Tag: Leigh Whannell

The Invisible Man

Rated: MA15+The Invisible Man

Directed by: Leigh Whannell

Screenplay and Screen Story by: Leigh Whannell

Produced by: Jason Blum, p. g. a., Kylie Du Fresne, p. g. a.,

Executive Produces: Leigh Whannell, Couper Samuelson, Beatriz Sequeira, Jeanette Volturno, Rosemary Blight, Ben Grant

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

‘He has figured out a way to be invisible.’

Watching waves from behind as they crash towards a dark shore gives a forboding sense of what’s to come.

The Invisible Man conjures thoughts of ghosts and the supernatural, yet writer and director, Leigh Whannell, known for his taste for the otherworldly (Insidious: Chapter 3) and horrific (Saw franchise) has given this new version of the invisible a modern twist.

I’m not going to give too much away, but the focus here is more about Cecilia Kass (Elisabeth Moss) escaping from Adrian (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), her optics guru, very rich and controlling boyfriend.

I was taken back to the 1991 film, Sleeping With The Enemy, as Cecilia prepares her escape from the imposing architecture of a cold and clinical space on top of a cliff overlooking the ocean, hiding her bag, planning the moment only to be haunted by the memory of Adrian telling her he would always find her.

And with a steam of warm breath in the cold outside from someone not visible, we see the invisible Adrian as he continues to stalk.

It’s these moments that impressed, the new and inventive creation of the invisible man.

The film could have turned twee, yet the idea felt new as the sound becomes muffled, dropping Cecilia into a world where an invisible man can exist.

I can’t say I was ever really terrified watching this film, but those silent moments waiting for the invisible to make good on the next threat shows restraint, allowing the gaps in between sound to ramp up the tension; the sound absent, like the man, yet the absent becoming something else, becoming the threat.

Composer, Benjamin Wallfisch (Blade Runner 2049, Shazam! and the It franchise) manages to add that extra layer to the story with the soundtrack which is such an important factor in a scary movie.

And Elisabeth Moss was made for this role, drawing strength from the bruised and battered, running from the one who would control her very thoughts; to show strength in a world where she sounds insane.

However, I feel like the story gets a bit loopy – getting confused about the relationships, like the single dad and best friend, James (Aldis Hodge).  I originally thought that James was the ex of Cecilia’s sister, Emily (Harriet Dyer).  And what made James and Cecilia such good friends?

There’s some great AHA! moments, but there’s times I questioned an obvious strategy like Cecilia’s obsession with ladders…

But the way the story’s shown is tight and restrained with the timing of those tense moments just right.

Who would have thought panning to a blank space on a wall or corner of the room could be scary?

Upgrade

Rated: MA15+Upgrade

Directed and Written by: Leigh Whannell

Produced by: Blumhouse Productions, Jason Blum and Goalpost Pictures, Kylie du Fresne

Director of Photography: Stefan Duscio

Starring: Logan Marshall-Green, Betty Gabriel, Harrison Gilbertson, Simon Maiden, Benedict Hardie, Melanie Vallejo, Richard Cawthorne, Christopher Kirby and Linda Cropper.

Set in the near future, Upgrade introduces a world where bio-technology has begun its take-over, where being stronger, faster and logical is better than the hands-on approach to fixing cars.

It’s rare that someone like mechanic Grey Trace (Logan Marshall-Green) builds cars, real cars that run on oil and require a steering wheel.  So when Grey delivers his latest creation to billionaire super-tech, Eron Keen (Harrison Gilbertson), inventor of an Artificial Intelligence implant, STEM (voice over, Simon Maiden), Grey finds a friend in the most unlikely place.

Because, even with all the drones and digital cars Grey and his wife Asha (Melanie Vallejo) become victims of a contract killing.  Leaving Grey quadriplegic.

Previously anti-digital, it’s technology that allows Grey to track down the people who ruined his life.

Upgrade combines the old-school love story of man-seeking-revenge for his murdered wife with the setting of a world run by technology, the tone reminding me of past films like, The Crow (1994).

Writer and director, Leigh Whannell (creator of Saw and Insidious) notes influences such as, The Terminator (1984) with Arnold Schwarzenegger acting as a cyborg being the special effects and there’s good action here with Logan Marshall-Green as Grey learning specialised movements to make the role of part-man, part-STEM convincing and unique.

But it took me a while to get into the film as the drama felt all too familiar.

