In the end, it's all about the girl. Forget the special effects -- very Terminator 2, with beaucoup blood -- and the too-few spill-your-popcorn frights. In Paul Verhoeven's Hollow Man, all that workaholic Sebastian Caine (Kevin Bacon) wants (besides to be returned to his fully visible self) is to be loved.
After his crack team of scientists can't do the former and Linda McKay (Elisabeth Shue) won't continue doing the latter, Sebastian morphs from a merely cranky Hollow Man into the Angriest Man Alive. After feeling up unsuspecting women gets boring, Mr. Invisible decides he has some killin' to do. Especially pissed after discovering that his ex is sleeping with a fellow scientist, Sebastian confronts her with such classic spurned-lover lines as "I always knew you were a bitch."
As the mayhem ensued, I found myself with a few questions: How does Sebastian, who seemed pretty wiped out after undergoing the brutal transformation to transparency, get so strong? Why does this esteemed man of science, after insisting like a stubborn child that he be the first human guinea pig in the project, go off the deep end when his team couldn't immediately bring him back to normal, as if the possibility never occurred to him? And most important, if no one can see him, why does he keep sneaking up on people? Anyway, boys and girls, the real reason Sebastian Caine is hollow was because he lacks true love and companionship. If only that bitch would come back to him.