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Memoirs of an Invisible Man
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - Japan - Paramount Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: James-Masaki Ryan (13th March 2016). |
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The Film
 “Memoirs of an Invisible Man” (1992) Nick Halloway (played by Chevy Chase) is videotaping himself for the world to see what had happened to him, which proves difficult as he is completely invisible. Told in flashback form, Nick is a stock broker with no high ambitions, no family, and no close friends. Halloway’s acquaintance George (played by Michael McKean) introduces him to the beautiful Alice (played by Daryl Hannah) where sparks fly immediately. Although she has prior commitments for the later evening, Nick drinks himself silly through the night and wakes up with a massive hangover - one that would change his life for the worst… Nick attends a seminar at the Magnascopics Facility, where he is bumbling about and sleeping through most of the event. While looking for the restroom, he finds a place to rest for “just ten minutes”, but during that time a malfunction in the building’s laboratory causes the evacuation of the entire building. The building looks to defy gravity with parts of the building becoming transparent while others visible. For Nick, he and his clothes have become entirely invisible. CIA operative David Jenkins (played by Sam Neill) and his men try to explain to Nick that they were a group of scientists going to try to save him, but Nick doesn’t take the bait, seeing some suspicion behind them. Nick doesn’t know who to contact, who to trust, or how he could get anyone to believe his story. Will he be able to return to his former self, or will he stay invisible forever with the CIA after him? “Memoirs of an Invisible Man” was originally a novel written by H.F. Saint in 1987 (his first and only novel), mixing elements of suspense, action, social concerns, and science fiction, with immediate critical success. Some of the novel’s themes were changed, such as adding comedy to the story, examples being the laboratory malfunction caused by a spilled cup of coffee rather than environmental protester, and Nick’s gags and antics throughout the film. Originally developed with Ivan Reitman as the director, Chevy Chase as the lead, and writer William Goldman for the script, things did not pan out with Chase looking for more drama while Reitman wanting to broaden the comedy - a similar problem that would eventually happen again with Reitman and Bill Murray on the production of “Groundhog Day” a year later. Reitman left the production of “Memoirs of an Invisible Man” due to the disagreements, and new writers were brought in - Dana Olsen, who wrote the 1989 dark comedy “The ‘Burbs” and Robert Collector who wrote and directed the 1985 spy film “Red Heat” starring Linda Blair (not to be confused with the 1988 Arnold Schwarzenegger film of the same name). For a new director, the most unlikely candidate was chosen - John Carpenter. Although all Carpenter directed films from the 1980’s are now considered with critical acclaim and cult favorites, most of them were box office bombs initially. His early 1980's films “The Fog” (1980), “Escape from New York” (1981), and “Christine” (1983) were box office successes. “Starman” (1984) just barely broke even. “The Thing” (1982), “Big Trouble in Little China” (1986), and “Prince of Darkness” (1987) were box office flops. “Memoirs of an Invisible Man” would be his first film after the minor hit “They Live” (1988), a large four year gap in his career, as it was becoming more and more difficult for him to get financing for his own projects. Carpenter knew that he would not get full director’s control over the film and took it as a paid-for-hire job, and what was produced was the least John Carpenter-ish film in his filmography. The standout of the film is the visual effects, which in 1992 were quite cutting edge with the invisibility scenes. Using a combination of newly created digital effects, old fashioned optical blue screen effects, and simple hanging on wires puppeteering, it was an impressive feat showcasing a mix of old and new techniques by Industrial Light and Magic. Scenes of Nick’s character in the rain, the floating face due to make-up being applied to his invisible skin, the visible stomach after he eats, and the partially transparent Magnascopics facility were some of the many highlights of the effects sequences. It’s very obvious where most of the $40 million of the budget went towards. Chevy Chase was coming off a very hit or miss career at this point. “Funny Farm” (1987), “Fletch Lives” (1989), and “Christmas Vacation” (1989) were successes. The Dan Aykroyd directed “Nothing but Trouble” in 1991 was a huge financial and critical failure, nominated for multiple Razzies, and the soon to be broadcast “The Chevy Chase Show” would only last 5 weeks on the air before cancelation. It’s interesting to hear that Chase was looking for “Memoirs of an Invisible Man” to be a more serious role to do, when the film is filled with comedic Chase-ish moments like the hungover Nick opening the door the wrong way, a simple coffee spill causing a nuclear disaster, and the silly disguises reminiscent of “Fletch” and “Three Amigos!”. Chevy Chase is not a disaster in casting, (though Chevy Chase + Disaster may be a good thing) but he does not get to show off his dramatic abilities as much as he wanted in the finished product. So those expecting a Chevy Chase film will be satisfied but not surprised. For the supporting characters, Daryl Hannah as Alice is completely underused in the film. As important as her character is, besides being the love interest she doesn’t have much use - she doesn’t have tech skills, not a scientist, and her backstory of being a documentary producer serves no purpose so it’s a wonder why they snuck in that trivial information during their first meeting. The CIA operatives played by Sam Neill and Stephen Tobolowsky are polar opposites in casting, with Neill’s character of David Jenkins being sinister and controlling, and Tobolowsky’s character of Warren being a comedic straight man questioning the menacing actions of Jenkins. Neill does not do anything comical with his character, playing Jenkins as evil and soulless, almost as a precursor to his character in “The Daybreakers” (2009). Tobolowsky does not get enough screentime as Jenkins’ CIA supervisor but it would have made more sense to have someone more powerful in figure in charge, as he seems