more quick pass on the script. Don't get me wrong - it's tight, it's incredibly solid, super effective, and even brilliant at times, but if two or three minor things could have been addressed just a bit better, it would have been damn near perfect.
All that said, SEE THIS MOVIE. This weekend if you can. With this biggest audience you can. Because it's so, so worth it.
