Spoilers Ahead
When I first saw the trailer for “The Invisible Man,” it instantly caught my attention. One could tell the producers wanted to make it simple and clear — it’s an invisible man haunting his ex-girlfriend, and the concept (while seemingly impossible), didn’t seem hard to grasp.
But, it doesn’t take more than 20 minutes into the movie to understand that the film is, in fact, psychological and intricate in nature.
Although the trailer shows a lot of the film’s plot-defining scenes and you could scroll through quite a few complaints in the comment section, the movie still contains unexpected twists that blow the viewer’s mind. From the beginning, the audience is expected to know that there’s a man behind all the film’s criminal activities, but what makes the movie interesting is its suspense.
The camerawork was well-done. They made it feel like someone who we couldn’t see was in the room with the main characters. Oftentimes, when the characters left the room, the camera pivoted to seemingly nothing and would stay there for a few seconds. This strategy would help build up suspense in the film, making viewers anticipate every minute and wonder what would happen next with this mysterious invisible man.
Every event in the story builds up to the climax. For example, our main character, Cecilia, enters her ex-boyfriend’s closet after she finds the “invisible suit” and purposefully places it there for no apparent reason—a gesture that seemed futile and anticlimactic. We find out later on that she placed it there to execute her plan of revenge on her ex-boyfriend by killing him and making his death appear like a suicide, therefore relieving herself of the psychological trauma that her husband, Adrian, inflicted on her.
Aside from the engaging plot, the issues addressed, specifically the portrayal of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), were very accurate. People who suffer from PTSD tend to isolate themselves from others and reduce their communication. Their self-esteem drops and they can often experience flashbacks or nightmares.
In the film, we can see Cecilia struggling to even take a step outside her door. When she sees a man jogging, she thinks he is running toward her. She also experiences vivid and terrifying nightmares after being physically and psychologically abused by Adrian.
The movie is very pragmatic in its approach to its antagonist. Adrian is fixated on and obsessed with Cecilia even though later on Cecilia says that he could be with any woman because of his immense power and wealth. This is very realistic as it seems that Adrian has been “spoonfed” his entire life.
According to leading psychologists, people that have had anything and everything handed to them tend to obsess over things that they cannot have or that reject them, much like Cecilia rejected Adrian.
The movie encompasses a state of multiplex horror. We see different stages of terror — trauma, suspense, vengeance, murder. “Invisible Man” intricately interconnects all of these to tell a single story — it draws the viewers in and makes one feel in the scene, next to an unspoken, inconspicuous character.
The movie, despite all commentary, is a perfect diversion from the real world.
