HOLLOW MAN II

Christian Slater as "Griffin"

HOLLOW MAN II (2006). Director: Claudio Fah. Direct to Video. 

The invisibility experiments first detailed in Hollow Man with Kevin Bacon have been continued with a new subject: soldier Michael Griffin (Christian Slater of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country). He was assigned to kill off political enemies, but his mind has deteriorated and he feels he has been betrayed by his superiors (which, of course, he has). Cop Frank Turner (Peter Facinelli) teams up with scientist Maggie Dalton (Laura Regan of Dead Silence) to try to get the best of their invisible adversary, who wants to force Maggie to come up with a formula to save his life. But Griffin is not going to make it easy for them ... 

Laura Regan and Peter Facinelli

Hollow Man II has a significantly smaller budget than the first film, so you won't find those magnificent special effects shots. The acting is good, although Slater seems a bit too subdued. Sarah Deakins makes an impression as Facinelli's partner, Lisa, and there is good work from William MacDonald as the ill-fated Colonel Gavin Bishop. Towards the end of the film, which has a degree of suspense and excitement, we learn that there are other invisible men out there, and they are not in a healthy condition. Paul Verhoeven, director of the first film, is executive producer. The film gives a nod to H. G. Wells' novel "The Invisible Man" by naming the fellow Griffin as in the book. 

Verdict: Below the level of the first film, but acceptable Grade B thriller. **1/2. 

SUICIDE SQUAD: HELL TO PAY

The members of the Suicide Squad

SUICIDE SQUAD: HELL TO PAY (2018 animated feature). Director: Sam Liu. 

Task Force X is a division of the Suicide Squad, a group of super-powered convicts who agree to work for one Amanda Waller in exchange for considerations. To keep the members from simply running off, Waller has bombs implanted in the members' necks that will literally blow their heads off if they try anything un-kosher. The normally obese Waller, now skinny due to cancer, wants the team to get a certain mystical object that will give the possessor a sort of "get out of Hell" free card, supposedly affecting their after-lives. But there are others who want this object, including the immortal Vandal Savage (who was once a caveman), the Banshee, and Professor Zoom, AKA the Reverse-Flash.

Once a caveman: Vandal Savage

The members of the Task Force include the psychotic Harlequin (who has for inexplicable reasons become prominent in the DC Comics universe), Killer Frost, the lovable Captain Boomerang, Deadshot, Copperhead, and the less-malevolent-than-the-others Ben Turner, AKA the Bronze Tiger. Other characters include Vandal's daughter Scandal Savage, and her female lover, Knockout, not to mention a male stripper who turns out to have once been the magical Dr. Fate. 

male stripper attempts to channel Dr. Fate

Just as many comic books today are definitely not for children, the same goes for comic book movies. Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay is full of often gruesome and sadistic violence, especially during the prologue when Waller sets the fifth-string villains Punch and Jewelee against gang leader Tobias Whale on a speeding train. Then there is the sexual content, although none of it could be described as pornographic. What really makes the movie cook is the fluid animation, many exciting sequences, and the suspense over which group or person will wind up winning the prize -- or losing their lives. The actors who do the voices for this feature include Christian Slater (Deadshot), Vanessa Williams (Amanda Waller), and C. Thomas Howell (Zoom).

Verdict: Not your grandpop's super-villains. ***.