The Invisible is a 2007 American teen supernatural thriller starring Justin Chatwin, Margarita Levieva, Chris Marquette, Marcia Gay Harden, and Callum Keith Rennie. The movie was released in theaters on April 27, 2007 and on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on October 16, 2007.
The Invisible is a remake of the Swedish film, Den Osynlige, which was based on the novel of the same name by Mats Wahl. It was filmed mostly in and around the city of Vancouver. It was the last film distributed by Hollywood Pictures before the label was dissolved by Disney.
Plot
High school senior Nick Powell (Justin Chatwin) plans to skip his graduation and fly to London for a writing program, despite the plans his controlling mother, Diane (Marcia Gay Harden), has for him. While he is a top performer in school and cares deeply for creative writing, his mother often pressures him to succeed past his abilities and remains emotionally distant. A few years prior, Nick's father died unexpectedly and the two have maintained a strained relationship in silence.
Nick's best friend, Pete Egan (Chris Marquette), confides in him that he is bullied by Annie Newton (Margarita Levieva), a troubled teen. Nick attempts to step in on one such occasion, only for it to escalate into a physical confrontation. Annie's closest friends are a few violent thieves, and her boyfriend, Marcus (Alex O'Loughlin), is on parole for similar violations.
Later in the day, Nick tells Pete about his plans to leave for London and they share a bitter-sweet goodbye. The same evening, Annie impulsively decides to rob a jewellery store across the street from where Marcus is stealing a car. Marcus reprimands her, and later tries to take the jewels for himself, but Annie keeps them and defiantly pushes him to try and stop her. Believing Annie to be out of control, Marcus tips off the cops. Annie is arrested and assumes that Pete is responsible because he saw her load the merchandise into her locker.
She later attempts to beat a confession out of Pete. When Annie doesn't believe his innocence, Pete reluctantly gives up Nick's name, thinking that Nick will be on a plane to London already. He is unaware that Nick gave his ticket to a girl at a party, deciding at the last minute not to go. When Annie and her crew find Nick walking home from the party, they run him off the road and beat him mercilessly. Annie goes too far, and believes she killed Nick. They dump his body into a nearby sewer.
The next morning Nick goes to school to find that no one can see or hear him. He returns home to find his mother has made a missing person report, and the police are investigating his disappearance. After a while, Nick realizes that he is alive but unconscious. As Nick comes to realize that he's having an out-of-body experience, he attempts to reach out to Annie and Pete in a desperate bid to save his life.
Detective Larson seems close to putting together the whole truth, and implies that once he finds Annie he will be able to pin the robberies and murder on Marcus. Since Marcus is still on parole, Detective Larson tells him that even associating or participating in a felony could send him back to prison. Marcus decides to get involved and kidnaps Pete, forcing him to lead him to Nick's body so they can move it to another location. He conspires to kill Annie and arranges to meet with her. Annie calls Pete to the meeting place also, who is under surveillance by the police. As Annie flees from both Marcus and the police, Nick yells at her and for the first time she hears him.
Although the two cannot have a conversation, she hears some of his voice in her head and can sense that his presence is following her. From this, Annie begins to feel her actions weighing on her conscience, and she stops to visit Nick's room to get a better sense of who he is. The two realize the tragedy of their lives was that they were so similar that given different circumstances, the two could have been close. Diane catches Annie in his room, and she flees. She returns to the woods to find Nick's body, only to see that it has been moved. She confronts Pete, and Marcus trying to learn the location of the body. Marcus tells her, but shoots her in the stomach as she leaves. She shoots Marcus in return, and calls the police to tell them where to find Nick. Nick's body is found in a dam before it is washed away, and he is saved just in time. After visiting him in the hospital, Annie dies.
Plot differences between remake and original
In the Swedish film "Den Osynlige", of which The Invisible is a remake, "Niklas" (Nick Powell) does not regain consciousness, and "Annelie" (Annie Newton) does not end up being shot nor does she die, but instead turns herself in after her confession and apology. Also, in the original, Pete dies after his suicide attempt.
Neither version is true to the novel where the "Annie" character is a neo-nazi. She never regrets anything in the novel and is not displayed in a sympathetic light. Also, in the novel, all the teens are 14-15, "Nick's" girlfriend is pregnant, and "Nick's" mother is not excessively controlling.
Cast
- Justin Chatwin as Nicholas "Nick" Powell
- Margarita Levieva as Annie Newton
- Marcia Gay Harden as Diane Powell
- Chris Marquette as Pete Egan
- Alex O'Loughlin as Marcus Bohem
- Callum Keith Rennie as Detective Brian Larson
- Michelle Harrison as Detective Kate Tunney
- Tania Saulnier as Suzie
- Ryan Kennedy as Matty
- Andrew Francis as Dean
- Maggie Ma as Danielle
- P. Lynn Johnson as Sharon Egan
- Serge Houde as Martin Egan
- Bilal Sayed as Dino Garcia
- Cory Monteith as Jimmy
Filming locations
- The setting of the film is in Burnaby, Washington, a fictitious suburb of Seattle, Washington, United States. "Seattle" is printed on Nick's plane ticket to "London"; and Detective Larson's business card bears the logo of the "Burnaby Police Department as well as its Washington address, however, most of the film was shot on location in and around Vancouver, British Columbia, including the city of Burnaby, British Columbia, to coincide with director David S. Goyer's busy filming schedule [director's commentary]. Despite the subtle disguises to the contrary, however, Vancouver is clearly depicted in the establishing shot of the landscape in the first scene, in which the famous Harbour Centre building can be seen just left of the middle of the cityscape. Additional scenes showcase Vancouver's SkyTrain running through a suburb and the seawall bordering Stanley Park.
- The high school scenes in this movie were filmed at Burnaby Mountain Secondary School in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada (the name of the school remains unchanged in the film, however the mascot and its logo were changed to suit the director's taste [director's commentary]). Classrooms were digitally edited with multiple classrooms mixed in. Students of the school were not allowed to be extras.
Soundtrack
Home media
This film was released on Blu-ray Disc and standard DVD October 16, 2007 by Hollywood Pictures Home Entertainment.
- Audio commentary by director David S. Goyer and writers Christine Roum and Mick Davis
- Deleted scenes
- Music videos:
- The Kill - Thirty Seconds to Mars
- Taking Back Control - Sparta
External links
- Official website
- The Invisible at AllMovie
- The Invisible at Box Office Mojo
- The Invisible at the Internet Movie Database
- The Invisible at Metacritic
- The Invisible at Rotten Tomatoes
