2006 film by Claudio Fäh
Hollow Man 2 is a 2006 American science fiction horror film directed by Claudio Fäh and starring Peter Facinelli, Laura Regan and Christian Slater. In the film a government experiment goes wrong leaving soldier Michael Griffin (Slater) permanently invisible. When his health starts to deteriorate he goes after the scientists who ruined his life. It is the stand-alone sequel to the 2000 film Hollow Man, released direct-to-video on May 23, 2006.
Plot
At a cocktail party at a Washington think tank, an invisible force drags a scientist named Devin into a nearby bathroom, where the force (implied to be a person) brutally throws Devin around for information. Devin mentions another scientist, Maggie Dalton, who knows the "formula" the invisible person is looking for. Accepting this, the man releases him, warning him not to divulge information about this incident to anybody. When the invisible man pretends to leave, Devin attempts to call someone on his cell phone, but the invisible man smashes the phone and slashes Devin's throat. Fearing attacks on the remaining scientists, the lab's owner, Dr. William Reisner, employs Frank Turner and his partner, Detective Lisa Martinez, to protect Maggie, but refuses to divulge any information on the nature of his work.
The two detectives stand guard outside Maggie's house. When Lisa opens the door to let the cat in, the invisible man sneaks past her into the house. Just as he reaches the study where Maggie is, Lisa tracks him down, and he strangles her with a lamp's power cord. Suddenly, armed military commandos appear and storm the house, using thermal goggles to target and corner the invisible man. Several stun grenades go off around the house, incapacitating the soldiers and allowing the invisible man to escape.
Maggie is taken into protective custody by the police, where Turner's superior and friend, Captain Tom Harrison, has received orders to have her transferred to military custody. Frank helps Maggie escape from the police station and they flee in a stolen car. Bishop and Reisner declare them fugitives.
Maggie later tells Turner that five years prior, a team of scientists figured out how to make humans invisible, but something went wrong, leaving only two survivors. A year after the original project was scrapped, the Reisner Institute restarted the experiments as a covert Department of Defense-funded operation that attempts to render humans invisible. The resulting serum does turn human tissue invisible, but with adverse effects: as it allows light to pass directly through the subject, the radiation damages the cells and causes physical and mental degradation, slowly killing the person. Maggie developed a compound called the "Buffer" to counteract the effects. A soldier named Michael Griffin volunteered, and the serum succeeded, but the Buffer failed and Griffin seemingly died, which in turn got Maggie fired. Maggie believes that Griffin faked his death so he could use his powers without restraint, but now needs the antidote.
Maggie receives a message from a man named Ludlow. Turner uses his contacts to find Ludlow, a soldier enlisted into the program after Sebastian Caine (the original guinea pig), but before Griffin. He had gone into hiding but is now slowly dying from radiation. Ludlow has also been tracking Griffin and reveals the true story of the program: Operation Silent Knight was never about national security, and neither was Griffin given the Buffer since the Department used him to assassinate their political enemies.
Meanwhile, Griffin infiltrates Bishop's office and both get into a fight. Bishop stabs him with a pen. Griffin impales Bishop with the same pen and uses his computer to locate Ludlow. Arriving at the hideout, Griffin attacks Turner, but Ludlow intervenes, sacrificing himself to allow Turner and Maggie to escape. Griffin decides to make them return by capturing Maggie's sister. When they meet at the train station where he is hiding, Griffin silently catches Maggie and tries to turn her invisible so he can take her unnoticed, but Turner intervenes. After a short fight, Griffin escapes with Maggie, leaving Turner with the arriving Reisner and his guards. A short time later, Reisner pursues an invisible man but is soon captured and held by him. Believing him to be Griffin, he offers to send for the Buffer. The figure, however, is Turner, who used Griffin's discarded syringe to become invisible as well. Reisner, backing away, is hit and killed by a speeding car.
Griffin takes Maggie to her laboratory to create the Buffer. With his survival seemingly assured, Griffin tries to kill Maggie, but Turner (now invisible) intervenes and knocks him out of the laboratory window. Turner runs outside, where Griffin renders him unconscious. As Griffin slowly turns visible, Maggie reveals that Griffin has been poisoned; as the vial contained rat poison. Maggie ends up losing consciousness. Enraged, Griffin takes a shovel and attempts to kill her; but Turner, having recovered, stops him and impales him with the shovel. He then carries Maggie away for medical attention, leaving Griffin's now completely visible body outside in the rain.
A few days later, Maggie is recovering in hospital and is poised to be released. Heather tells her that Turner has not been found. Maggie insists that he will come back to her, as she knows that he needs her. Outside, they are being watched by a hooded invisible man, presumably Turner, who then walks away.
Release
The film was released direct-to-video on May 23, 2006. Along with the film, the DVD also included the "Inside Hollow Man 2" featurette, a visual effects featurette and storyboards. In 2013 Mill Creek Entertainment released the film for the first time on Blu-ray in a 2 pack set along with the original Hollow Man; all extras were dropped for the Blu-ray release.[1]
Reception
Hollow Man 2, as a direct-to-video release, had lower expectations than its preceding film.[2] On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 20% of 5 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 3.10/10.[3]
