Invincible

OK, if you've got the chops to put "matrix-like action" on your movie poster then you either have a really incredible martial arts film or you have "Invincible". Now my college roommate and I got such a kick out of this movie, we did our best to put it into out monthly movie line-up just so we could make fun of it. Billy Zane is classic Billy Zane in this movie. He has the quality of making dialogue that is incredibly inane seem incredibly important. At no point during this movie was there anything that even remotely resembled "matrix-like action" and the actors who play the martial arts studs all look like Ralph Macchio could probably stuff them in a locker. Like most "martial arts" movies the plot is stodgy at best but this is hidden by the fact that the special effects were created by hamsters. If you are a fan of train wrecks and mine cave-ins, this is a movie for you.

When this was being advertised on TBS back in 2001, every single ad featured Mel Gibson and Jet Li's names. They were only producers, but you wouldn't know it by the extent to which their names were featured.

I thought the film looked good back then - some kind of "Matrix"/"Highlander" clone, maybe, but it still looked kinda interesting. Well, I was wrong.

From the opening - with this angelic warrior being pursued by, and then fighting, Billy Zane - the film only becomes worse and worse. It copies "The Matrix" mercilessly - from the wannabe philosophy that stems throughout every scene to the slow-motion sword fights.

Billy Zane gives an embarrassingly dull performance and the rest of the cast - mostly B-movie actors or TV actors - don't help any.

The plot is silly to begin with. The Shadow Warriors are trying to bring an end to the world - replace "Shadow Warriors" with any other bad guy name from another psycho-baddie movie and you've got the exact same plot.

Billy Zane assembles together a group of warriors to help defend earth against the Shadow Warriors.

The ending of the film is so laughable it's almost painful to watch. I would never sit through this again and certainly would never recommend it to anyone else.

"Invincible" to criticism it is not.

I got astonished to see my own patience for watching this film till the end i.e. for one and half hour... maybe because I rented it. However, the only thing that is worth is Billy Zane's famous geek-like appearence that is present here in full fledge. Actually it's better not to have any comment on the other 'actors'. The screenplay is horrible; the visual effects, childish; the action sequences, intolerable and the story, laughable. There were some nice colorful images to attract other geeks among the viewers. And direction? Given production, even I can direct such a movie. Truly invincible... in the measure of how bad can a film be.

This charming telemovie (co-pro'ed by Mel Gibson & Jet Li!) features all the stereotypical trappings of a "Good v. Evil" movie, replete with characters you know virtually nothing about, Eastern philosophy & mysticism, & a healthy dose of (admittedly stunning) martial artistry & SPFX, yet for some reason, it works in spite of itself.

That reason is BILLY ZANE.

Zane portrays "Os", a "Shadowman" who renounces his Immortal life of Darkness & Evil when he is shown The Way. He gathers together the four Chosen Ones (there WERE five, but Os killed the fifth immediately before his redemption), all rough-n-tough misfits in one way or another, to train them to battle the evil "Slate", Os' former Shadowman boss & running buddy. Slate's desire is to gain possession of an ancient tablet, which will allow him to (dare I say it?) rule the world!! The main point of conflict comes in when the two former friends must face-off against one another in mortal combat.

As I stated earlier, despite the fact that this film is filled with cliches & either over-the-top or forced performances, Zane's gentle portrayal of Os somehow makes everything gel rather nicely, holding any absurdities together like a well-woven garment. I honestly don't think this guy's capable of turning in a bad performance, regardless of the material he's given.

Not necessarily a "must-see" movie, but an entertaining popcorn-muncher for a cold night in.

Wow, this is a prime example of previews making a movie look awesome. I rented Equilibrium and saw the previews for Invincible, and I said to myself, "Wow that looks really good!" Wow was I wrong, terrible acting, poor lighting, sad fights and the supporting roles made me want to vomit! Do yourself a favor do not rent movies on the basis of their previews, trust me I should know! -n8gray315