MEMOIRS OF AN INVISIBLE MAN (1992)
Label: Scream Factory
Region Code: A
Rating: PG-13
Duration: 99 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: John Carpenter
Cast: Chevy Chase, Daryl Hannah, Sam Neill, Michael McKean, Stephen Tobolowsky
When this 90's take on the invisible man originally went to the cinema I was already a huge of director John Carpenter (Prince of Darkness) and the comedies of Chevy Chase (Spies Like Us), so I was primed for what these two had in store for me when I bought my ticket at the local cineplex. Now, that was a long time ago (25 years!) but I remember being rather disappointed by what I saw at the time, it lacked the edge I expected from the director of The Thing, but it also was largely absent the comedy stylings I was expecting from the star, so as a fan of both it was not a great time at the movies for teenage me. I've seen it a few times on home video in the years since and have warmed to it slightly, but my initial assessment is still valid.
Here we have stock analyst Nick Halloway (Chevy Chase) whom while runs into an old friend named George (Michael McKean, Spinal Tap) who introduces Nick to his visiting friend, knockout single-lady Alice (Daryl Hannah, Blade Runner), the two hit it off over and dinner and drinks, and even get some make-out time, but when Nick pushes in for more she rebuffs him, so he drinks-up the rest of the night and is severly hung-over in the morning. He winds up at a lab where he is sitting in on a shareholder's meeting, but finds he too hungover to be useful, so he finds a quiet place in the building for a quick nap, unwittingly triggering a lab accident along the way, with the end result being that he is caught up in a strange meltdown/accident that turns the entire building and himself invisible!
A shady CIA spook named Jenkins (Sam Neil, Possession) arrives on the scene and soon discovers Nick's condition, realizing what a valuable spy/assassin asset he would be the spook sets about capturing him, but Nick wants no part of it, he just want to be himself again.
Chevy Chase is going for a more serious tone her with some moments of humor, but no straight-up comedy, I didn't hate his performance, I just think the dual-tonality of the film makes for a somewhat unsatisfying watch overall. Something that always irks me is the voice-over narration from Chase, probably meant to give this a noir-feel, but it always makes me think of the Fletch films and takes me right out of the story. It doesn't help that he and Daryl Hannah have zero chemistry together onscreen, which makes it hard to believe in their whirlwind romance, the whole affair is given such short shrift it feels like it should have been left on the cutting room floor altogether in my opinion. More interesting is villainous CIA spook Jenkins played by Sam Neil, the sinister government operative attempting tracking down the invisible man, he plays bag guys so well, and Carpenter must have liked him a lot as he brought him back a few years later for the starring role In The Mouth Of Madness (1995).
There's a lot of side characters that show up for fun and games in bit roles, we have Michael KcKean as Nick's frenemy, his gossipy wife (Patricia Heaton), a droll wanna-be love interest for Alice (Gregory Paul Martin) and the always fun Stephen Tobolowsky (Groundhog's Day) as Jenkin's CIA supervisor who doesn't seem quit e a cutthroat as his subordinate, though it becomes clear who really has the power in that working relationship early on.
As an invisible man movie we get plenty of special effects throughout, we were at an early stage for digital special effects at the time, and some of them don't hold up all that well with optical effects that seem pretty dated, but there's also some decent practical effects and some digital ones that are cool. If you've ever wondered what it would look like to see an invisible man digest food, hurl and smokes a cigarette this movie answers all those questions for you. Scenes of the invisible man in the rain and running through water don't hold-up all that well, but a few scenes of him being made-up with make-up and the problems that arise from that aren't too bad. There's some fun footage of all the stuff Chase had to do to achieve some of the effects in the film, it's interesting stuff, it just doesn't translate tot he screen twenty five years later with a lot of success in my opinion, not awful, just dated.
Audio/Video: Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992) arrives on Blu-ray with a new 2K scan of an archival interpositive performed by Warner Bros., the new transfer looks good, offering more detail and brighter colors than the previous Warner DVD, black levels look solid and grain levels are nicely managed. Fine detail is decent offering some deepened facial features and clothing textures, some of the optical effects don't fare so well, but overall this is a solid HD presentation.
Audio comes by way of an English DTS-HD MA Stereo 2.0 track, it's well-balanced and sounds good without any hiss or distortion, optional English subtitles are provided. No Carpenter score on this one, but we do get one from Shirley Walker (the Willard remake), it sounds good though I didn't find any it particularly memorable.
Scream Factory offer no new extras for this non Collector's Edition release, but they do port over what looks to be all the extras from the previous DVD version, this being some behind-the-scenes footage, outtakes, a brief F/X featurette and vintage EPK interviews.
The single-disc release comes housed in a standard Blu-ray keepcase with a s20sided sleeve of artwork, the main sleeve featuring the familiar key art used on the DVD with the the title and tagline moved around - note that I couldn't find an image of the new cover art, what's pictured above the review is an older promotional image. The reverse side isn't an artwork option, just an image from the film and what looks to be a promotional shot of Daryl Hannah and Chevy Chase with information about the transfer. The disc itself features the same key art as the sleeve.
Special Features:
- NEW 2K scan of the original film elements
- How to Become Invisible: The Dawn of Digital F/X (4 min)
- Vintage interviews with director John Carpenter, actors Chevy Chase and Daryl Hannah (5 min)
- Behind the Scenes footage (5 min)
- Outtakes (3 min)
- Theatrical Trailer (2 min)
- TV Spots (4 min)
As both a fan of the comedies of Chevy Chase and films of John Carpenter I am very pleased to have this slice of 90's sci-fi on Blu-ray, but I do wish we would had gotten some new extras, there's gotta be some great stories about the making of this one. The film get a bad rap, I like it, I don't love it, but it's an interesting take on the invisible man mythos, and it's cool that Carpenter got a chance to do an invisible man movie.
