By: Lana K. Wilson-Combs
There are many reasons why you should see
?The Invisible Man, the psychological thriller from director and screenwriter
Leigh Whannell (?Insidious: The Last Key? and ?Saw?) and producer Jason Blum (?Get Out,? ?Us? and ?BlackKkKlansman?).
Not only is ?The Invisible Man? a modern take on H.G. Wells? classic sci-fi novel of the same name and a reboot of the ?Invisible Man? film series, but it?s creepy, scary and exciting as hell. Best of all, ?The Invisible Man? features
Elisabeth Moss (?The Handmaid?s Tale?) in a stunning and fierce performance.
Moss stars as Cecilia Kass, a woman desperately trying to escape her violent environment. She lives with her abusive boyfriend Adrian Griffin (Oliver Jackson-Cohen (TV?s ?the Haunting of Hill House?). This dude is a monster. He wants to control everything Cecilia does. What she eats, what she wears and even how she thinks.
Yeah, Adrian has a tony pad and all in Sausalito and loads of money that he?s made as a brilliant optics guru, but really, who wants to live like that? Not Cecilia. So, one night she decides to break free from Adrian. She has it planned almost perfectly.
Once she scales the monitored fence, her friend will be there to pick her up on the back road. She?s a bit late, but does arrives. Just as they are in the car and ready to go, Adrian shows up and breaks the car window insisting Cecilia come back. She doesn?t. At least for a while.
It?s a good thing Cecilia has a best friend like James ( a very good Aldis Hodge, ?Clemency? and ?Brian Banks?) who just so happens to be a cop. He lets Cecilia stay with him and his teen daughter Sydney (TV?s ?When They See Us?). He even has Cecilia?s sister Alice (Harriet Dyer, TV?s ?The Other Guy?) come by and see her.
Cecilia is still worried that Adrian will find her. However, when Alice tells her that Adrian is dead from an apparent suicide, she?s stunned more than relieved. It all starts to sink in when Adrian?s brother Tom (Michael Dorman, TV?s ?For all Mankind?) who is a lawyer, contacts her to go over his assets. Adrian left Cecilia $5 million. If she doesn?t do anything illegal or crazy, it hers free and clear.
If you think this sounds too good to be true, you may be on to something.
Despite Cecilia seeing Adrian?s urn, things soon begin to happen at James? house that has her thinking that Adrian might not be dead after all. Of course, no one believes Cecilia when she tries to explain that Adrian is in the house but he?s invisible. They insist she?s imagining all the things she?s been hearing and experiencing.
Then again, it?s not a stretch to think that Adrian may be using his optics machine invention to pull off an act of invisibleness to haunt and terrorize Cecilia.
Why?
Well, I?m not about to spoil the juicy plot twists here, but they sure kept me squirming in my seat. I will say when these unfortunate events involve Cecilia?s sister and others she knows, well, she begins to see the light and really takes control to prove she?s not crazy.
Moss drives the entire movie. Watching her navigate through so many emotions especially when things starts closing in on her, is downright chilling.
?The Invisible Man? is clever, timely and immensely satisfying.
Editor's Note: Be sure to catch my N2Entertainment.net movie talk segment on the Kitty O'Neal Show Fridays now at 6:20 p.m. on radio station KFBK 1530 AM and 93.1 FM.
Check Out This Trailer For
"THE INVISIBLE MAN"
Lana K. Wilson-Combs is a member of the Broadcast Film Critics? Association (BFCA), The Black Film Critics Circle (BFCC), The Alliance Of Women Film Journalists (AWFJ) and a Nominating Committee Voting Member for the NAACP Image Awards.