Home > Movies > Movie Review > The Invisible

The Invisible

Teen drama best left unseen

By Geoff Berkshire

April 27, 2007

Critic's Rating:

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"The Sixth Sense" meets "One Tree Hill" in "The Invisible," an awkward teen drama with supernatural elements. Never satisfying no matter what genre it attempts, "The Invisible" takes its title a little too seriously—ultimately giving audiences nothing to see.

The film's focus shifts between smart "golden boy" Nick (Justin Chatwin, "War of the Worlds"), who writes poetry and hopes to study abroad in London, and damaged delinquent Annie (Margarita Levieva, TV's "Vanished"), who spends her nights stealing jewelry and sleeping with an ex-con (Alex O'Loughlin, TV's "The Shield"). When the police bust Annie, she believes Nick turned her in and seeks revenge. Their violent confrontation ends with Nick left for dead in the woods.

The next morning Nick returns to school but quickly realizes that no one can see him. Any action he takes (be it opening a door or colliding with a classmate) is immediately undone, as if nothing ever happened. As Nick struggles with his predicament he begins to think Annie may be the only one who can help him.

Instead of using the "ghost" angle for horror or suspense, "The Invisible" is more interested in exploring morality and redemption. Unfortunately, most of the heavy drama falls to the petite and innocuous Levieva, drastically miscast as a high school girl whose behavior is perfectly suited to Tony Soprano's crew. Despite the filmmakers' attempts to humanize and redeem Annie, she never develops into a credible character.

Chatwin flounders in a part that doesn't allow interaction with other characters, and Oscar-winner Marcia Gay Harden ("Pollock") just collects a paycheck in the thankless role of Nick's overbearing mother.

But going back to that unfortunate title: It's safe to say the movie will be in and out of theaters so fast you might as well call it…oh, you know.

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