When “The Invisible” works, it tends to be in those scenes that highlight the characters’ personal struggles and inner turmoil. The alienation that Nick suffers from isn’t so much the social angst that comes with school life, but the alienation that comes from being misunderstood by an overly controlling parent – in this case, his mother Diane (Harden). Looming over this family dysfunction is a father’s death, a past event whose aftermath illustrates how the road to estrangement can be paved with even the best of parental intentions. Some of the film’s better scenes come from the emotionally grounded interaction between Chatwin and Harden. While we can sympathize with Nick, we can also appreciate where Diane is coming from, which is just the kind of depth a story like this needs to avoid a citation from the cliché police.
Also successful are scenes involving Annie Newton, the aforementioned girl. Margarita Levieva gives a convincing, even endearing, performance, capable of switching from really tough to vulnerable without sacrificing sincerity. Even though she predictably comes from a broken home with an indifferent father and a useless stepmother – an environment ripe for growing bad apples – Levieva brings a sincere and believable quality to Annie that makes her character compelling. The end result, considering that she is the only one to really be changed by events in the film, is a tragic character whose emotional journey overshadows that of the protagonist.
Over the Top
Unfortunately, this doesn’t necessarily translate to good scenes involving Annie and Nick. The film’s over-the-top ending is so laughably melodramatic that it’s like the screenwriters took the ending from Romeo and Juliet, tacked it onto an otherwise interesting TV movie, dropped a few key character arcs, and sacrificed plausibility in the process. Add in David Goyer’s heavy-handed direction, with a propensity for relying on an in-your-face soundtrack that makes certain scenes come across as music videos, and “The Invisible” ends up spoiling momentum that takes a long time to build. Less would certainly have been more.
A final beef: while the film positions itself as a character drama, it’s also undeniably something of a thriller as well. Unfortunately, this aspect of the film is the flattest. There is no real mystery to the film, as we know early on exactly what happens to Nick to put him between life and death, and why. The only tension comes from the race against the clock to get his body rescued, which isn’t really all that tense. While splintered, time-jumping narratives have gotten a bit too trendy these days, “The Invisible” could have benefited from one.
Technical Quality: * (out of two)
The Invisible. Starring Justin Chatwin, Margarita Levieva, Marcia Gay Harden and Chris Marquette. Directed by David S. Goyer. Written by Mick Davis and Christine Roum. 97 minutes. Rated PG-13 for violence, criminality, sensuality and language – all involving teens.
