A weary stock analyst Nick Halloway (Chevy Chase) decides to take a nap after a late night out with a gorgeous documentary filmmaker Alice Monroe(Daryl Hannah). Unknowingly the facility his in has had a nuclear accident and when he awakes the building is half invisible and he slowly realises that he has turned invisible too. Now he's on the run from C.I.A agents led by the crooked David Jenkins (Sam Neill) that would like to use his ability to their advantage and they would try any type of means to get there man. But all that Nick wants back is his molecules.
"Memoirs of an Invisible Man" would have to rate somewhere in the middle of John Carpenter's filmography and it's definitely one of his least known, if not. You could say this is one of his big-budget films, but not one of his most successful. Usually that's the case for most of his bigger projects, but he's somewhat of an on and off director. For every good film there's a few ordinary ones and sadly this is one of them. Though, I wonder just how much control and input into the film Carpenter really had? The film wasn't bad or great, just disappointing, as it could've been far better than it actually was. What we have here is an interesting premise, but what actually lifts the film is the astonishing special effects weaved by Industrial Light and Magic productions. The effects they come up with were rather dazzling and cleverly achieved to great effect. Though, the same can't be said about the material (plot and screenplay) and performances that totally lacked punch and came across as rather monotone. Maybe it would've work more as a straight comedy than that of the serious tone it held and its spurts of deadpan humour along the way. It's not so witty or delivered convincingly, with some humour missing the mark. Reason for that could be for Chevy Chase being miscast and just lacking the edge to carry the film. His performance just didn't stick it for me. Plot wise it's neither memorable nor remarkable with its routine clichés, dragging narration and slow blotches of tedium. Overall, it was just a stodgy and uninspiring effort that kind of leads nowhere after a promising first half. The film only goes for 90-minutes or so, but still it felt overlong and rather drawn out when it came to the ending.
Some of the other performances were lacklustre and incredibly hammy. Especially that of Sam Neill who gave a rather mix performance. He's either hamming it up or then he suddenly gives a controlled performance. Daryl Hannah performance is fair, but she looks beautiful and adds some added fizz to the film. Leading man Chevy Chase looked like he wished he were somewhere else in his hollow performance. The story just didn't flesh out these characters enough.
Since I mostly bagged out the film so far, there are some good points other than the fxs I should type. Very good production valves on show here. It's incredibly well shot and some of the location scenes (beach) are extremely nice to look at. The music score is well founded. Maybe if Carpenter was the music director, he could've added another dimension to it. Throughout there are some solid action pieces and a couple of humorous sequences, but overall it just didn't come off.
An unimaginative script, plot and performances make it a let down, but visually it isn't. It's definitely worth a look if only for the stunning fxs. If your just looking for a good Carpenter film to watch go with his oldies instead.
"Memoirs of an Invisible Man" would have to rate somewhere in the middle of John Carpenter's filmography and it's definitely one of his least known, if not. You could say this is one of his big-budget films, but not one of his most successful. Usually that's the case for most of his bigger projects, but he's somewhat of an on and off director. For every good film there's a few ordinary ones and sadly this is one of them. Though, I wonder just how much control and input into the film Carpenter really had? The film wasn't bad or great, just disappointing, as it could've been far better than it actually was. What we have here is an interesting premise, but what actually lifts the film is the astonishing special effects weaved by Industrial Light and Magic productions. The effects they come up with were rather dazzling and cleverly achieved to great effect. Though, the same can't be said about the material (plot and screenplay) and performances that totally lacked punch and came across as rather monotone. Maybe it would've work more as a straight comedy than that of the serious tone it held and its spurts of deadpan humour along the way. It's not so witty or delivered convincingly, with some humour missing the mark. Reason for that could be for Chevy Chase being miscast and just lacking the edge to carry the film. His performance just didn't stick it for me. Plot wise it's neither memorable nor remarkable with its routine clichés, dragging narration and slow blotches of tedium. Overall, it was just a stodgy and uninspiring effort that kind of leads nowhere after a promising first half. The film only goes for 90-minutes or so, but still it felt overlong and rather drawn out when it came to the ending.
Some of the other performances were lacklustre and incredibly hammy. Especially that of Sam Neill who gave a rather mix performance. He's either hamming it up or then he suddenly gives a controlled performance. Daryl Hannah performance is fair, but she looks beautiful and adds some added fizz to the film. Leading man Chevy Chase looked like he wished he were somewhere else in his hollow performance. The story just didn't flesh out these characters enough.
Since I mostly bagged out the film so far, there are some good points other than the fxs I should type. Very good production valves on show here. It's incredibly well shot and some of the location scenes (beach) are extremely nice to look at. The music score is well founded. Maybe if Carpenter was the music director, he could've added another dimension to it. Throughout there are some solid action pieces and a couple of humorous sequences, but overall it just didn't come off.
An unimaginative script, plot and performances make it a let down, but visually it isn't. It's definitely worth a look if only for the stunning fxs. If your just looking for a good Carpenter film to watch go with his oldies instead.