As great a movie as 2020’s The Invisible Man was, making a sequel still wouldn’t be anything short of a mistake. One of the last major movies to be released prior to the Coronavirus pandemic and its resulting shutdown of theaters, Universal and Blumhouse’s The Invisible Man could be considered a loose remake of the original 1933 movie starring Claude Rains. It could also be considered another adaptation of H.G Wells’ 1897 book, but in reality, this Invisible Man merely took that story’s framework and used it to construct an almost entirely new tale of terror.
Directed by Leigh Whannell, who made his name on the Saw and Insidious franchises, The Invisible Man stars The Handmaid’s Tale‘s Elisabeth Moss as Cecilia, who begins the film by escaping an abusive relationship with her controlling boyfriend, Adrian Griffin. It soon appears that Adrian died by suicide after Cecilia left, but in this case, that would have been the preferable outcome. Instead, Adrian, a scientist, uses a piece of technology he’s developed to make himself invisible.
This invisibility enables Adrian to force his way back into Cecilia’s life, terrorizing and gaslighting her and causing everyone in her orbit to believe she’s simply gone mad. In the end, Cecilia is able to turn the tables on Adrian, using his own invisibility tech against him. It’s a poignant, effective conclusion, one that brings what had been an intense story to a satisfying end. With the critical and commercial success The Invisible Man had, questions about a potential sequel continue to be asked, but it’s the strength of The Invisible Man‘s ending that truly makes an Invisible Man 2 a bad idea.
Hollywood’s love of franchises means that a movie with a self-contained ending with real finality is rare. Even an ending that appears to have tied up the vast majority of loose ends, such as The Invisible Man, runs the risk of being undone. While Cecilia is alive and retains possession of Adrian’s invisibility suit, there’s no real compelling reason to bring her or it back. Cecilia attains full, uncompromising victory over her tormentor in a way that earned cheers in theaters. Now, she deserves to live as happy and normal life as possible, free from the emotional shackles Adrian kept her locked in.
Thankfully, both Moss and Whannell seem to be aware that an Invisible Man 2 isn’t necessary. When asked recently, Moss said that an Invisible Man sequel isn’t likely to arrive anytime soon, if ever, although it hasn’t been ruled out. That said, there’s no reason Universal and executive producer/star Elisabeth Banks shouldn’t continue moving forward on their planned Invisible Woman spinoff or something else in a similar vein to Invisible Man as part of their burgeoning line of classic monster revivals. Those could prove worthwhile in their own right, but Cecilia’s cathartic ending needs to stay untouched by a direct Invisible Man sequel.
