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Directed by: John Carpenter Starring: Chevy Chase, Daryl Hannah, Sam Neil John Carpenter will always be one of my favorite filmmakers, but his career has taken an unfortunate turn for the worst in the past decade or so, and the fun genre films he used to make have been replaced by unimaginative garbage. Memoirs of an Invisible Man is sort of the turning point of his career, made between They Live and In the Mouth of Madness (which isn’t that bad, but it shows the deterioration of his abilities). Memoirs itself isn’t a terrible film really, but there isn’t anything remarkable about it either, it’s just a run of the mill piece of mediocrity. It’s probably Carpenter’s most commercial film aside from Starman, and is pretty audience friendly in comparison to some of his earlier works, but it’s also missing the charm of those films, so it won’t really appeal to Carpenter fans as much as it will to casual movie-goers. The movie begins with a noir-esque voice-over narration that leads into a long flashback sequence, setting up the plot for the rest of the film. Chevy Chase is a successful stock trader who, after a night of heavy drinking, falls asleep in a building where a piece of hi-tech equipment goes haywire, causing the molecular structure of the building and all of its contents (including Chevy) to undergo a transformation, resulting in complete invisibility. From there, he runs from government operatives (led by Sam Neill) who want to use him as a spy, and tries to reunite with Daryl Hannah, a woman he befriended the accident rendered him transparent. This movie is ridden with clichés, and could’ve been an interesting satire if it were pushed a little further in that direction, but as it is, it’s just a groan inducing bore. The attempt at the film-noir voice-over falls flat and becomes increasingly irritating as the film progresses. Chevy has a great sense of comedic timing and presence, but he sounds horrible delivering his character’s inner thoughts and exposition this way. All of the predictable invisible man gags are used as well, which take away from the special effects, which are rather well done. The relationship between Hannah and Chevy is pretty forced, and seems unnatural for the most part, though she manages to muster up some sincerity to make it bearable. By far the best performance in the film comes from Sam Neil. He hams up the “loose cannon” government agent character with gusto, and is always the most electric actor when he’s on screen. He has a great scene where his character is struggling with the invisible man, who eventually gets him in a hold and leads him out of a building. Of course, because the invisible man cannot be seen, we instead get to watch Neil wrestle with himself and drag himself through hallways and doors, which he does incredibly well. It isn’t as over the top as Bruce Campbell vs. his hand in Evil Dead 2, but it’s still pretty funny. The movie isn’t as laugh-out-loud as most Chevy Chase films, but it has its moments. One of the best gags is when the invisible man, after returning to his apartment, closes all of the drapes so no one can see him. There is a surprising amount of tenderness in the film as well, and Carpenter’s usual fear of pervasive government and authority is at work. Might be worth a rental is you’re a big fan of Chase, but otherwise, skip it. RATING: 2.0 PROS: Sam Neil is great, funny at times CONS: lots of cliches ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104850/
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Jul 19, 2004 17:54
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| # ? Apr 25, 2024 14:45 |
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