Hollow Man

Infobox Film
name = Hollow Man

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caption = Film poster for Hollow Man
director = Paul Verhoeven
producer = Stacy Lumbrezer Alan Marshall Marion Rosenberg
writer = Gary Scott Thompson Andrew W. Marlowe
starring = Elisabeth Shue Kevin Bacon Josh Brolin
music = Jerry Goldsmith
cinematography = Jost Vacano
editing = Mark Goldblatt
distributor = Columbia Pictures
released = August 2, 2000
runtime = 112 min.
country = United States
awards =
language = English
budget = $95,000,000
gross = $73,209,000 (U.S.) $117,991,000 (Intl.) $191,200,000 (worldwide) [ [http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2000/HOLMN.php Hollow Man - Box Office Data, Movie News, Cast Information] , The Numbers. Retrieved 9 July 2008.]
preceded_by =
followed_by = "Hollow Man 2"
amg_id = 1:187128
imdb_id = 0164052

"Hollow Man" is a 2000 science fiction thriller film directed by Paul Verhoeven and starring Kevin Bacon, Elisabeth Shue and Josh Brolin. The film is about a scientist who makes himself invisible, a story inspired by H. G. Wells' "The Invisible Man".

The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Visual Effects in 2000. The direct-to-video sequel "Hollow Man 2" was released in 2006.

Plot

This film begins with someone dropping a rat in a hallway. It runs into a cage, trapped, then goes to a bowl of water and is picked up and decapitated by an unseen force which blood soon reveals to be an invisible gorilla. The scene moves to the apartment of Dr. Sebastian Caine (Kevin Bacon), a brilliant but egotistical scientist who works on an invisibility serum for the US military. His current project is reversing the invisibility effect on his test subject, a female gorilla named Isabelle (which killed the rat in the opening), on his computer. It is incomplete so he eats a Twinkie and gives up. Then he tries one more time and completes reversion 100%.

Although he works on the serum virtually non-stop, he still finds time to obsess about his ex-girlfriend Linda McKay (Elisabeth Shue), another scientist on his team, and the new man in her life Matt Kensington (Josh Brolin), yet another team member. Caine and his team that also includes their animal vet Sarah Kennedy (Kim Dickens) and Carter Abbey (Greg Grunberg), Frank Chase (Joey Slotnick) and Janice Walton (Mary Randle) eventually do figure out how to get the serum to work on animals, bringing the gorilla back to visibility. Afterwards the team eagerly looks forward to getting clearance for clinical trials on humans.

Instead of reporting his success to the military, Caine inexplicably lies to the oversight committee including Dr. Howard Kramer, and decides to test the serum on himself. After some initial difficulties, the procedure is a success. Caine then goes through some lab tests. But when it comes time to bring him back to visibility the reversion fails.

The team constructs a latex mask for Caine to wear around the lab, approximating a human appearance. However, his isolation and effective imprisonment in the lab begins to wear on his patience. Disobeying Carter and his own orders, Caine heads back to his apartment. At his apartment, temptation gets the best of Caine, and he first spies on his neighbor (played by Rhona Mitra), and then proceeds to rape her.

Caine returns to the lab just as the others were planning to go after him. Linda warns him that if he leaves again she and Matt will tell Kramer what they did. Caine, not one to listen, uses some of the lab equipment to build a recording device to capture his heat signature in his quarters; the repeating image fools Frank into believing that he is still in the lab, when, in fact, Caine is out spying on Matt and Linda.

Sebastian is furious that Matt and Linda are together, and smashes their bedroom window. The two call Frank, who tells them that Caine is still in his bed. Meanwhile Caine returns to the lab. He becomes frustrated and angered at the thought of Matt and Linda together, and when he can no longer stand the annoying bark of an invisible dog, he kills it. The team soon discovers that they have been watching a recording and that Caine has been getting out without their knowledge. Meanwhile, Matt discovers a promising way of making Caine visible again, but a computer simulation shows that this method will kill him.

Linda and Matt go to Kramer's House and confess about their experiments with Caine. Kramer is angry, and tells them that they are fired from the project. He then attempts to call the military and inform them about Caine, however, Caine had followed Linda and Matt to Kramer's house. Caine tricks Kramer into leaving the house and then drowns him in his own swimming pool.

The next day Caine waits until all of the team is in the lab and then disables all of the elevator codes except for his own. He removes his clothing and latex mask and, invisible, begins to hunt them all. Janice falls behind while the team searches for Caine and he strangles her with a wire.

