Invisible Sue (Plötzlich Unsichtbar) DVD Review
By Paul Rudoff on Apr. 4, 2021 at 10:16 PM in Home Video
I've been visiting various Dollar Tree stores across Long Island and checking out their selection of DVDs and Blu-rays. While I occasionally find a "gem", usually the selection are a bunch of duds. One consistency I've found is that the boxes are usually cluttered with dozens and dozens of kids and family titles from Viva Pictures Distribution. After constantly seeing these titles everywhere, I thought I'd plop down a Dollar and check out some of them; namely BFF Detectives (2019) (aka Die Drei !!! [The Three Exclamation Marks]), Four Enchanted Sisters (2020) (aka Sprite Sisters - Vier zauberhafte Schwestern [Four Lovely Sisters]), Invisible Sue (2018), Antboy (2013), Antboy: Revenge of the Red Fury (2014), and Antboy 3 (2016). I figured that even if each movie sucked, I wouldn't be out more than a buck, and I could always pass it along to someone else.
Those first two films weren't very good, and I don't feel like re-watching them just to write a review. However, I did like Invisible Sue, and I have some feelings about the Antboy trilogy, so I might as well get my Dollar's worth and use them to generate more content for the site. So, let's get this VERY LONG & IMAGE-INTENSIVE article started...
All of these Viva DVDs have the same specifications. The video is presented in 16:9 anamorphic widescreen, with the movie (presumably) being in its original aspect ratio (2.39:1 for Invisible Sue). The audio is provided in Dubbed English only, in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround and 2.0 Stereo formats. The original foreign language audio track is not included. Dubbing gets the job done, but don't expect for anyone's lips to ever match their words. It's best not to look at anyone's mouths. English subtitles are provided for all DVDs, except for the three Antboy films - though the first Antboy film has a subtitle track that provides English translations of on-screen text, which is enabled by default (but you can manually turn it off). None of the DVDs have special features, though the three Antboy DVDs have trailers on disc boot-up. I do not know if any of the films are edited, but I can tell you that the Invisible Sue DVD contains an AUTHORING GLITCH: The "Play Movie" option on the Setup submenu leads to a glitched copy of the movie that is 6 minutes shorter because it skips ahead at the 0:36 mark. The "Play Movie" option on the main menu is fine, and presents the complete 96-minute (1:35:25) movie. Invisible Sue carries no official MPA rating, as far as I can tell, but I'd give it a PG for language.
There's nothing more to say about the DVD itself, so the rest of this review will be rundown of the movie itself. I will discuss the plot in detail, so SPOILERS ABOUNDS FROM HERE ON OUT.
The synopsis for Invisible Sue (2018) is as such: Following an accident in her scientist mother's laboratory with the new wonder chemical NT26D, which is designed to fight illnesses genetically, 12-year-old Susanne "Sue" Hartmann (Ruby M. Lichtenberg) gains the ability to make herself invisible. When her mother is kidnapped right before her very eyes, Sue is just the girl for the job. Together with her friends Kaya "App" Wells (Anna Shirin Habedank), a nerdy inventor of the same age, and Tobias "Tobi" (Lui Eckhardt), who can do amazing things on his bicycle, Sue unmasks the conspiracy behind her mother's disappearance and brings the truth to light.
This German film opens up with a Marvel Studios-esque flash of comic panels while Susanne, who prefers to be called Sue, tells us that she's always loved comic books. Sue introduces us to her favorite superhero, Super Moon, a character who, upon gaining her powers, "knows who she is and what she has to do". Whomever drew the comic panels did a really good job. Once we're in the real world, we meet Sue, a red-haired 12-year-old who tells us that she feels invisible in her life. We see the truth in that, as she awakens in an empty locked classroom because the teacher and her classmates all left and locked it up without realizing that she was there at her desk in the middle of the room! All of the other students at her school pay no attention to her, either. This movie is not subtle with its use of metaphors.
Her mother, Dr. Maria Hartmann (Victoria Mayer) is a generic scientist working for the Drill Energy Corporation (DEC) to create the chemical NT26D, which is designed to fight illnesses on a genetic level. While Dr. Hartmann is on stage in the DEC auditorium giving a speech about her more important creation, Sue and her father Christoph (Luc Schiltz) go into Maria's lab as a birthday surprise. We don't get any indication that father and daughter Hartmann needed to pass through any security at this corporate research and development facility. Apparently, they just walked right in and had no resistance in entering a laboratory that is producing a wonder drug that any number of people would want to get their hands on. I wonder if the "bad guys" know how easy it is to gain access. They sure could have saved themselves a lot of trouble.
