Hollow Man (2000)

A group of top scientists have managed to create an invisibility serum for the US military, however, they are having a slight problem with the serum to restore visibility as their laboratory full of invisible animals pays testament to.

Head scientist Sebastian Caine is determined to crack the problem and works around the clock on his formula. One night he manages to perfect a stable serum which he believes will reverse the invisibility process. The team try the serum on a gorilla and to their joy it actually works. With the serum proven Sebastian is determined to move to the next level and be the first human test subject.

Whist the serum to make him invisible works, the serum to return him to normal has no effect. Whilst he initially enjoys the benefits of being invisible it soon wears off when he realises all he can't perfect a new serum. He becomes psychotic and locks the scientists in the underground laboratory and starts venting his anger on his fellow scientists. As the team are picked off one by one the remaining scientists battle to escape and fight an invisible enemy.

The picture is bright and colourful with an above bit-rate throughout the film. There's certainly no signs of artifacting or outlining and with the CGI intensive nature of the film the DVD really handles everything thrown at it with ease. Yet again Columbia/Tri-Star come up trumps with a brilliant picture transfer.

When the Columbia/Tri-Star logo first appears in glorious Dolby Digital you know that you're into for a surround treat, and indeed that's exactly what Hollow Man manage to give. The dialogue is clear and precise in the centre channel and there's some excellent stereo steerage.

Although the surround channels are really only used by the ambient and musical effects, during the final scenes they come alive with with explosions and the sound of breaking glass. The excellent dramatic musical score also heightens the tension when its needed the most resulting in a real nail biting finale.

The menu system is nicely animated, although the submenus are static and boring, and there's plenty of extras to keep you happy. If you are interested in how the special effects were done then you'll be more than pleased with the additional information. There's a special effects featurette and an especially interesting section with a "before and after" split screen. The extras really do make it a value for money disc.

The things that amuses me the most about the disc packaging is the comments about the director on the rear of the box. "From Paul Verhoeven, director of Starship Troopers and Total Recall...." Er, excuse me, but didn't you direct that stinker of a film called Show Girls?

The tension in the film is acceptable enough, even if it's a little predictable at times, and I kept getting the feeling I was watching Alien with all of those dark corridors and an unseen enemy. However, Hollow Man is a reasonable flick with some excellent special effects which makes this disc a worthy addition to your DVD collection.