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Memoirs of an Invisible Man

Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992) Movie Poster
  •  USA / France  •    •  99m  •    •  Directed by: John Carpenter.  •  Starring: Chevy Chase, Daryl Hannah, Sam Neill, Michael McKean, Stephen Tobolowsky, Jim Norton, Pat Skipper, Paul Perri, Richard Epcar, Steven Barr, Gregory Paul Martin, Patricia Heaton, Barry Kivel.  •  Music by: Shirley Walker.
        Financial analyst Nick Halloway is accidentally made invisible during an accident. When government agent David Jenkins finds out about Nick, he set out to recruit him into the world of espionage, seeing the potential for an invisible CIA agent. When Alice Monroe falls in love with Nick, they are forced to flee the attentions of Jenkins. Nick also has the problem of living invisibly whilst trying to find a cure.

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Image from: Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992)
Image from: Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992)
Image from: Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992)
Image from: Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992)
Image from: Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992)
Image from: Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992)
Image from: Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992)
Image from: Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992)
Image from: Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992)
Image from: Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992)
Image from: Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992)
I'm a big fan of John Carpenter, but I'll freely admit that the guy's best work was in the '70s and '80s. By the time the '90s rolled around, he only had one good film left in him, and this isn't it (that honour goes to IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS). The problem with MEMOIRS OF AN INVISIBLE MAN is that it's just so...lightweight. The advance of special effects technology at Industrial Light & Magic meant that the powers-that-be felt it was time for yet another invisible man movie, but far from offering a genuinely suspenseful modern-day classic for the genre, Carpenter made this: a so-called comedy with Chevy Chase playing a guy who's turned invisible by a secret government experiment.

What happens after that? The answer is not a lot. For some reason, he's chased by a ruthless FBI agent, played by a terribly miscast Sam Neill. Now, Neill is one of my favourite Australian actors and this is around the time he hit it big with his dinosaur hunter character in Spielberg's JURASSIC PARK. The problem is, it's as if he's still channelling the same character here: friendly, cuddly, well-mannered and a guy you want on your side. Not the main villain in your film. To make matters worse, there's no real motivation to his character, no reason he wants Chase dead.

So the plot meanders from one pointless situation to another, and there's not a great deal going on. Now, I'm not Chevy Chase's biggest fan, but I don't mind the guy when he's in the right film (and he's a darn sight better than his imitator, Tim Allen). This isn't the right role for him. In fact, I'm not sure it's the right role for anybody. The character's just there for the special effects, a mere cipher, nothing more. Admittedly, the effects work is excellent, but it's not the be-all and end-all of a movie. Without a decent narrative to propel them along, they're pointless, as is the case here.

There are a few good jokes, all of them obvious given the scenario, but I can't help but wonder what the film would be like if they'd left screenwriter William Goldman's script alone instead of tinkering with it. Apparently, Goldman wrote an out-and-out comedy, but the producers felt it necessary to add all this 'loneliness of the invisible man' stuff -' as if that wasn't obvious to begin with. As Goldman's one of the strongest writers to have ever worked in Hollywood, this was a real mistake. I think the final nail in the coffin is the presence of Daryl Hannah as the love interest, just reminding us why she's one of the poorest actresses in today's film. There's nothing here to distinguish this as a John Carpenter film and other than a few lukewarm laughs, no reason to watch. Even Paul Verhoeven's flop HOLLOW MAN is a lot more suspenseful than this, but for the real deal, try the classic '70s TV series with David "Rubber Head" McCallum or the iconic Universal classic.


Review by Leofwine_draca from the Internet Movie Database.

 

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Feb 27 2017, 14:45
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