The Invisible Man by Leigh Whannell and H.G. Wells

The Invisible Man is a fabulously good movie, and you should rush out and see it immediately.

I only have one complaint about it: it wouldn't exist without the H.G. Wells novel of the same title, but Wells gets no credit whatsoever — and Leigh Whannell hogs two writing credits — screenplay and screen story. WTF?

But Whannell does a terrific job on the script, and also on directing the movie.

And certainly his movie departs considerably from Wells' original novel.

It concerns an abused wife, Ceclia Kass — Elizabeth Moss in a stunning piece of acting — who manages to escape her controlling, vicious, enormous wealthy husband. Or does she?

When I tell you that the husband, Adrian Griffin, played with great creepy subtlety by Oliver Jackson-Cohen, is also a genius scientist working in the field of optics...


Well, then you can guess where this is going.

Or rather, you can't, because The Invisible Man delivers superb, scary surprises which will have you jumping out of your seat.
 
Besides the first class writing and directing mention should be made of the outstanding special effects, by Dan Oliver, and the pounding, menacing music score by Benjamin Wallfisch, which delivers huge, brutal slabs of sound.  

And the supporting cast is exemplary — Harriet Dyer as Cecilia's sister Emma, Aldis Hodge as Cecilia's friend a San Francisco cop, and Storm Reid as his daughter Sydney.

And also Michael Dorman as Griffin's brother Tom, who at first seems like an arrogant prick, and then in a memorable scene reveals unexpected vulnerability and empathy.

But above all we have Elizabeth Moss, courageously and brilliantly performing in a role which will make your heart pound with suspense and ache with sympathy for her...

This is a beautifully made film which absolutely delivers the good. Leigh Whannell has done a fantastic job.

He has a long track record working as a writer on horror franchises Saw and Insidious. But who could ever have guessed that he had a movie as great (I use the word advisedly) as this in him?

Nonetheless, he should have insisted on some kind of credit for H.G. Wells.

Wells' invisible man was even called Griffin...

(Image credits: mostly typographical posters at Imp Awards.)