The Incredible Melting Man

A much more appropriate title would be ‘The Incredible Boring Man’ or ‘The Incredible Walking Man’, because all the titular melting astronaut is doing is to keep walking around 90% of the time, accompanied by a cyclic voice-over, which soon becomes very repetitive and soporific. As a result, the first forty minutes feel like they lasted two hours (moreover, it’s interesting to notice for how long this lad can keep melting, although his mass doesn’t seem to diminish). The absence of a plot critically harms the film, and the few imaginative murders at the end (like the spectacular fall onto the power line) combined with Rick Baker’s special effects are not enough to save the day, I’m afraid. All in all, this is a very poorly written piece of filmmaking which could have succeeded only as a silly black comedy; it was filmed in all earnest, however, which is unbelievable, since right from its title, the flick feels like a parody of the classic The Incredible Shrinking Man. Director Jonathan Demme appearing in a small role is one of the rare interesting moments in an otherwise utterly disappointing story. (26/12/2018)