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over 3 years ago

Hollow Man

a review by Gimly

Some pretty impressive effects for the era, and a pretty cool (if not original) core concept, but what's most intriguing about Hollow Man is the hero's journey, or more accurately, the absence of it. The inverse of it. I don't feel like it's fair to even say that it's a villain's journey. Assuredly, by the end of the movie, it is very clear who our villain is, but given that he starts out such a dick anyway, the intriguing thing is not so much that he necessarily changes, but the idea that his character is maybe just "revealed". To become the type of prick he always could have been, if only had the power to be so. The thing is, he starts this movie a pretty archetypal protagonist. His role is seen almost identically across any number of movies for decades before Hollow Man was released, and one that we honestly still see today. And this archetype is almost always beloved! "Sure he's a bit cheeky, but that's why he's such a great character". It's very confronting to think about what this archetype is so close to being, and I think maybe that's kind of the point of this whole thing.

Final rating:★★★ - I liked it. Would personally recommend you give it a go.