Upgrade

The gritty dark alleyways and dripping broken toilets; Grey vomiting when unable to control muscles required to lift his head properly to breath – mixed with futuristic technology like a cloud with flashes of lightening manipulated with human hands made up for some oversights that stretched the believability of the film: atrophied muscles don’t suddenly grow back, even with nerve function.

The visceral action is what made the film for me with handy camera work from Stefan Duscio attaching the camera to the characters, like Grey as he moved around like a crazed ninja robot: the fight scenes well-timed, surprising and bloody.

And adding moments like the stencilled image of robotic arms, fingers extended like horns and Grey in the foreground, in his wheel chair, head slumped, introduced a creative vision, integrating the digital into a world still recognisable as our own.

Although, there’s some good humour that gels the authentic, analogue Grey with his digitized helper STEM, partaking in his life like an alter-ego…  I didn’t absolutely love it, the film a little stilted (dare I say artificial?!) and not always believable.

But there’s great technique here and a well-paced story that lifts a low-budget production past the obvious into a film that successfully pushes the boundaries of the action/sci-fi genré.

Insidious: The Last Key

Rated: MInsidious: The Final Key

Directed by: Adam Robitel

Based on Characters Created by: Leigh Whannell

Written by: Leigh Whannell

Produced by: Jason Blum, Oren Peli, James Wan

Starring: Lin Shaye, Leigh Whannell, Angus Sampson, Kirk Acevedo, Caitlin Gerard, Spencer Locke, Josh Stewart, Tessa Ferrer, Aleque Reid, Ava Kolker, Pierce Pope, Bruce Davison, Javier Botet.

Set as a prequel to the original, Insidious: The Last Key begins with parapsychologist, Dr. Elise Rainier (Lin Shaye) growing up in 1954, living in an abusive home: 413 Apple Tree Lane in Five Keys.

Elise has the gift, she was born with the gift.  And her father hates her for it.

She lives with her brother, Christian (Pierce Pope) who’s understandably afraid of the dark, and is given a silver whistle to call his mother if he ever feels scared.

But when their mother dies, Elise finally leaves home at 16, leaving her little brother and the terrors of her childhood behind, including Key Face (Javier Botet), a demon who convinced her that setting it free would bring her more light.  Key Face wants Elise to set them all free from The Further, because she’s the only one who can.

A phone call from Ted Garza (Kirk Acevedo), the current inhabitant of her childhood house, brings her back to all those bad memories.  Haunted, Ted asks for help.  And reluctantly, Elise returns with her new family, Specs (Leigh Whannell) and Tucker (Angus Sampson): The Spectral Sightings crew.

There’s a different feel to this fourth instalment, with new director, Adam Robitel bringing a more human drama to this otherwise suspenseful, supernatural franchise.

There’s less reliance on the soundtrack, the suspense built on silence broken by footsteps on floorboards and the squeaking turn and fixing of a light bulb.  It’s a slow burn that builds into a surprisingly sinister tale.

But I had trouble with holes in the script – OK, maybe not holes.  Everything was there, but there wasn’t enough weight given to the why and backstory of Key Face.  I don’t want to give too much away, but the death of Elise’s mother felt superficial to me, not supernatural.

And her death is an important part of the film as the story relies on this essential part of the fable and the power of Key Face.

The object of the whistle gives the supernatural a touch-stone of reality.  And restraint makes the ghosts from The Further all the more believable.

So, there’s thought about the detail here which makes the glossing over the essential annoying.

Lin Shaye as Dr. Elise Rainier continues to bring authenticity to the difficult role of a parapsychologist who can commune and see ghosts.  And the humour of Leigh Whannell and Angus Sampson as Specs and Tucker works in this instalment; the humour given more time to work unlike the over-editing in Chapter 3 (where Leigh Whannell was also the writer), which rendered the jokes mis-timed and inconsequential.

As producer Blum says of writer Leigh Whannell: “There is a real relationship that has evolved between the audience and the characters in the movie.  Leigh understands that what makes a good scary movie is not the scares, but what comes in between them.”

And seeing Spectural Sightings together in their van, AKA, The Winnebaghost, with Tucker sporting an impressive mullet, was a definite highlight.

Insidious: The Last Key manages to create a unique tone and story to the previous instalments.  A more adult and suspenseful drama with some good humour to break the tension with a few scares that could have been so much stronger with better understanding of the Key Man and his power.

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