Invincible (2001)

Invincible (2001)

Starring: Billy Zane, Byron Mann, Stacey Oversier, Tory Kittles, David Field, Dominic Purcell
Director: Jefery Levy
Action Director: Tony Ching Siu-Tung

I vaguely remember skimming internet articles—or Jet Li fan pages, as I was wont to visit—in 2001 and seeing mention of Jet Li and Mel Gibson producing a film together. I don’t think I really cared, mainly because I was young and wanted to see Jet Li *fight* in a movie, instead of just producing it. Well, that project came to fruition and almost 20 years later, I finally saw Invincible. What an odd little film this is, even for a TV movie.

The premise is that there are a group of fallen angels, known as Shadow Men, who have been banished to Earth as punishment for “crimes against cosmic evolution”—whatever *that* means. They mainly spend their sojourn here killing people for whatever reason. One day, a Shadow Men named Os (Billy Zane, of The Phantom and Alien Agent) is confronted by The White Warrior, whom I assume is like a powerful good angel. She defeats him, but shows him love and mercy, which causes Os to repent and clean up his act.

Meanwhile, so businessmen have discovered an ancient tablet that is so ancient, in fact, that the engravings on it resemble Chinese, Aztec, and other languages at the same time. Said tablet is coveted by Slate (David Field, of Peter Benchley’s The Beast), another Shadow Man. Slate believes that the tablet will open “the vortex”, which will allow him to escape banishment and return to his place of origin (or the nearest convenient parallel dimension), but it will tear the Earth apart at the seams in the process. After a brief tai chi duel, both Slate and Os end up with half of the tablet each.

To protect the Earth and defeat the Shadow Men, Os gets together a group of protectors who’ll be known as The Elementals. Those are a Soldier (Tory Kittles, of True Detective and Sons of Anarchy), a Detective (Stacey Oversier, who did stuntwork on Batman and Robin and The Deep Blue Sea), a Bodyguard (The Man with the Iron Fists’s Byron Mann), and a Thief (Blade: Trinity’s Dominic Purcell). Each of them have the same birthmark and are assigned an element according to their personality, and are given martial arts training according to the element they represent. And then stuff happens…

The Wikipedia entry for director Jefery Levy (Ghoulies, Rockula) suggest that this was mean to be a pilot for a fantasy MA-action TV series. That makes sense, although the resulting product feels like an entire season crammed into 90 minutes. Character arcs and development are handled in broad strokes. There’s a linear, unimaginative approach to some of the points of conflict. For example, in one scene, the Elementals are training and Os tells them that Slate will attack them not just physically, but mentally as well. Immediately after he says that, we have a prolonged sequence of Slate trying to tempt them in their dreams to join his cause. A more creative approach might try to blur reality and dream to the viewer, like one of the characters walking down the street and meeting someone close to them, or receiving a phone call from a friend. This film is very connect-the-dots in its storytelling.

I can understand why Mel Gibson and Jet Li would be interested in making this. Despite their reputation for starring in ultraviolent action films, both Mel and Jet are deeply religious men—the former’s personal failings notwithstanding. The film has a heavy-handed message about love vs. hate and using love to combat its opposite. It’s a very Christian message to say that we should love our enemies, because their actions give us a chance to reflect and better ourselves. Jet Li, a practicing Buddhist, would also embrace such a theme, in which love ultimate trumps hate (ho!) and the desire for revenge. There’s also an interesting line of thought for Christian viewers, in which it’s suggested that Lucifer and his minions might be saved if they just repent and embrace God’s love.

Religious dogmas aside, most of you will end up watching this for the action. I’m curious how Jet Li ended up bringing in Tony Ching Siu-Tung for this, instead of frequent collaborator Corey Yuen. I’m going to assume that since the story had a strong fantasy element, Jet suggested Ching for the job—the two having worked together on Swordsman II and Dr. Wei and the Scripture with No Words up to this point. The action is pretty strong, especially for an American TV movie, hampered mainly by some invasive camerawork and some post-production slow motion, which gives a few of the fights the 90s Sammo Hung feel. The choreography itself suggests a melding of Ching’s twisty, spinning balletic swordplay from The Heroic Trio; the tai chi sequence from the aforementioned Dr. Wei; and the spinning kick exchanges from The Blacksheep Affair. None of the fights are all-time classics, but there’s arguably more authentic martial arts on display here than in Ching Siu-Tung’s other films from 2001, like Shaolin Soccer and My Schoolmate, the Barbarian. That should be more than enough to get most viewers through the limited production values and bizarre, fast-paced-to-the-point-of-incoherence story.