Matt, Linda, Carter, Sarah and Frank learn what Sebastian is up to, realizing that they are the only ones who know what he is and he is, therefore, planning to get rid of them. They hide in the lab while Carter and Matt take tranquilizer guns to go hunting for Caine in the empty hallways using thermographic imaging goggles. Matt shoots at a heat signature that turns out to be from a steam vent. Suddenly Carter is yanked into the air by Caine and has his neck gashed on a jagged edge, his carotid artery hit. Caine almost kills Matt but Linda drags him to safety.

Sarah and Frank find the unconscious and severely injured Carter. Sarah runs to the freezer to get blood for a transfusion. There, Caine corners her. She sprays the blood all over the room, rendering Caine visible. Caine tackles her and shoots her with her tranquilizer dart, then breaks her neck.

Matt and Linda find Frank tending to the wounded Carter. Matt tells Frank that Carter is dead and to help them find Sarah. The three hurry to the freezer and find Sarah in the freezer room. Frank sprays a fire extinguisher to expose Caine but is impaled by a crowbar. He then stabs Matt with the same crowbar, but doesn't hit any organs. Caine locks them both in the freezer, setting the temperature very low, and leaves to let them freeze to death.

Caine puts on his latex mask and clothing, spending much time to ensure he looks near-human. Meanwhile, Linda dresses Matt's shallow wound with duct tape and then works out a way to escape from the freezer. Caine goes to the lab and mixes nitroglycerin to blow up the lab. Linda constructs an electromagnet using lab equipment, and uses it to open the door. She lights a fire to warm Matt and gathers the parts needed for a flame-thrower. Caine puts the nitro in a centrifuge and starts a timer. Just as he is entering the elevator to leave Linda appears and hits him with fire. His latex and clothes burning, Caine just manages to escape. Linda uses the flame thrower to start the ceiling sprinklers, revealing Caine. The two fight; just as she is about to lose, Matt appears and hits Caine with the crowbar, and then electrocutes him. As the electricity courses through his body, Caine is rendered partially visible: his muscles, bones, and organs can be seen, but his skin and hair remain invisible (possibly because they were burnt off with the rest of his clothing).

Linda and Matt find the nitro about to explode, and decide to abandon the lab, climbing up the elevator shaft. The lab explodes filling the shaft with fire. The two are almost out when Caine appears. He fights with Linda and she finally kills him by throwing him down the elevator shaft into the inferno below.

Cast

*Elisabeth Shue as Linda McKay [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0164052/fullcredits Full Cast and Crew for Hollow Man (2000)] ; accessed on October 1, 2006] *Kevin Bacon as Sebastian Caine *Josh Brolin as Matthew Kensington *Kim Dickens as Sarah Kennedy *Greg Grunberg as Carter Abbey *Joey Slotnick as Frank Chase *Mary Randle as Janice Walton *William Devane as Dr. Howard Kramer *Rhona Mitra as Sebastian's neighbor *Pablo Espinosa as Ed, the warehouse guard *Margot Rose as Martha Kramer *Jimmie F. Skaggs as Wino *Jeffrey Scaperrotta (as Jeffrey George Scaperotta) as boy in car *Sarah Bowles as girl in car *Kelli Scott as Mom *Steve Altes as Dad *J. Patrick McCormack as General Caster *Darius A. Sultan as the gate guard *Tom Woodruff Jr. as Isabelle the Gorilla *David Vogt as the helicopter pilot *Gary A. Hecker (as Gary Hecker) (voice) as Isabelle the Gorilla Vocals

Publicity

Despite receiving mixed critical reaction, one supporter of the film at the time of its release was film critic David Manning who gave the film critical praise. In late 2001, however, Manning was revealed to be fictitious, created by Sony to fake publicity for the film. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1368666.stm Sony admits using fake reviewer] , "BBC News", June 4, 2001]

References

External links

*imdb title|id=0164052|title=Hollow Man
*amg movie|id=1:187128|title=Hollow Man
*rotten-tomatoes|id=hollow_man|title=Hollow Man
* [http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2000/HOLMN.php "Hollow Man"] at The Numbers
* [http://www.bamlawca.com/pdf/sonynot.pdf Official Court Notice] of David Manning settlement

Box Office Leaders USA
before = ""
date = August 6
year = 2000
after = "Bless the Child"