Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Griff the Invisible Blu-ray Movie Review

Let's slip a Super Kick-Ass on the barbie!

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 24, 2011

Someday some doctoral thesis candidate is going to write a long, involved tome about the cultural zeitgeist of the early 21st century which gave birth to so many films about hangdog Everymen who become crime fighting superheroes. While Kick-Ass and Super are probably the best known of this seeming new subgenre, the fact that the Australians are in on the game may portend something more global as being in the air. Griff the Invisible is a frequently charming, albeit extremely odd, 2010 Aussie film starring Ryan Kwanten (True Blood) as the titular superhero, a mildmannered customs liaison by day and a spandex suited crime fighting superhero by night. Or is he? While the most obvious antecedents to this film may indeed be Kick-Ass and Super, those with longer memories may be reminded of the old Danny Kaye vehicle The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, based on the iconic James Thurber story, or in fact in a way of the equally iconic though completely different Paddy Chayefsky classic Marty, the film that improbably walked away with both the Best Picture and Best Actor (Ernest Borgnine) Oscars (along with Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay) the year it was released. For though Griff the Invisible purports to be yet another film about a lackluster-by-day, spectacular-by-night guy, the film is in reality a subtly veiled look at two misfits trying against all odds to find their own way in a world that savors conformity and just doesn’t quite know what to make of outcasts. Because of this sleight of hand, some people may feel cheated by Griff the Invisible’s ultimate denouement (one that I will attempt to not spoil, though it will be extremely difficult), wondering why this film isn’t just another carbon copy of the general outline followed by Kick-Ass or Super. But that’s the point, as ironic as it may be: Griff the Invisible, the film, is as idiosyncratic and non-conforming as Griff the character is. If you can relax and settle into this little film’s odd rhythms and even odder assortment of characters, there’s a lovely and even touching experience to be had, one that will speak to any underdog (hey, there’s an idea for a superhero!) who has ever been bullied or shunted around by the vagaries of a nine to five existence that demands absolute allegiance to some amorphous “norm.”

Griff is a sweet natured but shy and stuttering lad who is the subject of his office’s prime bully, a hulking guy who delights in making homoerotic innuendos around the poor guy and who just seems to go out of his way to torment Griff. It soon becomes evident that this isn’t Griff’s first problem at a workplace, for Griff’s elder brother Tim (Patrick Brammall) has returned from his home in Adelaide to help Griff make his way at this new place of employment. Griff insists that everything is going swimmingly, but Tim isn’t fooled. Tim is also chasing after a weird young girl named Melody (Maeve Dermody), a closet physicist-philosopher of sorts who is convinced if she can just time it right, she will be able to penetrate solid matter and walk through walls. Melody bumps into a lot of walls that way.

All of this melodrama plays out against Griff’s alter-ego, a spandex enveloped superhero whom Griff ultimately decides to name after himself, adding the soubriquet The Invisible to the title, a branding that really probably reveals more about Griff’s daytime existence than it does his nighttime vigilantism. As incapable and bumbling as the daytime Griff is, the nighttime Griff is a muscle bound hero who maintains order in his back alley neighborhood through a series of high tech monitoring devices, which allow him to descend on villains at a moment’s notice.

Things get quite a bit stranger (if that’s possible) once Melody recognizes a kindred spirit in Griff and decides she wants to be his sidekick. She also decides she has the capacity to help him achieve his aims of invisibility, building him a new suit which she thinks will do the trick. It’s at this point that Griff the Invisible starts to reveal its own hidden agenda, one which gently upends everything that has gone before and finally reveals Griff and Melody in their unvarnished, completely weird little splendor. The pair become a sort of “you and me against the world” duo of believers, fighting the ultra-rational “normal” people who insist superheroes can’t exist and people can’t just walk through solid matter.

Griff the Invisible is a film that depends on a sudden change in perspective about two-thirds of the way through, and that for the most part is handled quite artfully by first time writer-director Leon Ford. Where Ford occasionally misses the boat is in the setup for this denouement. Some scenes are oddly structured, and at least one major sequence, when Griff is confronted by both Tim and Melody showing up at his apartment at different times, is completely unclear and actually downright confusing. The revelation that comes late in the film also fails to completely explain some of what we’ve seen before, even within the confines of the new understanding the revelation gives the viewer.

