Us usual, my timely review of 'The Invisible' comes
just as the film is about to be shuttled embarrassedly out of theaters
nationwide. It's a good thing this isn't my real job, eh?The Invisible
Us usual, my timely review of 'The Invisible' comes
just as the film is about to be shuttled embarrassedly out of theaters
nationwide. It's a good thing this isn't my real job, eh?
I think the main selling point behind this work is
that it was a supernatural thriller (whatever that means) from "the makers
of 'The 6th Sense'". (And if that pedigree strikes one as unimpressive,
just remember how dependable the actual writer/director of '6th' has been.)
The groundwork is simple enough; just take some ghostly mumbo jumbo, add a few
fresh young faces, and toss in a couple o' plot twists to build suspense. The
trouble is that the story never really takes any initiative, and thus the film
seldom evolves beyond this barebones setup.
The first act is slow as molasses. The plot, like some groaning zeppelin, takes
forever to get where it needs to be, and looks both awkward and dated while
doing so. Even after, the film never properly builds up a head of steam. Our
ghostly young lad takes his damn time figuring out the rules of his ephemeral
existence, and is promptly given nothing else to do but follow people around and
yell at them. This section of the film needed a large amount of polish, but
amazingly, just the opposite appears to have happened. Bits of story and entire
characters that appeared in the trailers (such as the old man that tries to
explain Nick's dilemma to him) have been snipped out completely. By the time
anything interesting starts happening, the film is just about to hit its sappy,
unfulfilling denouement.
This might be tolerable if we were given some
interesting character interplay, but no such luck here. This is not to say that
players are wholly monochromatic. They do change, but in wholly foreseeable
ways. For example, we know that Nick's mother only appears to be cold and
manipulative, she'll melt and blubber after her son meets with misfortune.
Likewise we know that the thuggish girl Annie who sends Nick off on his astral
travails will turn out to be vulnerable and redeem herself. (Margarita Levieva
who portrays Annie is just about the only thing the film has going for it. She
is amazingly talented enough to make her character's mawkish transformation
pretty believable.) Why then are we never given any inkling of this depth of
character until the script calls for it?
Mom is just trying to be strong after the death of her husband, and Annie is
fleeing a broken home, but this is excuse making, not organic character
development. It makes these folk seem more bi-polar than complex.
Much worse than the cheesy 'Pay it Forward' refuges in the supporting cast is
our protagonist, Nick Powell. I don't understand how anyone could get past the
fan fiction phase of their writing career and yet expect an audience to identify
with the ersatz ennui this spoiled brat faces.
Are we meant to pity the pampered pretty boy from a rich family who resents
having a fabulous future laid out before him? Are the adoring friends and
beautiful girls who seek out his company just so stupefyingly supportive that he
feels he must break free from ambition and bum around Europe for a while? I
suppose that for any normal self-respecting trust fund baby, this would be done
on mommy's dime, but Nick has too much self-respect (that's the thing that makes
you act like a petulant tool, right?) for that. However in another
characterization misstep, St. Nick makes extra money selling papers to his
lazier classmates, as he is also magnificently brilliant. (Hail Ricethulu, god
of Mary-Sues!)
It's ok that he doesn't have much of a moral center; he's deep and troubled,
man.
I think that any viewer-myself certainly-would feel a deep bond with this fine
young man.
And later Tom Sloane
and I will go clubbing at the Piccadilly Pub. (Ok, that's the last 'Daria'
reference I'm making for a while, I promise!)
I sometimes refer to the post-'Scream' vapid youth
marketed surge of late 90's pseudo thrillers as 'WB' horror. I wouldn't go that
far in condemning 'Invisible', I would say instead that there's just something
oddly UPN about the film. The plot mechanics, the direction, cast, setting, all
of it seems to be well soaked in a palpable mediocrity.
That's really the worst slam I have for 'The Invisible'. It doesn't do anything
monstrously dumb, it just never does much of anything. It's cute enough for a
late night cable time waster, but the way it inches timidly away from saying
anything new or different, it's not really worth even a paid rental.
4.0
March 12, 2007