Maria is the only Hartmann to have any intelligence. Proving that they're both not very bright, Sue erases her mother's equations from a whiteboard just so she can scribble "Happy Birthday" on it, while Christoph lights a sparkler on a birthday cake that he placed on top of a computer console. Yeah, these two geniuses thought it was a good idea to bringing a cake into what is, presumably, a sterile environment. After the fire alarm goes off, and Dr. Hartmann sees what they've done, they both get majorly upset that she's so pissed off at them for their innocent little birthday surprise. Selfish Sue is all teen angsty because mom's work is more important than Sue's remembrance of her birthday. "Why don't you go to Hell, then?!?", yells Sue to her mother as she walks back to the big presentation. Hey Sue, how about remembering that the big bucks DEC pays mom for her work is what puts food on your table? Show her a little appreciation, and stop being so angsty for the sake of being angsty.
In a fit of angsty rage, Sue tosses the cake across the lab, hitting an off-screen metal garbage can and a cat. I know it's meant to be a throwaway sound effects joke, but they're implying that a cat is in this "it really ought to be sterile and secure" laboratory. I don't even think it's a test animal, since we heard a metal garbage can, too, but an actual running-loose cat. She also hits a computer console, initiating the "activation process" and activating the "emergency shutdown". Whoops! Cue the red lights and close-ups of computer displays. Sue can't shut down the reactor by aimlessly pressing on the computer screen. It has to be done manually, according to an omnipotent disembodied voice. Sue runs into the next room, towards the reactor that's about to go kablooey, because it's always best when someone who has no knowledge of how these things work goes and tries to shut it down anyway. The "Jiminey Cricket" voice tells her that she should run for the exit, but she obliges too late. The door to the next room closes, trapping Sue inside. The reactor explodes in a flash of bright light, as they are wont to do, resulting in... the title!
Sue is a lucky, lucky girl. Escaping from a reactor explosion with only a flesh wound! There are lots of firefighters there, though we don't see any damage, at all, to the facility. Sue spies her mom getting chewed out by her boss, Dr. Jonas Drill (Patrick Hastert). She knows that she's done a bad, bad thing. On the car ride home, Sue pulls off her bandage and sees that her flesh wound is glowing. That can't be good. When they arrive home, Sue is still pissed off because her mother didn't ask how she's doing. Damn, Sue! Can't you just be happy that you survived a reactor explosion with only a minor wound?!? Such an ungrateful brat. Hey, director Markus Dietrich! You realize that we're supposed to like our protagonist, right? Again, Sue remarks that she feels "invisible" to her mom. We get it, Markus. She feels "invisible", and later will literally turn invisible. You don't need to hit us over the head with the metaphor.
A weird arthouse dream sequence occurs in which Sue meets Super Moon. She awakes to find her left arm missing! Oh, shit! This turned into a SAW film! Just kidding. Her arm just turned invisible. That's still bad enough to cause Sue to vomit into her backpack. I hope her school books weren't inside. She gets to school just in time to meet up with the new boy, Tobias "Tobi" Grimm, an Asher Angel-lookalike who takes a liking to her Super Moon comic book. I smell love interest. I also smell mean girl, as in walks Eileen (Lotte Tscharntke) to invite Tobi to her Halloween party.
Eileen hands Sue her hot chocolate, which sets up the rules for Sue's powers. She runs to the bathroom, where the cold water makes her visible again, while the hot air dryer does the opposite. So, the rules are: hot = invisible, cold = visible. Got it? I should also state that the special effects are really good. I'm sure this movie didn't have a big budget, which makes it even more impressive how convincing the invisibility effect is. In the bathroom scene, as Sue's hands and body become invisible, they warp the light as it passes through to the tiles on the wall behind her, giving an effect somewhat reminiscent of the water tentacle in The Abyss.
Rather than waiting until she got home, Sue sneaks into her mother's lab - much easier to do now that she's invisible - to tell her of her infliction. Dr. Hartmann's assistant, Lenia Romanowa (Jeanne Werner), is also there as a witness. The next day, Mom learns the rules, and wants to run some tests to determine what temperatures affect Sue. Sue scoffs, "I'm not your science experiment!" Make up your mind, Sue! First you bitch and complain because Mom doesn't pay any attention to you. Now, Mom wants to devote all of her time to be with you, and you want none of it. You can't have it both ways, Deary. Despite Mom telling her to stay at home and not go to school, Sue goes to school anyway. There she sees Tobi unleashing his inner Cru Jones. Sadly, Sue and Tobi do not bicycle boogie.
Just as Eileen puss-blocks Sue, her phone rings with a yodeling ringtone. Eileen and her mean girl posse run away in embarrassment, leaving us time to be introduced to the third member of our ragtag group of goodie-goodies: Kaya "App" Wells. She's our resident gadget girl. Think James Bond's Q, only super cute and awesome. Sue recognizes her from the Robotics Club that meets in the basement of the school, which is odd, as I get the sense that neither of these two had any inkling that the other existed before today. Anyway, Sue's visit to school was just an excuse to introduce Tobi's only notable personality attribute - his rad bike trick skills - and bring App into the picture. Rather than attending any classes, or even entering the building, Sue is whisked away to her mother's lab. Yeah, even though Sue protested about being her mom's "science experiment", she agrees to be one anyway. Sue has more mood swings than The Incredible Hulk. Is this movie trying to tell us that females are moody and prone to constantly changing their minds?
