Hollow Man on DVD

Dom Robinson reviews

Think You’re Alone? Think Again Distributed by

Columbia TriStar

• Cert:
• Cat.no: CDR 29085
• Running time: 108 minutes
• Year: 2000
• Pressing: 2001
• Region(s): 2, PAL
• Chapters: 28 plus extras
• Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
• Languages: English, Hungarian
• Subtitles: 16 languages available
• Widescreen: 1.85:1
• 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
• Macrovision: Yes
• Disc Format: DVD 9
• Price: £19.99
• Extras: Featurettes: “Fleshing Out the Hollow Man” and “Anatomy of a Thriller”, 3 Deleted Scenes, Trailers, VFX Picture in Picture Comparisons, Filmographies, Animated Menus, 2 Audio Commentaries
  

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  Director:

  Paul Verhoeven

  (Basic Instinct, Flesh & Blood, Hollow Man, Robocop, Showgirls, Starship Troopers, Total Recall)

Producers:

Douglas Wick and Alan Marshall

Screenplay:

Andrew W. Marlowe

Music:

Jerry Goldsmith

Cast:

Linda McKay: Elisabeth Shue
Sebastian Caine: Kevin Bacon
Matthew Kensington: Josh Brolin
Sarah Kennedy: Kim Dickens
Carter Abbey: Greg Grunberg
Frank Chase: Joey Slotnick
Janice Walton: Mary Randle
Dr. Howard Kramer: William Devane
Sebastian’s neighbour: Rhona Mitra

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Sweet Invisibility

Hollow Man is perfect B-movie nonsense and similar to Bacon’s thriller from ten years before, Flatliners, it features a group of wannabe scientists taking up far too much time and public money on an over-ambitious project that’ll lead to much trauma for all involved and will adversely affect a few innocents along the way.

Dr. Sebastian Caine (Kevin Bacon) has hit upon a way to make animals invisible, but that’s the easy part. It’s making them reappear that’s the problem. If you’re against animals being tested upon then this film might not be for you, but it’s worth noting that in all the parts where it matters, you’re most likely to be looking at a work of CGI and not a real puppy or primate.

Once they successfully bring back a gorilla from see-thru limbo, Caine decides to have a go himself but things don’t quite go to plan – otherwise we wouldn’t have a film here – and he’s under the influence for longer than initially predicted, which leads him to paying a visit to spook a few people including his female neighbour (the original Lara Croft and one-time presenter of Channel 5’s Pepsi Chart Show, gorgeous model Rhona Mitra – and yes, she does get ’em out for the lads).

It’s up to the rest of the cast to track him down and bring him back to the land of the living, which is where the film starts to descend into rather a gory farce. You won’t find much in the way of surprises in terms of the plot, but in director Paul Verhoeven‘s hands he makes a splendid job of it with brilliantly-realised special FX that blend nicely with the real-life action, particularly noticeable as the camera pans around the scientists’ compound, taking in both people and ‘patients’. A hugely enjoyable treat for all who can stomach the occasional, but strong, violence.

Hollow Man is most definitely Bacon’s movie, so why does the terrible Elisabeth Shue get top billing as his ex-girlfriend Linda? She’s only had one shining moment in the superb Leaving Las Vegas but here she does nothing to prove her worth, apart from running about with new partner – and colleague to both – Matthew (Josh Brolin). The rest of the cast is made up with dim and fat Carter (Greg Grunberg), Tefal-egghead Frank (Joey Slotnick), timid Janice (Mary Randle) and feisty Sarah Kennedy (Kim Dickens) – any relation to the former Give Us A Clue host-cum-Radio 2 presenter ? Finally, the king of the TV movie scene, William Devane, has a cameo as one of the suits putting up the funding to Caine’s project.

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Spectacular effects demand a spectacular presentation and Columbia have done us proud. Artifacts are non-existant and colours are perfect. As you watch the film you begin to notice CGI appearing where you’d normally least expect it and it’s all rendered perfectly. The picture is in the original 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen ratio. The average bitrate is 5.58Mb/s, occasionally peaking above 8Mb/s.

Dolby Digital 5.1 has been provided in English and Hungarian (Hungarians please note the Region 1 DVD won’t give you this language). Full use of it is made, first as Jerry Goldsmith‘s memorable score sets the scene, then when the tension builds as the experiment begins and towards the end when the chase is on (but I’ll reveal no more!)

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There are two featurettes, Fleshing Out the Hollow Man (15 mins) – which provides a breakdown of the special FX construction of Bacon’s character – and HBO’s Anatomy of a Thriller (also 15 mins), which follows the more traditional featurette formula: film clips broken up with comments and chat from the cast and crew.

There are Three Deleted Scenes, the latter two of which contain additional commentary from director Verhoeven. I won’t spoil what happens in them, but it’s safe to say they didn’t need to be included in the film itself. They’re worth a watch although you could figure out their content for yourself and taking them out of the main feature quickens the pace. Three VFX Picture in Picture Comparisons are also included, showing ‘green screen’ (wot no blue?) effects and motion-capture on Kevin Bacon.

Two Trailers are included, both in Dolby Digital 5.1, both of which give away a little too much about the film than I’d rather know beforehand, but only the latter provides the singular anamorphic content amongst the extras. Filmographies for the director and the three leads and Audio Commentaries from both composer Jerry Goldsmith and a combined one with director Verhoeven, Bacon and screenwriter Andrew W. Marlowe round off the extras.

Missing from this package are the trailers for A Few Good Men, Starship Troopers and the forthcoming Final Fantasy movie, which can all be found on the Region 1 DVD.

As this is a Columbia DVD we have the usual 28 chapters and subtitles in a massive 16 languages : English, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Icelandic, Hindi, Hebrew, Dutch, Bulgarian, Turkish, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Greek, Norwegian and Arabic. The menus mix Goldsmith’s hypnotic score with cool animation showing off Caine’s laboratory.

FILM CONTENT
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS


OVERALL Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2001.