too powerless to be considered a threat to Jenkins’ career. Sam Neill would eventually collaborate with John Carpenter on the underrated “In the Mouth of Madness” in 1994 while Tobolosky eventually worked with the original director of “Memoirs of an Invisible Man”, Ivan Reitman a year later on “Groundhog Day”. The film does pay tribute to “The Invisible Man” films of the past, with the iconic scenes of Claude Rains’ character in the 1933 “The Invisible Man” unwrapping the bandages from his invisible face and the floating clothes, as well as Jenkins’ character mentioning if this were 1939 Nick could be sent as an invisible spy, referencing “The Invisible Agent” (1942). When the film was released in 1992, it was a critical and financial bomb, with the $40 million film grossing less than $15 million in the United States, and quickly forgotten about. But in all fairness, the film is actually not bad at all. As mentioned the special effects are great and the story is never boring. Of course the film could have been much better if they had stuck to the original dramatic story and playing less with the comical elements, or if director John Carpenter had complete director’s control, it would have been interesting to see. For those who passed on the film because of the disappointing reputation might be pleasantly surprised. Note this is a region A locked Blu-ray and can only be played back on region A or region free Blu-ray players
Video
The Paramount Japan Blu-ray of “Memoirs of an Invisible Man” is presented in 1080p in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio in the AVC MPEG-4 codec. The high definition transfer looks great, with good colors, detail, and visible film grain, with no problems such as dust or debris, with a very clear looking master used. It's not exactly a flashy colorful film or a home theater demo, but viewers should be satisfied. Some special effects scenes with optical effects look slightly grainier but that is expected. The film and extras are encoded on a single layer BD-25, and there are no problems with compression. The film starts and ends with the Warner Brothers logo with the 2000s Warner weblink, with the runtime of (99:05). The copyright on the case is a little confusing. The credits say “Warner Brothers presents” yet has the 20th Century Fox logo, the TWIN logo, and the Paramount logo. To make things clear, the film was produced by Warner Brothers, in association with Regency Enterprises. Most of the Warner owned Regency films had the copyright reverted to Regency, which Twentieth Century Fox distributes. The film was licensed from Fox to TWIN, a Japanese third party company dealing with foreign reissues. TWIN’s releases are distributed by Paramount Japan.
Audio
English LPCM 2.0 stereo Japanese LPCM 2.0 stereo The original stereo track in lossless LPCM sounds great. Dialogue and music are reproduced well, with no problems of audio dropouts or other errors to speak of. Unlike many John Carpenter directed films, the score was by the late Shirley Walker, one of the very few female film composers working in Hollywood, who later co-composed the score for “Escape from L.A.” together with John Carpenter. There are optional Japanese subtitles for the film, in a white font. There is also a secondary Japanese subtitle option, but it is specifically for the Japanese dub track, captioning signs and text. The menus are entirely in English, so navigation should not be a problem for English speakers though the translations are awkward. Instead of “Play Film” is says “All Play”, instead of “Settings” it lists “Setting” (only one?) and instead of “Bonus Features” it just says “Special”. As for the titling of the bonus features…
Extras
"How to Become Invisible: The Dawn of Digital FX" featurette (4:11) This 2003 featurette created for the Warner Brothers DVD release features interviews with ILM technicians explaining about some of the special effects were created, with some occasional behind the scenes snippets and raw footage. On the menu it is awkwardly titled in English “How to make invisible man”. in 480i NTSC, in windowboxed 1.78:1 and 2.35:1, in English Dolby Digital 2.0 with optional Japanese subtitles Outtakes (3:09) Shown are a scene of Nick encountering the scientists, a sexy and scary dream sequence, and extended scenes at George’s summer house. The outtakes are in unfinished form, with no finished music or sound effects editing done. The outtakes are filled with dust and debris, looking like it literally came from the cutting room floor. These deleted scenes were available on previous Warner DVD editions of the film. On the menu it is titled “A Collection of Unpublished Scenes”. TWIN really needs to get a better translator for their menu titling. Hey, hire me! in 480i NTSC, in windowboxed 2.35:1, in English Dolby Digital 2.0 with optional Japanese subtitles Trailer (1:57) The original U.S. Warner Brothers trailer, which plays the comedy angle and special effects sequences a lot. At the end the narrator says “A John Carpenter Film” which probably confused a lot of film fans. Another point of interest is that the final shot of the trailer was not used in the film itself. The menu screen gets it right here, listing it as Trailer. Good job, TWIN! in 480i NTSC, 2.35:1, in English Dolby Digital 2.0 with no subtitles All of the above were previously on the DVD editions of the film and there is nothing new. Carpenter always provides excellent commentaries on his films and it would have been interesting to hear about this one especially. If not from him, maybe one from the special effects technicians in commentary form or further featurettes, as the 4 minute featurette on the disc is way too short considering the extensive effects sequences. It would have also been interesting to hear from the screenwriters, especially Goldman who even sued for not being fully compensated for his work. No interview with novelist H.F. Saint, about his one and only novel written and his thoughts on the film and about his decision to retire from writing. For those interested here is a 20 minute audio interview with H.F. Saint from 1987.
Overall
“Memoirs of an Invisible Man” sadly never found an audience due to many factors - the changes from book to screen, fans of John Carpenter being disappointed, and the overall weakness of the finished product, with the exception of the special effects. But enter it with an open mind, forget that Carpenter was the director, watch it as “A Chevy Chase Film” instead and you may find it more enjoyable than expected.
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