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"Can You See Me
Now? How About
Now?" |
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Directed by David S.
Goyer - Written by Mick
Davis
Starring Justin Chatwin,
Marcia Gay Harden,
Margarita Levieva, Chris
Marquette
Distributed by Hollywood
Pictures & Spyglass -
2007 - 97m - Rated PG13 |
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“The Invisible” is just like it’s title…you won’t see it and it’ll be
gone by next week!
Look here! I mades me a pun! How breathtakingly original of me. |
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Seriously, though…why
DO you have any interest in seeing “The Invisible”? That same, lame
trailer has been playing for what feels like a year now. It’s from
the director of “Blade: Trinity.” It stars that stupid kid who
survived aliens by fleeing to Boston in “War of the Worlds.”
And so forth. It’s no wonder that this weekend has been one of the
slowest in recent memory. All of the smart people are waiting a week
so they can see “Spider-Man 3.”
So it was me and two groups of obnoxious, giggling fourteen year old
girls, alone in a theatre to see “The Invisible.” I had a headache
already.
Strangely, this film was not nearly as bad as I thought it was going
to be. The terrible trailer is actually a complete and total
misrepresentation of the entire movie…one of the rare cases where
this is a good thing. However, this does not make “The Invisible” a
particularly good movie, just an okay one at best.
Forgive the rip I made on writer/director David S. Goyer. I like
him. I really, truly do. He may have pumped out some crap in the
past, but he also wrote the scripts for “Dark City” and “Batman
Begins,” so he has to dig through a lot more crap before can hate
him. I also enjoy his interviews and find him to be honest,
enthusiastic and fun to listen to.
With that said, Goyer’s script for “The Invisible” is quite good.
There are a few scenes in particular that I’m certain were
absolutely dynamic on the written page. It’s Goyer’s direction that
falters. If someone else had taken the reigns behind the camera,
this may have been a very effective and interesting drama (because
it’s not the thriller the trailer makes it out to be).
The story follows Nick Powell (Justin Chatwin), a nice, although
highly depressed young man who is beaten and left for dead in a
storm drain. Strangely, he becomes a ghost who can’t be seen or
heard by the people around him. So he follows the investigation of
his disappearance, including the effect it has on his mother (Marcia
Gay Harden) and his attacker (Margarita Levieva). Naturally, he
learns that he’s not dead and he can still be saved and so forth and
so on.
Chatwin’s pretty good here; a little stiff at the start, but once
the plot gets rolling, he delivers well enough. Levieva is
attractive for sure, but pretty wooden and unlikable, even though
the movie relies on her transition from thug to
nice-girl-from-a-broken-home (although this may not be her fault).
Harden, well, is Harden, elevating the movie with all of her scenes.
Damn it Goyer! I want to like this movie! Your script is good. Your
cast is good. Your story is much better than the ads let on.
But you keep things moving at a snail’s pace. None of your shots are
particularly interesting. And what’s with Levieva’s character? I did
not like her and you ask me to like her to accept the ending.
Inexcusable.
If you must see a teen-oriented movie right now, go see the superior
“Disturbia.” Otherwise, why waste your money when you have three
straight months of must-see movies coming up next week? |
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© Written by Jacob Hall -
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