Poland, 1932. Despite the occasional prejudice shown to them, the young blacksmith Zishe (Jouko Ahola), his parents, and his brothers and sisters live happily in their small Jewish community, not looking to the outside world. When Zishe's extraordinary physical strength comes to the attention of a traveling variety artists' agent, though, Zishe is given the opportunity to explore the possibilities that his gift opens to him.

Invincible starts out very well: the first half hour or so sets up an interesting array of characters and a situation that's ripe for development. There are several directions the plot could take: following Zishe's character development as he encounters the big city and for the first time experiences a lifestyle different from his rural roots; exploring the issues facing the Jewish population in Berlin, who are encountering growing anti-Semitic sentiment pushed by the burgeoning Nazi party; developing the relationship between the innocent Zishe and the decadent Hanussen (Tim Roth). Any of these would have been worthwhile material for the film to explore.

Sadly, Invincible doesn't explore any of these interesting aspects of the situation. Instead, it jumps from one topic to another over the course of the film, never focusing on any one theme or plot thread long enough to make anything worthwhile out of it. The first thirty minutes, in fact, are the only really focused part of the entire film, and not coincidentally this is the only section of the film that really works. The rest of the movie's unfocused ramblings simply drags the overall effect down, and down, and down.

Part of the problem is that Invincible is announced to be "based on a true story." Real life always presents a tricky problem for film, because real life truly is digressive, meandering, unfocused, and unresolved. That doesn't mean that a story based on events in a real person's life has to share those qualities, however: it's the job of the scriptwriter, director, and the rest of the filmmakers to use their arts to focus and highlight particular elements of the story. It seems to me that in Invincible, it would have been feasible to focus on any of a number of interesting elements in Zishe's life... but rather than focus on one thing well, the filmmakers chose to try to capture it all. Like jugglers trying to keep too many balls in the air at once, the result is that all the balls fall: nothing ends up working right.

But trying to capture too much in one film isn't the only problem: there's also the problem of how the material is handled. Characters are introduced who end up having no particular role in the film; surrealistic dream sequences are inserted that end up having no relevance, thematic or otherwise, to the story; the relationship between Hanussen and Zishe is awkwardly presented and never really makes sense; Zishe himself acts out of character toward the end of the film. The ending itself is utterly anticlimactic; by that point the movie has dragged on and on past what seemed like a reasonable ending point, and has long since stopped having any particular direction or point to it.

It's worth noting that while Tim Roth is given top billing in the film, he really doesn't have a particularly significant role. His character doesn't appear until well into the film, and exits substantially before the end. In the portion of the film that he's on stage, Roth stalks around impressively in his black satin cape, and does plenty of evil glaring in his role as "master of the occult," but I can't say as he actually brings his character to life, or engages with the viewer. Like so many other parts of Invincible, Roth's character is another piece of scenery to be shuffled around as the film fumbles its way to the finish.

The DVD

Video

Invincible is presented in its original widescreen aspect ratio of 1.85:1, and is anamorphically enhanced. This is a very attractive transfer, with a pleasing, natural look to it. The print is very clean, with no flaws and very little noise; color and contrast are handled well. I noticed some edge enhancement in a few scenes, mainly long-distance shots, but it's not noticeable at all in middle- and close-distance shots.

Audio

Three audio tracks are available for Invincible: DTS, Dolby 5.1, and Dolby 2.0. The film is mainly dialogue-focused, with few opportunities for surround effects, but the added channels of the 5.1 and DTS tracks are put to use. The background music is extremely well distributed among the different channels, creating a nicely immersive experience. The DTS track offers an additional depth and richness of sound that is very pleasing. For the dialogue, I did find that I had trouble at times understanding a few of the actors, but this was due to the actor's accent and delivery rather than the soundtrack.

Extras

Three trailers for other New Line films are included.

The menus for Invincible are very well done: they are simply and elegantly designed, and the brief animation between menu screens is clever and is kept short enough to never be irritating.

Final thoughts

Invincible is a movie that, by all rights, should work; the polished look of the opening scenes and the interesting setup suggest that it will be an interesting film. It's all the more depressing, then, when the film falls apart. Invincible is a movie that simply doesn't work, on a variety of levels. Those who actually do like the film will be pleased to know that the DVD transfer is excellent, but for those who haven't seen it, I have to recommend just passing this one by.