Invisible, The

Suspense

Justin Chatwin
Margarita Levieva
Marcia Gay Harden
Chris Marquette
Alex O'Loughlin

Director	David S. Goyer
Producer	Roger Birnbaum; Gary Barber
Writer	Christine Roum; Mick Davis

A Sixth Sense wannabe for teenagers, The Invisible is a loosely adapted remake of the 2002 Swedish thriller Den Osynlige, and begins with a promising supernatural scenario: When wealthy teenager Nick Powell (Justin Chatwin) is nearly beaten to death by his sullen, alienated classmate Annie Newton (Margarita Levieva) and her tough-punk friends, he's left for dead and his disappearance draws the attention of local detectives while his widowed mother (Marcia Gay Harden) remains in a grieving state of shock. But Nick isn't dead yet, and now his invisible spirit is roaming among the living, struggling to prevent his own death while fixed in a state of metaphysical limbo. Can he be seen and heard by some people, but not others? Even though he's essentially a ghost, can he influence the physical world around him? Can he lead police to discover his near-dead body? Can he save Annie from the fate that awaits her? These are questions that The Invisible struggles to answer in a muddled, inconsistent screenplay that fails to play by its own rules--it's just one unconvincing scene after another, devoid of suspense or supernatural thrills. It's anyone's guess why director David S. Goyer (a successful screenwriter whose credits include Blade and Batman Begins) was drawn to this weakly plotted story, which is derivative, illogical, and overly melodramatic. That may explain why The Invisible vanished after its brief theatrical release, destined for a long shelf-life on DVD. --Jeff Shannon