GRIFF THE INVISIBLE

Dressed up as superhero movie, Griff the Invisible is really anything but. Like Kick-Ass and The Green Hornet before it, Griff the Invisible trades on the reality-bending escapism offered by the genre, while bringing to the fore a vulnerable, everyday lead character. Pathologically shy office worker Griff, played in a casting coup by True Blood’s Ryan Kwanten, is addicted to the empowerment offered by his superhero alter-ego. Bullied by a slick-haired alpha-male (Toby Schmitz) by day, by night Griff tackles the dark alleyways of a comic-book Sydney. Unlike Kick-Ass et al, Griff is truly deluded – where he sees invisibility suit, we see something dunked in a bathtub of lemon juice. If not for awkward scientist Melody (Maeve Dermody), this would be a sad and uncomfortable tale of a social outcast, misunderstood not only by the world, but by his reality-bashing brother (Patrick Brammall), even by himself. Even with Melody, with whom a strange romance blossoms, Griff the Invisible is still quite awkward … you keep expecting Griff to wake up and face himself, and he doesn’t. But you have to admire writer/director Leon Ford for sticking to his guns, and with reality the way it is these days, can you blame him? (AB) ***