Invisible Man, The

Stars: Elisabeth Moss, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Aldis Hodge, Storm Reid, Michael Dorman, Harriet Dyer

Director: Leigh Whannell

Following The Handmaid's Tale and now this, Elisabeth Moss must be resigned to the fact that producers see her anguished features as made for suffering. She certainly goes through the ringer here, in this - on the whole thunderingly good but, like its heroine, seriously flawed - story of obsession and revenge, another offshoot from H G Wells' much-imitated original.

There's no credit for the old master here, even though they've kept the surname of his title character. This Griffin (Jackson-Cohen), however, unlike Claude Rains and his successors, is not a good-bad guy, but an out-and-out sadist who controls every move or even word from his terrified wife (Moss).

Escaping one night from their mansion, despite knocking over an ashtray and setting off a car alarm (as you do), Cecilia's told that her vicious spouse has subsequently committed suicide. But, despite being understandably thought batty, she knows he's still alive...and invisible.

Soon he is making life for herself and those near to her a living hell, even resorting to murder.

With her basilisk eyes and totally believable desperation, Moss is good enough to survive even such lines as "He's a world leader in the field of optics...I know he can do this.'

Benjamin Wallfisch's impressively discordant score offers his director the utmost support, although Whannell, not content to giving us one dramatic ending, provides us with another straight afterwards, although it's admittedly almost as effective.

One has to wonder why Cecilia didn't make earlier use of her discovery of the invisibility suit, or why the eponymous villain doesn't show up in the pouring rain, but this is still a highly serviceable thriller that will keep you hopping to the end.

David Quinlan

Australia/USA 2020. UK Distributor: Universal. Colour by Company 3.
125 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: 15.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 1, Violence/Horror 2, Drugs 0, Swearing 0.

Review date: 25 Feb 2020