One of the only clever sequences in the film involves Slater’s character talking up a storm with a woman in an elevator. She doesn’t seem to be looking in back of her, and talks quite nicely to him until she reaches her floor. When she turns, she unravels her walking stick revealing herself to be blind, thus she can’t see that Slater’s character is invisible either way. If only the entire movie were as clever as this one scene, I’d be gushing.

Kevin Bacon’s “The Hollow Man,” for all intents and purposes, was a completely missed opportunity. It was a high concept, mega special effects, big budget action thriller, featuring some prime talent, and potential, that was wasted on a sub-par story, and a climax that was both ridiculous and incredibly over the top. The direct to video sequel “Hollow Man 2” can hardly be considered a sequel at all. It’s yet another film tagged with the title of a sequel, only to make money off of its recognizable brand name. I’m not saying Christian Slater is a horrible actor, but compared to the more menacing Kevin Bacon, he just doesn’t add up. Slater, the quasi-Nicholson, was never able to reach the prime of his career, and “Hollow Man 2” shows why.

Slater’s role here is mostly just a money job. Almost half of the time he’s on-screen, we only hear his voice, and we’re forced to believe he’s invisible, reminding us of that fact, with a grunt or a groan from Slater. He shows up for five minutes in the flesh, for what can be considered a cameo. Meanwhile, the role of the hollow man is reduced to a mere cliché monster who stalks people without any coherent motive at hand. The film really belongs to Peter Facinelli who plays a grizzled cop trying to find a way to strike back at the hollow man who kills his partner. He tries his damndest with the pittance he’s given in terms of characterization, and personality, but he just doesn’t come out on top. The story told by the character Maggie is hardly what we’re served here.

The writers just can not get their story straight. In one scene he’s chatting up a woman in an elevator, and the next he’s gutting someone with a scalpel. And for budgetary reasons (understandable), much of the invisible antics are set aside for a more plodded exposition between the scientist Maggie and Facinelli’s cop character. They talk a lot, they argue, they drive around, and Maggie gives a thirty minute origin of Slater’s character and his transformation.

All the while a good seventy percent of the film is devoted to the officer characters who plan a sting in the first half, and then the invisible antics are reduced to sub-plot mode. And the special effects are (again, understandable) sub-par, with the usual devices used before CGI used here. People mime being attacked, objects float around, and sometimes we’re given a glimpse at the invisible form through blood or whatnot. It’s all at the quality of a typical television movie/pilot. I seriously saw better special effects for the Science Fiction show “Invisible Man” (oh, how I miss that series).

“Hollow Man 2” is just a money film. Slater and Facinelli are in this for the quick cash, the studios made this a sequel for the quick cash, and all of the schemes are summed up with a perfectly sub-par and awfully boring science fiction movie without anything worth remembering.

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