4D Man

The strength of the American film 4D Man is its special effects, which are really good. There is power in simplicity, the filmmakers said, and that is exactly how they conceived the creation of this film. And it paid off. The scenes still look good after 60 years and I personally wouldn't change anything about them. 4D Man is simply more sci-fi than horror, and I like to watch it mostly for the strange nostalgia it has. (2019.03.28)

Poster tagline: HE WALKS THROUGH WALLS OF SOLID STEEL AND STONE ... INTO THE 4TH DIMENSION!!! ___ For once, I’m disinclined to be as strict in my judgment as the other reviewers who find reason to complain about the jejune amorous subplot. Yes, it may be the case that more room is given over in the first half to displays of courtship than would strictly be advisable, but it doesn’t do the dramatic arc any harm; roughly from the 40th minute onward, the film strictly focuses on how the main character passes through solid material and on the planned bank heist and how the lifeblood is sucked from victims. I ought to explain this minor plot element of “vampirism” – when the main character walks through walls (or really any solid obstacles), he loses vital energy and rapidly ages. The filmmakers handled this, firstly, with some light make-up and grey hair and then with rather accomplished wrinkled make-up artistry. In order to regain lost his diminished lifeforce, the protagonist touches the bodies of other human beings (e.g. by kissing a prostitute) to siphon off theirs, and those, having been sucked dry, then die. This sounds great on paper, but unfortunately the special effects department appears anemic. The dissolve transitions are well done, but there are only a few of them, which is mostly the fault of Jack H. Harris, a notoriously stingy producer who cut corners wherever he could. In various tense situations that would be ideally suited for some gimmickry, the action invariably takes place off-screen, which is simply disappointing. And the bank heist, for instance, is only ever talked about. But I cannot complain about the rest: the jazz music that forms the (almost continuous) soundtrack is great, and so are all of the actors, particularly the charismatic Robert Lansing as the titular 4D Man. I’d love to know whether Steve McQueen, originally intended for the role, could have filled his shoes. He’d appeared in the director’s famous previous sci-fi film, The Blob, but then his career went into overdrive, so he turned down the role of 4D Man and focused on top-tier productions instead. (2020.03.23)