Mom gives us some backstory on NT26D (yay, exposition!), and is surprised that the chemical has completely healed Sue's wound. You know what this could mean to the scientific community? It's gonna be bigger than the microchip. Mom runs some tests on Sue, and not of the gynecological variety that Egon likes to run. She hands Sue a "pocket warmer", though the audience is not told what it is. These pocket warmers will come into play several times in the film, and it was only later that I picked up on what it was. Lenia touches invisible Sue and turns invisible herself. Remember that Sue's powers are transferable through skin contact, because that will be on the quiz later. Dr. Hartmann realizes the danger posed by NT26D and decides that it must be destroyed, which doesn't sit too kindly with Lenia. Sue isn't too happy, either, as she knows that the data is needed to engineer an antidote. In yet another hissy fit, Sue gathers her things and storms out of the lab, while Lenia back-ups the data to a USB drive while no one else is looking.
Sue retreats to the safe confines of school, where App finds her napping on the floor of the Robotics lab. App gives her a gentle shake and says, "Come on, I'm not waking you up with a kiss." Awww...part of me wanted to see that. This is one of the many "best App moments" in the film. Unless you absolutely hate cute, nerdy girls, you will end the film liking App way more than Sue; and having no feelings at all for Tobi, who is nothing more than eye candy. Another rule of Sue's powers has just been established: Her powers are only active as long as she's awake, and using those powers will tire her out. Some time later, App meets Sue at a diner, where Sue tells her about her powers. App doesn't not believe it until Sue, after using a pocket warmer to make herself invisible, dumps a cup of water on Eileen's head and then squirts ketchup and mustard on that "piece of trash". Once App sees Sue reappear, she's a firm believer. It's a good thing that nobody else in the diner is paying any attention to any of this. Otherwise, there would be cell phone videos all over the internet already.
Later that night, Sue and her mom have a heart-to-heart. Mom feels that they must go into hiding so that no one will find out about Sue and what the chemical can do. That might be a good idea. Dr. Drill sees surveillance video of Dr. Hartmann and Lenia running tests on Sue, including Sue turning invisible. You know, in hindsight, maybe Mom shouldn't have run those tests in a lab that she knew was being monitored by cameras. This also brings up the question: Since we now know that the lab was definitely being monitored by security cameras, how did Sue and her father gain easy access to it with their birthday surprise. Security should have stopped them from entering. Why, that's a plot hole big enough to drive a Mack truck through.
Just as they arrive home and Mom is about to take a sleepy Sue out of the car, Mom is abducted by several men! A groggy Sue awakens to see Mom being carried off in the rain. As one of the men comes back to grab Sue, she breaks open a pocket warmer and turns invisible. That's now Pocket Warmer #3. Since they're so vital to Sue's abilities, I sure hope that she has a healthy supply. With Sue "gone", the men drive off with her mother. The cold rain turns her visible again, leaving Sue all alone to cry out for her mom. So, sad. Moments later, she calls up her father, who has been out of the country on business. He doesn't believe her about the kidnapping or the invisibility, and before they can discuss it further, the call is dropped...or maybe he hung up. It's late at night and without any friends, Sue retreats to the only place where she feels safe: school. Even though it's late, nighttime, and it's pouring rain, Tobi is outside practicing his bike tricks. Not very smart, he is. Eye candy, is all he's good for.
Since his parents are not home, he brings her back to his place to spend the night. It isn't long before he has Sue stripped down to her bra and panties. No, this isn't an R-rated film. She disrobes to get her wet clothes off and is wrapped in a blanket. He gives her some hot tea, which causes her to turn invisible, as we've established that warm things will do that to her. She takes the blanket off and opens the door so that the cold rain could make her visible again, leaving her in her bra and panties. Not that Tobi minds, of course :-)
Tobi likens her to a superhero, but he's not sure that he is good enough to be her sidekick. "The only thing I'm good at is cycling," he laments. At least he realizes that he has very little worth. They go back to the scene of the crime - Sue's house - and find Mom's company car still there. After retrieving Mom's laptop from the front seat - I'm really surprised that the bad guys left it there - she gets a call from a mysterious voice warning that "you're getting visitors". The voice instructs, "Make yourself invisible and hide that clown." See, even the voice is taking potshots at Tobi. Sue says that she doesn't have any more pocket warmers, which is the first time (at least in the English dub) that we're told what those things were. The back of the car mysteriously opens. Sue and Tobi go inside and hide. One of the bad guys drives the company car back to DEC HQ. Looks like things are going to get worse for our not-so-dynamic duo.