All of this said, this is a most promising first effort and one which proves Ford to be an exciting new voice in Australian cinema. His cast here is near perfection. Kwanten is sweet and dare I say adorable as the doleful Griff, and Dermody has a completely peculiar grace about her that I personally found incredibly ingratiating. The supporting cast is great in what are often not very well developed roles. Ford also utilizes the Australian locations very well and the film looks fantastic, with a nice visual sweep and a nice balance between the intimate personal scenes and the havoc wreaked upon the bad guys by Griff.

Griff the Invisible Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Griff the Invisible is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Vivendi Entertainment and Indomina Releasing with a VC-1 encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. The bulk of this film looks spectacularly sharp, with robust and very well saturated color. Ford exaggerates the palette here repeatedly, with Griff for example donning a bright yellow raincoat that blends perfectly in with a saffron colored background. A lot of the film features some beautiful teals and turquoises, but in fact the entire spectrum here looks largely magnificent. Fine detail is exceptional, especially in the film's many close-ups. What keeps the film from receiving a higher score is the very transitory but puzzling digital noise that swarms over a few scenes, and interestingly not even scenes set at night or in the dark. One interchange between Melody and her mother late in the film looks like it's been beset with small swarms of fleas or somesuch insects. It's an odd anomaly, and one that only happens a time or two, but it's a puzzling situation in an otherwise extremely solid looking transfer.

Griff the Invisible Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Griff the Invisible's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround mix is very artfully constructed, with a nice array of song score tunes provided by a variety of artists like Au Revoir Simone. The songs are very well chosen, if occasionally a bit on the obvious side ("Take Me as I Am"), but they sound great and help to routinely fill the surrounds with activity. While the bulk of this film is actually rather quiet and dialogue drivien, a couple of exciting action sequences feature some impressive directionality and great immersion. Fidelity and dynamic range are both top notch, with the overall mix doing a very nice job of balancing between the more introspective worlds of Griff and Melody and the cacophony of the "real world."

Griff the Invisible Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary with Writer/Director Leon Ford, Producer Nicole O'Donohue and Actor Patrick Brammall. This is an engaging, if low key, commentary that gets into how Ford came up with the idea for the film, through casting and production. There's some nice mention of the fun song score which underlies several scenes, as well as the great location footage.
• Behind the Scenes Featurette (1080i; 4:09) is a pretty standard form promo piece which plays as an extended trailer.
• Anatomy of a Scene actually presents dissections of three scenes, Opening Sequence (HD; 3:17), All in One Shot (HD; 2:17), and Anyhoo (HD; 2:01). All of these feature storyboards and rehearsals intercut with final version footage. The most interesting of these is probably All in One Shot, which documents the nice tracking shot which revolves around Griff as the truth about his environment is revealed late in the film. It's nice to see such lo-fi practical effects being accomplished on the fly.
• Deleted Scenes (HD; 7:37) has some fun stuff, though all of these play out with timecode captions filling up the top part of the frame.
• Appear Calm: Diary of a First Time Director features three elements, Pre-Production (HD; 1:26), The Shoot (HD; 3:12) and Post-Production (HD; 2:43). These are certainly enjoyable, but they're all too brief and anecdotal to really provide much real information.
• Rain Stops Play (1080i; 1:17) is a kind of fun Abbott and Costello-esque set of ad libs between Ford and Brammall.
• Patrick's Set Tour (1080i; 1:25) has Brammall giving us a brief tour of the backlot.
• Music Video by The Shadow Bureau (HD; 3:38)

Griff the Invisible Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If you can get past the surface deep comparisons to Kick-Ass and/or Super, you'll probably enjoy Griff the Invisible a lot more than otherwise. The film has issues and is obviously the work of a writer-director still feeling his way. Structure here is the main bugaboo, with scenes that don't make a lot of sense and weird lurches in motivation and character development. But these problems are largely offset by an inherent charm which Griff the Invisible offers in abundance. While there are a couple of niggling concerns with regard to the video, overall this release looks and sounds great, and it's certainly a unique property that should appeal to those "different" among us. Recommended.