Hollow Man (2000 film)

***Hollow Man*** is a 2000 Science Fiction directed by Paul Verhoeven. The Film was inspired by H. G. Wells' 1897 novel *The Invisible Man*.

## Plot

Arrogant scientist Sebastian Caine has developed a serum for the military that can make a subject invisible. His team includes ex-girlfriend Linda McKay, Matt Kensington, Sarah, Janice, Carter, and Frank. The team succeeds in reversing the procedure, returning an invisible gorilla to visibility. Sebastian becomes infatuated with Linda again but, unbeknownst to him, she has become involved with Matt.

Instead of reporting his success to the military, Sebastian lies to an oversight committee which includes his mentor Howard Kramer, telling them he is close but needs more time. He convinces part of the team to go right into human testing without military authorization, keeping the rest in the dark. The procedure is successful and Sebastian turns completely invisible. He enjoys sneaking around the lab in order to scare and play pranks on his fellow co-workers, including molesting Sarah. The team becomes concerned that Sebastian is taking it too far. The procedure to return him to visibility fails, and he is almost killed.

Sebastian is quarantined in the laboratory due to his condition and the other researchers construct a latex mask for him to wear around the lab. Unable to cope with the isolation, he defies instructions and leaves the building. After he drives to his apartment to retrieve some lab supplies, he notices a female neighbor undressing and violently rapes her inside her apartment. Linda warns Sebastian that if he leaves again, she and Matt will tell the committee about the experiment. Ignoring their threat, Sebastian assembles a device that runs a video loop of his heat signature in his quarters. He leaves the lab again and spies on Linda and Matt, becoming enraged when he sees them about to have sex. Sebastian, becoming increasingly unstable, also kills a dog being used as a lab animal in a fit of rage.

The team discovers that they have been watching a recording and that Sebastian has been leaving the lab without their knowledge. Linda and Matt go to Kramer's house and confess all. After they leave, Kramer attempts to alert the Army, but Sebastian, who followed Linda and Matt to the house, kills him. The next day, Sebastian waits until the whole team is inside the lab before he disables the phones and the elevator codes except for his own. He begins to murder team members one by one, with Janice being his first victim.

Linda and the others hide in the lab, while Matt and Carter take tranquilizer guns to hunt for Sebastian using thermal imaging goggles. Sebastian mortally wounds Carter before getting into a fight with Matt. Linda saves Matt. Sebastian then kills Sarah and Frank, and locks an injured Matt and Linda in the freezer, leaving them to die. Linda constructs an electromagnet using a defibrillator to open the door, then gathers materials to assemble a flamethrower. Meanwhile, Sebastian builds a makeshift bomb that will destroy the facility after he leaves.

Just as Sebastian enters the elevator, Linda fires the flamethrower at him. Sebastian escapes and the two fight. Before Sebastian can kill Linda, Matt strikes him with a crowbar. Sebastian recovers and approaches Matt and Linda from behind with the crowbar but Matt deflects the blow, throwing Sebastian into a nearby circuit box, electrocuting him and rendering him partially visible. Linda and Matt find the bomb, but cannot stop it. They attempt to climb a ladder in the elevator shaft to escape as the bomb explodes. Sebastian, despite his injuries, grabs Linda's ankle. He pulls her off the ladder and onto the top of the elevator. Linda disconnects the elevator cables, causing Sebastian to fall to his death down the shaft. Linda and Matt emerge from the burning lab and emergency personnel take them away in an ambulance.

## Cast

* Josh Brolin   as   Matthew "Matt" Kensington, Linda's new boyfriend and co-worker to both her and Sebastian.
* Kim Dickens   as   Doctor Sarah Kennedy, the feisty and rational veterinarian of the team who disapproves of the animal testings being done and has a strong dislike for Sebastian.

## Development

Following the multi-layered and controversial *Starship Troopers* (1997), Verhoeven wanted to tone down the levels of sex and violence in his next film, aiming to make a more "conventionally commercial blockbuster". Approximately $50 million of the film's $95 million budget was reserved for visual effects work, which was primarily worked on by Sony Pictures Imageworks (SPI) and Tippett Studio. Of the 560 visual effects shots in the film, approximately two-thirds were worked on by SPI and the remaining third by Tippett Studio. Verhoeven also storyboarded most of the film, as he had done with all of his American films after experiencing trouble coordinating the action of *Flesh+Blood* (1985). He maintains that over 90% of the film is how he storyboarded it, as it was expensive (costing up to $300,000) if he decided to change a camera movement.

## Release

### Home media

*Hollow Man* was released on DVD and VHS in North America by Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment on January 2, 2001. It was released with its widescreen theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and included various special features, including two audio commentaries—one with Verhoeven, writer Andrew W. Marlowe and Kevin Bacon, and another with composer Jerry Goldsmith and the isolated score of the film; the HBO making-of featurette "*Hollow Man*: Anatomy of a Thriller"; 15 mini-featurettes on the making of the film, several detailing storyboards of progress shots with commentary; three deleted scenes with commentary by Verhoeven; visual effects picture-in-picture comparisons of the raw footage with the final scene; cast and crew biographies; a teaser and a theatrical trailer. In the years that followed, both a deluxe Superbit edition was made, as well as a director's cut of the film, which restored nearly seven minutes of footage—primarily extended cuts of existing scenes including Linda and Matthew in bed, the rape scene, Sebastian killing the dog and the aftermath of Sarah being suspicious of Sebastian.The only available version of the film on Blu-ray is the director's cut, which was released on October 16, 2007 with a 1080p resolution. Although lacking any commentaries, it restores most other special features. A two-disc double pack including the stand-alone sequel *Hollow Man 2* was released on DVD in 2006 while Mill Creek Entertainment released the Blu-ray version on March 26, 2013. Mill Creek also released the director's cut in their Dark Passengers 8 movie DVD collection on October 1, 2013, 24 Horror DVD collection on March 7, 2017, and The 6 Degrees Blu-ray collection on April 3, 2018.

## References

This is a list of references for **Hollow Man (2000 film)**. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Verhoeven, Paul, Marlowe, Andrew and Bacon, Kevin. Audio commentary. *Hollow Man* DVD. Sony Pictures, 2001.
2. ↑ Rewind @ www.dvdcompare.net - Hollow Man (2000). The Rewind Network. Retrieved on April 17, 2014.
3. ↑ Hollow Man (Comparison: Theatrical Version - Director's Cut). Movie-Censorship.com. Retrieved on April 17, 2014.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Hollow Man Blu-ray: Director's Cut. Blu-ray.com. Retrieved on April 17, 2014.