Thankfully, App is on the case! Unbeknownst to them, she followed the car and, using her wicked hacker skills, gained access to DEC HQ and subdued the bad guy driving the car. App is not only the hero we deserve, she's the hero we need! Sue gets a bit of a fright when the subdued baddie convulses in shock on the ground. App remarks to her, "Don't worry. He's just having a nap. Like the guy at the gate." Another great App moment. App clues everyone into the fact that Mom was kidnapped by men in a DEC van, which gives her reason to believe that Dr. Drill wants to force Mom into producing the chemical. That makes sense, but wasn't that what Mom was already doing when she was working for DEC in the DEC lab?!? Tobi, surprised by this sudden bit of exposition, asks Sue, "How does she know all that?" App retorts, "Because she has a brain." Oh, snap! Yay, feminism.
Sue's plan is to go inside DEC HQ and rescue her mother. Thankfully, App brought some more pocket warmers. Man, App really is the brains behind this operation. Without her, Sue and Tobi would have been screwed six ways to Sunday. Tobi, on the other hand, questions whether he really has to go inside or not. An absolutely useless "eye candy" male character? Did Paul Feig write this movie? Sue remarks that App is "such a genius". App replies, "I know." Even little things like this make me love App more and more. Anyway, Sue and Tobi sneak into Dr. Hartmann's lab while App runs the op from outside. They find a chemical vial and Mom's cell phone, but no Mom. The bad guys arrive. Time to get out...fast! Too bad Sue has fallen asleep. Tobi goes to wake her with a kiss, and just as he's about to lock lips, she awakens. "You know I'm not Sleeping Beauty," Sue says. They make their way to the exit, and the place is swarming with security. Maybe if all of this security were there several nights ago when Sue and Dad were there with their birthday surprise, none of them would be in this mess. Just saying.
They almost make a clean escape, except Tobi bangs his head on the front door, leaving a blood stain and an audible bang. The security guards take notice, and see the doors open by themselves. The guards know that that's the intruders and give chase. Just as all hope is lost, App comes to the rescue...again! She's always there to save their asses. They all get on her motorized bicycle. To help them speed away, she attaches her "Flux Capacitor". Unlike Doc Brown's Flux Capacitor, this one will not cause them to travel through time. Apps's Flux Capacitor is more akin to a nitro boost.
Now it's time to see how App lives, so let's hide out at her place for a while. It's a nice, large mansion, but it belongs to her aunt. App and her mother and just allowed to live there. Inside, we meet "weird" Aunt Lore (Tatja Seibt), who is confined to a wheelchair. She's the Charles Xavier of the Sue Cinematic Universe. Aunt Lore has a little one-on-one time with Sue, who is utterly surprised that Aunt Lore knows her. In what seems like a bit of a contrivance, Lore used to work with Sue's Mom and Lenia in a lab at university. Lore drops some more backstory, telling Sue how Mom used to be obsessed with the idea of creating the perfect healthy body, and that she wanted to sell the chemical to DEC. Sue asks about Dr. Drill, prompting Lore to drop this bit of wisdom, "People are often not what they seem. You can't be too careful." Oooohhhh, I sense foreshadowing.
Up to App's room we go, where we find Tobi playing with VR goggles while App has hacked Mom's cell phone. On it, they find a video of Mom being kidnapped at the lab with a message from her: "I'm being kidnapped. Whoever find this, protect my daughter." Wait a minute! We all, quite clearly, saw Mom being taken outside the Hartmann home by men in a DEC van. Sue was there. She saw it. They almost tried to take her, too. App saw it on surveillance video, though I have no clue what cameras could have recorded such footage. Now, we're to believe that the abduction took place in the lab?!? Has this movie gone off the rails already?
They hear that mysterious disembodied voice again, this time coming from Mom's bag. Inside they find the "Red Mask", a small little hologram device with an artificial intelligence in it named "Alfred". Only Hartmann family members can access its database, but it does not know where Sue's mother is. Later that night, the gang gets a little "alone time" with Alfred. Of course, Alfred insults Tobi some more. Normally, I don't like it when the male characters in a movie or TV show are looked upon negatively compared to the female characters, even though the female characters are usually my favorites. However, I really don't care much for Tobi, so it doesn't bother me here. Anyway, Alfred tells us that after Dr. Hartman deleted her data from the DEC computers, she used him to try to find an antidote. Alfred plays a short video showing Dr. Hartman injecting herself with NT26D, but it has no effect on her. Only Sue can become invisible because the NT26D only reacts with her blood. It has no effect on anyone else. That means that Sue, herself, is the key. Should any one else want the ability to become invisibility, they will need her blood. That puts her in great danger.
