Eerie ‘The Invisible’ needs better lead
It’s sort of a cross between an episode of “The Twilight Zone” and the movie “The Sixth Sense.”
“The Invisible” is the story of Nick Powell, played by Justin Chatwin.
Nick goes to a particularly violent high school. But he’s smarter than most of the kids and seems to have their respect.
Also at the school is Annie Newton, played by Margartia Levieva, a psychopathic gang leader who has no trouble beating up guys in the boys restroom.
Nick has had it with school. He’s had it with his mother, played by Marcia Gay Harden. She seems cold and aloof. Nick first got that impression when his father died when he was 13 and his mother’s response was, “Don’t worry, Nick. This won’t change anything.”
When Annie has a fight with a boyfriend, he (played by Alex O’Loughlin), turns her in to the cops.
But Annie thinks a student she beat up earlier, played by Chris Marquette, turned him in.
Ah, meanwhile Nick has purchased a ticket for London, where he plans to live and write poetry. When Annie starts beating on the Marquette character, he says it was Nick who turned her in. Why not, he figures, Nick is on a plane to London and they can’t touch him.
Ah, but for plot’s sake he doesn’t get on the plane and when Annie and her gang see him, they beat him nearly to death. In fact, they think he is dead. They dump him down a storm drain.
Suddenly, Nick is on his way to school, but nobody sees him. Nobody acknowledges him. When he knocks books over, they scatter to the floor. But the next moment, they are back on a desk in the same order.
Nick thinks he’s dead, but a special scene involving a dying bird helps him realize he is alive and authorities must get to his body before he does die.
Nick follows his inconsolable mother and learns more about her. He learns Annie has lost a parent, too.
The movie is about finding Nick’s body but also about finding Annie’s soul and determining if she can be redeemed. There is something invisible about her, too.
The premise is interesting and well executed. Chatwin as Nick plays the whole thing just too subdued. He should be the most interesting character in the film and he is not.
Still, “The Invisible” is an intelligent fantasy thriller worth making visible in your home.
The Invisible • Directed by David S. Goyer • Rating: Rated PG-13 for violence, criminality, sensuality and language - all involving teens • Runtime: 97 minutes • 3 stars out of 4
This was published in the Star Beacon May 30, 2008.
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