Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1992
	Director: John Carpenter (The Thing, Big Trouble in Little China)
	Actors: Chevy Chase, Daryl Hannah (Kill Bill), Sam Neill (Jurassic Park)
	Country: USA
	Genre: SF, Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 28.11.2016, VOD, 11" tablet screen.
Synopsis: Narcissistic Nick Halloway (Chase) is accidentally turned invisible. Chased by the authorities and the tireless David Jenkins (Neill), he tries and fails to live a normal life.
Review: The one movie by John Carpenter (my favorite director and now an accomplished musician) that I do not own because it is so hard and expensive to find, not that it usually stops me! Thanks to Netflix for allowing me to watch it again after maybe 20 years. A good part of the movie relies on the talent of Chevy Chase, comedian rather unknown in Europe even in the 80's, but he makes it easy to sympathize with the character. He is accompanied by Daryl Hannah that I later discovered in the TV-movie Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman (remake of a 1958 classic) and the cults Blade Runner and Kill Bill, but I remembered more the Kiwi Sam Neill that played the next year in Jurassic Park and the following one in the other Carpenter masterpiece In the Mouth of Madness. The approach selected for the story, even though inspired by the same H.G. Wells classic, is different from the one in Paul Verhoeven's Hollow Man (scientist testing the thing on himself and turning bad) or in the TV-series The Invisible Man that I was watching in 2000 (man unwillingly working for the authorities using his revertible power), and I won't mention Milo Manara's Le Parfum de l'invisible. That story is well focused on the main character, as it should be because we want to see his reaction when facing this new condition, and the reactions of this Mr. Nobody are quite believable. A little love story and the tension brought by Jenkins complete a well done movie, throughout which you can recognize the style of its maker: long shots, an unmissable but not dated 80's touch, efficient music and perfect use of CinemaScope, among other qualities. The special effects are also pretty good for that time. In the end not a masterpiece but I was again not disappointed by the Master.
Rating: 6 /10