Sure enough, after everyone has gone to sleep, someone breaks into the mansion and tries to kidnap...Tobi?!? He awakens to find the culprit gone, but they dropped a syringe. If Tobi and Sue hadn't switched beds, they would have gotten Sue. "Lucky thing I slept in Tobi's bed," comments Sue. App gives her a look, as if to say, "You horndog." Sue protests, "It's not what you think." Then App does this little "heart" hand gesture and makes the cutest face, which just endears her to me even more. Can we get an App spin-off movie starring Anna Shirin Habedank? Also, App wearing goggles and tinkering with equipment totally reminds me of Jillian Holtzmann, Kate McKinnon's character from the 2016 Ghostbusters movie (and the only good thing about that film).
Oh, and App created a red jacket for Sue made out of an extremely light, fire-proof, indestructible material. It comes with a remote that sends hot and cold signals, giving Sue the ability to control her invisibility. No more pocket warmers. On top of that, App also has a flak jacket filled with her "special mixture" to keep Sue awake. In exchange, all App wants is Sue's cool hoodie. I'd call that more than a fair trade.
As Tobi and App are eating breakfast, Sue comes in wearing her new Invisible Sue suit. A superhero is born. Shortly after, Sue gets a call from her mother. She managed to escape from her captors and wants to meet at the old market in an hour. At the old market, Mom is nowhere to be found, but a bunch of DEC guys show up. Sensing trouble, Tobi does the logical thing; he kisses Sue. It's enough to cause the DEC guys to walk by without noticing them. Now Dr. Drill has joined the party. He spots Sue and Tobi, who run for their lives, while App's drone helps takes out a few DEC guys. A hooded figure enter the picture and talks with Drill. "Great move. Now they'll trust us." Drill asks, "Why are you here?" The figure replies, "Jonas, damn it. She's my daughter!" We get to see the figure's face and, sure enough, it's Dr. Hartmann. Now I'm getting confused. Are we to believe that Drill and Hartmann are in cahoots and that the kidnapping was a ploy? Why the need for a ploy to get Sue to trust her mother? It seems to me that Sue would, naturally, trust her mother without the need for theatrics.
Our trio get away and get some time to recoup behind some garbage cans. Sue tosses Tobi's phone into the garbage can so they can't be tracked, but it's the garbage can that they're freakin' hiding behind right now! If the bad guys are tracking it - and you'd think App would have done something to prevent that - they're gonna go right to that can and find them hiding behind it. Anyway, they make their escape on a stolen pizza delivery motor-scooter. Lenia asks the confused delivery driver which way they went, so apparently, she's up to no good, too. In case you're playing along at home. Our superhero team heads straight for a DEC roadblock. Tobi remembers what happened in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982). This is where Tobi's only notable character trait comes in handy. He uses App's Flux Capacitor to launch the scooter into the air, while he has Sue make them all invisible. Pizzas spill out onto the DEC guys below as the scooter flips upside down. Honestly, the invisibility was entirely unnecessary to the plan, especially since the DEC team had an infra-red camera and could see them anyway. I do appreciate the E.T. reference. That was cool.
(Sue was protected from COIVD-19 years before the rest of us)
They ride to an empty steel mill in the middle of nowhere where App last tracked Dr. Hartmann's whereabouts. I'd ask how App could have done that tracking now, but not earlier after she had first gone missing, but this movie is starting to make less and less sense to me, so it's easier if I just go along with it. Alfred confirms that this is the last known location of Dr. Hartmann. It's clear that no one is there in this huge empty space. Tobi thinks that it's all a trap, and that Mom is involved. Well, that's certainly what the audience is being lead to believe at this point, too. So, maybe he's right. Sue, of course, doesn't like anyone disparaging her mother. That's her job. Sue goes off on Tobi and tells him to go to Eileen's stupid Halloween Party. So, he obliges, leaving Sue and App alone in the middle of nowhere with no ride home. Well, I guess she should have remembered that he drove them there before she pissed him off. App, giving us more reason to love her, says to Sue, "And they say I'm the one who can't get along with other people?" A trio of drones enters the warehouse and have their sights on the girls. Sue can't make them invisible as her suit got damaged while riding the scooter, so they have to go with Plan B: RUN! The drones want the "intruders" to remain where they are, and their verbiage makes it seem like the drones are there because the girls are trespassing. We are not given any clue as to who is controlling the drones or why. It's not App this time.
