I have always wanted to watch this movie since I first saw the trailer. The premise is about this high school boy, Nick, found himself stuck in the limbo after being murdered. His spirits lingered between his home and his high school, and that he must solve the mystery of his death before his spirit can move on. Well, at least that is the premise the trailer tried to portray - a thriller mystery.
For some reason, The Invisible reminded me a lot of One Hour Photo, where seemingly insignificant acts spun out of control, forcing a character to run away from the law all the while trying to come to turns with their own past and “right the wrongs.” Very early in the movie you see who these “killers” are, and how the whole “murdering” went down. You also peeked inside the troubled personal life of some of these teens, which foreshadows the chaotic events down the road. So the story does not really have much mystery elements to it.
It also does not have much thrills in the story, instead it deals with a lot more emotional turmoils of said “murderers” and “victim” themselves. The overall tone of this movie is actually somewhat mellow (yet powerful at times). Margarita Levieva (as Annie) did a decent job playing one of the culprits, and Chris Marquette (as Pete) did an outstanding job to really make me despise him for many of the things he did in the movie. Of course, Marcia Gay Harden (as Diane) is amazing as always, playing a strong, yet heart-broken mother. Justin Chatwin (as Nick), on the other hand, may not have did his lead role justice.
Throughout the movie, his character came off as an arrogant brat, acting as if he is the center of the attention. His character was supposed to grow and mature with the many events that took place after his death. But that never came through. His character fell flat for the remainder of the plot, and the acting was rather bland, especially in contrast of Margarita’s performance. Many of the “heartfelt” moments felt awkward and unconvincing.
I can’t say the trailer is too far off from the real premise - it does deal with a boy’s “ghost” trying to reveal the truth of his death. But this movie, in my opinion, is no where near a thriller or mystery. The Invisible is really a crime drama at its core and had the potential to be great. Unfortunately, in the end it is not a good movie, nor is it a bad one. It just kind of got stuck in the mediocre limbo, lingering between some great and poor acting and a few awkward plot transitions. It is not a movie I enjoyed a lot, nor is it a movie that I would recommend whole heartedly. But it is one of those stories with an impact, like One Hour Photo, I will unlikely forget.
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