David O'ConnellThe Invisible (2007)
October 2nd 2008 03:41
From director David S. Goyer comes a streamlined update of a 2002 Swedish film, and the resulting supernatural melodrama is a perfect example of what Hollywood can fashion in their incurable mania for remakes……...i.e. soulless, insubstantial recreations that resonate with only one thing – the audience’s sense loss for the 90 minutes of their lives they’ll never get back.
To be fair The Invisible isn’t quite that diabolical, and I haven’t seen the original yet either, though it’s sitting in my to-be-watched pile awaiting dissection.
The Invisible is conventional, predictable and ultimately trite in the most frivolous sense, and yet it’s undeniably watchable trash if you can get past the first 15 minutes with a wooden Marcia Gay Harden as Diane Powell, the ice-maiden, disinterested mother of promising student Nick (Justin Chatwin).
Nick soon finds himself in strife through association with a friend, Pete Egan (Chris Marquett) who is being bullied by a group of black-clad angst-ridden students whose ringleader is the gloomy Annie Newton (Margarita Levieva).
When Annie’s ex-crim boyfriend sells her out to the police for an impulsive robbery, she targets Pete as the likely snitch but he, under duress, gives her Nick’s name, thinking his friend will be safe from harm because he’s supposed to be on a plane to London for a writing course.
Naturally Nick changes his mind and when Annie and her crew track him down they treat him to their own form of retribution, pummeling him to within an inch of his life.
Later Nick is seen emerging from the woods where he was dropped into a drain, but it takes a while for him to conclude that he’s actually a ghost, his physical form abandoned, still to be found by a cordon of searchers as his disappearance is brought to the attention of police.
But is Nick really dead? Or merely stranded on a plane of existence somewhere between life and death?
He’s the Invisible, incorporeal and confused, imperceptible to the living, except the guilty Annie - the one person responsible for his demise, who has fought for years against the emotional incarceration of her broken family life, her only expression of humanity exhibited through her devotion to her young brother.
Will she be able to save her own soul, reborn from her downtrodden existence and cocoon of darkness, whilst simultaneously directing the search efforts of the police to the location of Nick’s body? Take a guess on both counts.
There’s no blood, nudity or severed limbs so the film has little to attract gorehounds; it's a disappointment from Goyer who previously made the third Blade film but is best known as a decent genre screenwriter (including the original Blade, Dark City, and Batman Begins).
It’s a bland production with the distinctly uncharismatic Chatwin a major problem whilst Russian-born newcomer Levieva is serviceable but a distracting cross between Jessica Alba and Natalie Portman.
Here’s hoping for a more engaging experience with the Swedish original - hopefully a film without scene after scene layered with meaningless, mediocre indy rock songs too!
To be fair The Invisible isn’t quite that diabolical, and I haven’t seen the original yet either, though it’s sitting in my to-be-watched pile awaiting dissection.
The Invisible is conventional, predictable and ultimately trite in the most frivolous sense, and yet it’s undeniably watchable trash if you can get past the first 15 minutes with a wooden Marcia Gay Harden as Diane Powell, the ice-maiden, disinterested mother of promising student Nick (Justin Chatwin).
Nick soon finds himself in strife through association with a friend, Pete Egan (Chris Marquett) who is being bullied by a group of black-clad angst-ridden students whose ringleader is the gloomy Annie Newton (Margarita Levieva).
When Annie’s ex-crim boyfriend sells her out to the police for an impulsive robbery, she targets Pete as the likely snitch but he, under duress, gives her Nick’s name, thinking his friend will be safe from harm because he’s supposed to be on a plane to London for a writing course.
Naturally Nick changes his mind and when Annie and her crew track him down they treat him to their own form of retribution, pummeling him to within an inch of his life.
Later Nick is seen emerging from the woods where he was dropped into a drain, but it takes a while for him to conclude that he’s actually a ghost, his physical form abandoned, still to be found by a cordon of searchers as his disappearance is brought to the attention of police.
Justin Chatwin is Nick, the teenager with a spiritual identity crisis!
But is Nick really dead? Or merely stranded on a plane of existence somewhere between life and death?
He’s the Invisible, incorporeal and confused, imperceptible to the living, except the guilty Annie - the one person responsible for his demise, who has fought for years against the emotional incarceration of her broken family life, her only expression of humanity exhibited through her devotion to her young brother.
Will she be able to save her own soul, reborn from her downtrodden existence and cocoon of darkness, whilst simultaneously directing the search efforts of the police to the location of Nick’s body? Take a guess on both counts.
Attractive newcomer Margarita Levieva as Annie
There’s no blood, nudity or severed limbs so the film has little to attract gorehounds; it's a disappointment from Goyer who previously made the third Blade film but is best known as a decent genre screenwriter (including the original Blade, Dark City, and Batman Begins).
It’s a bland production with the distinctly uncharismatic Chatwin a major problem whilst Russian-born newcomer Levieva is serviceable but a distracting cross between Jessica Alba and Natalie Portman.
Here’s hoping for a more engaging experience with the Swedish original - hopefully a film without scene after scene layered with meaningless, mediocre indy rock songs too!
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Comment by Raquelle
Apart from the casting being off, the film was highly watchable, mainly cause you wanna know what happens and are glad to keep the tele on while you wash the dishes....
I am not sure if Justin Chatwin is a promising actor or a hack, and this film didnt do him justice and vice versa...the teens will eat it up tho!
cheers, R
Comment by David O'Connell
Screen Fanatic
I felt like turning this one off after the first 10 or 15 minutes but you're right, then it did become quite watchable and intriuging to some extent I must admit, even if it ends up a weak film ultimately, by anyone's standards.
Comment by Cibbuano
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