Dad finally comes back from his business trip. He arrives home to find the place ransacked and is wife and daughter both missing. Someone else is in the house. Dad confronts them, but we don't get to find out who it is. Cut back to Sue and App, who are hiding in the cold, dark steel mill ruins. They are spotted by some bad guys. Sue chucks the NT26D vial at them, causing an explosion, while App runs away knowing that Sue's plan was not a good idea. Cut to another arthouse montage of blood coagulation and stuff, and then Sue is fast asleep in her own bed. She awakens to find Mom sitting by her bedside. Is this where Mom tells her that it's 1955 and calls her Calvin Kline? Oh, instead, Mom is reading a "very rare original edition" of an Action Mag comic book. She's just leafing through it with her bare hands, so I guess that it's not a valuable "very rare original edition". She tells Sue that she passed out in school, but that the doctor couldn't find anything wrong with her. Naturally, Sue doesn't suspect that anything is amiss, even though she hasn't appeared to have attended school in several days, at least. After Mom leaves, Sue goes to follow her, only to notice that the doorknob is missing. The window is zip-tied shut, too. Is that a big enough red flag for you, Sue? Also, to add to some dimensional-confusion, there's a shot of Sue knocking on a door that leads into a rounded windows-on-all-sides kitchen. As far as I'm aware, Sue's bedroom only has one door leading in and out, and that goes to a hallway. Since she's locked in that room, she should not be able to bang on any doors leading to the kitchen. Also, I'm pretty sure that her bedroom is on the second floor, while the kitchen is on the first. I could be wrong, but the movie has not given me any reason to be.
Outside, Mom tells some DEC guards to keep a close eye on Sue, keep her cooled (remember, heat makes her invisible), and not to let her have any outside contact. She then call up someone and tells them that she has "the girl", and gives them App's and Tobi's whereabouts. She informs this other party that she'll get Tobi at Eileen's Halloween pool party, and instructs them to get App. I guess Dr. Hartmann is a bad guy. Looks like Tobi was right, after all. Oh, wait! What's this? Breaking news! Dr. Hartmann has, inexplicably, transformed into Lenia. I guess Lenia is the bad guy, and thanks to getting some of Sue's blood, she can transform into other people?!? That's an ability that even Sue doesn't have. I hope we get an explanation for this.
Back at the old steel mill, App is walking around aimlessly when a car pulls up from out of nowhere. It's Dr. Hartmann! She went there looking for Sue, but is surprised to find App, whom she does not know. Could this be Lenia, too? Probably not, since Lenia knows who App is. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. A bit of a time jump later, and were back in Sue's room, where she hears strange goings-on outside her door. It's App and her mom...or is it? Sue tosses the Red Mask device that houses Alfred to her "mom", and instructs her to open it. Upon picking it up, Alfred immediately recognizes her. It's the real Dr. Maria Hartmann, all right. "Only the real Maria can open the pendant," says Sue. Thank goodness we have that squared away. Alfred plays back some video of Lenia in Sue's room evil-monologuing to the passed-out Sue. Don't you love how the bad guys always monologue their plans? The recorded Lenia seems surprised that, upon injecting herself with Sue's blood, she turned into a deepfake Dr. Hartmann instead of becoming invisible. Sue then becomes super knowledgeable about NT26D and its effects on people, stating to her scientist mother that it's harmless to most people, but that for some, it has different effects. Yes, Sue is actually lecturing her scientist mother on the chemical that her scientist mother created! Stay in your lane, Sue. They all realize that Lenia's plan is to get rid of the witnesses. I guess we're going to the Halloween party to rescue Tobi. Do we have to?
On the way, Sue and App chat with Mom to help fill in some potential potholes. Dr. Hartmann was able to find App at the steel mill due to Mom putting a tracking chip in Sue's "sweater". You might remember that App wanted Sue's hoodie in exchange for creating the super-jacket for her. When the English dub says "sweater", they really mean "hoodie". That threw me off the first time I watched the film, not just due to the different word, but because the line where App asks for the hoodie is easy to miss, and we don't see App put it on. Yeah, we see her wearing it afterward, but you're usually paying attention to other things to even notice that she's wearing Sue's hoodie. Anyway, she found Sue - back at her own house, mind you - because Sue's socks are also chipped. Geez, Doc, why didn't you just have a tracking chip implanted under Sue's skin like a dog?!?
When asked how she got away from Lenia, Dr. Hartmann gives an answer that unravels this whole mystery for us. "[Lenia] was so busy searching for Sue, [that she] completely forgot about me, and I was able to escape. I ran for my life with the others after me. I tried to hide in that hall when the ceiling suddenly collapsed. [...] I must have fainted. I can't remember a thing until Jonas [Drill] found me buried in the debris. [...] He's been helping me. [...] Jonas is the most loyal person I know." So, Dr. Hartmann seeming to be a bad guy when she spoke to Dr. Drill back at the old market meet was actually a red herring. Neither her nor Drill was actually a "bad guy". Drill and Hartmann had the DEC there to take Sue so as to protect her from Lenia and the real bad guys. That makes sense, but I'm still confused about the two apparent abductions of Dr. Hartmann. Was the first one, outside the Hartmann residence, actually perpetrated by Drill in an effort to bring both female Hartmanns into his safety? If so, surely he could have called up Maria and told her to come to DEC HQ with her daughter for their safety. There was no reason to stage an abduction. Then the second abduction, in the lab, which we saw on the video on Dr. Hartmann's phone, was the real one perpetrated by the bad guys. I am confused about this "hall" with a collapsed ceiling that Dr. Hartmann is talking about. Is this the "hall" at the steel mill that Sue told App to go to, but which we never actually saw? It feels like there's a deleted scene that would explain this better.
Mom has the antidote for Sue, but she doesn't want it. She prefers being Invisible Sue. After all, they made a movie about her. Nobody made a movie about plain old regular Sue. Will she later decide to take it? I guess we'll find out in the next 20 minutes, as that's how much time is left on this thing. Oh, and App repaired the temperature remote from Sue's suit, so it looks like we're all set for a showdown at the pool party with Lenia. The ladies better hurry up and get there because Eileen is putting the moves on Sue's would-be boyfriend. For some reason, Sue and App decide to sneak in through some kind of service tunnels under the pool. I don't understand why Sue can't just turn invisible and go through the front door, but...whatever. Sue's plan is to inject Lenia with the antidote and turn her "normal" again. That's not Dr. Hartmann's plan, and App gives a disapproving look, as well, but Sue never seems content on listening to those who are smarter than her.
They spy Tobi on the dance floor with Eileen, while a bootleg Jack Skellington looms in the background. I hope that Disney's legal team doesn't see this movie. Alfred and App both needle Sue about having a crush on Tobi. But enough of that lovey-dovey stuff. We have to find Lenia, but she could be anyone at this party. This is where it would have been awesome, and quite fitting, for Men At Work's "Who Can It Be Now?" to be playing at the party. I'm sure the movie's budget would not have allowed it. You don't need to be a detective to figure out who Lenia is disguised as. I'll give you a clue: It's the only person at the party, besides Tobi, that the movie is paying any attention to. If you haven't figured it out, don't worry. It won't be long until you see that person's body lying on the bathroom floor.
Yup, it's Eileen. The mean girl. The character that really had no purpose in the movie until now. I bet you're as surprised as I'm not. When Sue finds one of Eileen's girl posse upset because of the horrible way that Eileen treated her, she realizes what costume Lenia is wearing to the Halloween party. She informs her crew of App and "Mama". App gets the message, but Dr. Hartmann does not because her earpiece is sitting on the empty seat of her car with the driver's side door wide open. Looks like Dr. Hartmann got herself abducted again! I swear, Sue and App need to put some tracking chips in her clothes; not Sue's. App, who has commandeered the DJ booth, sees "Lenia's Men" ready to storm the entrance to the party. What, they didn't want to go through the more discreet - and completely not under surveillance - service tunnels, like Sue and App did? App locked the doors remotely, even though there is no indication that this building has electronic door locks. From the look of the doors, this building, like most places, has analog door locks. You can't operate analog door locks remotely. Someone call street repair to fill in this p(l)othole.
Sue gets to Tobi, while App fills the place with fog as cover. "Eileen" transforms back into Lenia, but we don't get one of those nice CGI effects like we saw earlier. I guess the film's budget had already been spent. Instead, the movie just cuts back and forth between Eileen and Lenia standing in the same spot, as a way to signify the transformation. It's very disappointing, since this is the climax of the film. Lenia grabs Tobi while he and Sue were fighting. As this all transpires, everyone at the party just stops and watches. No one else even tries to help. They do give out an audible gasp when Sue turns invisible. Eventually, Tobi knees Lenia in the leg, giving Sue a chance to inject her with the antidote from behind. Then both ladies take a tumble into the pool. You just knew that someone was going to end up in that pool. App grabs the microphone and announces that that's the end of the show, "Invisible Sue and Her Sidekick Tobi". Elsewhere, the real Eileen is found in the locked bathroom. Side note: "Lenia's Men" eventually "break in" (as in, gently open the door), but they literally do nothing, and we're not even sure if they really were working for Lenia. Remember previous red herrings due to misunderstandings and assumptions because characters don't always behave rationally and explain their actions beforehand. I'm not sure why the director even left in the few shots of "Lenia's Men" at the party as they had no effect on the plot.
Our heroes are wheeling Lenia's unconscious body on some kind of furniture dolly up to the top level of a parking garage. I assume this parking garage is right next to the building with the pool, though I can't imagine why a small pool facility would need that much parking. We're also not given any explanation as to why they're going up there - Dr. Hartmann's car is seen parked on a lower level - or why they didn't bother to call the police, though it seems that law enforcement doesn't exist in this movie's universe. Putting all of that aside, the true villain is revealed. I bet you won't guess who is it.
Yup, it's "weird" Aunt Lore. She foreshadowed this when she told Sue, "People are often not what they seem. You can't be too careful." If you remember that, give yourself a cookie. Tobi, of all people, is the one to realize it when he notices that the wheel of her wheelchair was seen in the abduction video on Dr. Hartmann's phone. I guess he's not as much of an idiot, after all. App, however, should feel ashamed since she lives with Aunt Lore and has, presumably, seen her wheelchair and its wheels numerous times, yet didn't recognize it in the video. Oh, App, you're supposed to be the genius of the group. I'm disappointed in you. Suddenly, two black trucks approach, filled with the men who "broke in" to the pool party. I guess they really were "Lenia's Men"...or maybe I should say "Lore's Men". They have both of Sue's parents and Dr. Drill tied up. Well, I guess this explains why the adults weren't there to take Lenia's body.
Lore monologues the plot for us. She ordered Lenia to keep an eye on Dr. Hartmann in order to get the NT26D, and later had her kidnapped when it became clear that the chemical had this "wonderful side effect". Her motivation, as it always is, is profit...and healing. Although the NT26D was destroyed, Lore wants Sue because what's left of the chemical is in her blood. A Mexican Standoff ensues, as Sue threatens to inject herself with the antidote, which will make her blood useless, unless Lore releases her parents and friends. Sue does inject herself, dropping to the ground. Lore pulls up next to her, saying that she made a big mistake. "Yeah, it was." Sue then attaches App's Flux Capacitor to the back of Lore's wheelchair, sending it careening backwards across the parking garage. We hear it hit a black van, but we don't actually see it. Presumably, there was no money left in the budget for that stunt. This is where I would have changed the script, as the ideal ending here would be for Lore's wheelchair to go flying off the parking garage (remember, they're on the top level), sending her falling to her demise. Maybe toss in another E.T. reference, with the wheelchair flying past the moon, ala The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear (1991). I guess the filmmakers didn't want anyone to actually die in this film.
(What should have happened to Aunt Lore, as depicted in The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear)
Of course, now that the villain has been "defeated", the police show up. Alfred mentioned earlier that he put in an "emergency call". At least, I think they're the police. Two cars have a small blue dome light on top, but the rest don't, and none of the cars are marked. The cops are wearing outfits that say "Polizei" on the back, which is the German word for police, so I guess that makes them legit.
Also, the first car, which App's mother is in, has pieces of a fence stuck to the front, and left side damage, as it clearly hit something on the way over here. I want to know the story behind that. Also, don't you just love how everyone, civilians and police, all arrive at the same time? As everyone is hugging and congratulating each other, Sue passes out. They call for an ambulance, and Sue wakes up...
...in a fancy bedroom back at Aunt Lore's mansion. I bet you thought I was gonna say "hospital". No, it would make too much sense for a girl who has chemicals running through her body to be under real medical supervision. We don't find out what happened to Lenia and Lore. If Aunt Lore was taken to jail, what happens to her mansion? Will App and her mother have to find a new place to live? Those are questions we will never have answers to. The police call Sue's father, likely with some questions they want answers to, as well. I can only imagine the BS he tells them to explain everything. I would not be surprised if Drill makes a generous "donation" to the police to make this all go away.
Sue shares a tender embrace with her mom, and gets the gift of a new and improved Alfred, thanks to App. Mom gets the birthday gift that Sue and her father tried to give her earlier. I bet with everything going on, you forgot that it was Mom's birthday that started this whole mess. Mom opens it, but sadly, we don't get to see what it is. Sitting on the mansion staircase, Sue waxes poetic about how grateful she is to have her parents and her friends in her life. This is a complete 180 from the angsty bratty Sue we started the film with. It's nice to see that she learned to be a better person.
Sue draws a comic panel of her, App, and Tobi standing on the top of a building. As the camera zooms in, it turns into a live-action shot. They discuss the voicemails they've received from Eileen, whom no one will believe in regards to what actually happened because she was known to lie and make-up stories. They all feel sorry for her. Sue and Tobi hold hands, and just as they move in for a kiss, Sue starts to vomit. That's not an indication of how she really feels about Tobi, I assure you. That actually means that, as Alfred informs, Dr. Hartmann's antidote is not as effective as she would like it to be. Sue grabs both of their hands, and they all turn invisible. "Everyone Beware! Here come The Fantastic Three!" (If they add one more person to their group, they will face the wrath of Marvel.) Finally, there is a mid-credits scene that reveals Lenia's fate.
So, that's Invisible Sue. Not a perfect film, but way better than I was expecting for a "Dollar Bin" find. It's, clearly, a love letter to superheroes and comic books. The three female scientists that Tobi, literally, bumps into in the DEC hallway are all named after characters from superhero comics. Dr. Danvers (Anouk Wagener) gains her name from both Carol Danvers (aka Captain Marvel) and Kara Danvers (aka Supergirl). Dr. Ross (Eugenie Anselin) is an homage to either General Thaddeus Ross or his daughter Betty Ross (aka Red She-Hulk) from the Marvel universe. Finally, Dr. McCoy (Larisa Faber) is named after Hank "Beast" McCoy from the X-Men. I also liked the nods to Wargames, Back to the Future, and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
The movie has a few flaws, the biggest of which is the way in which Sue got her powers; namely having easy access to what should have been a secure lab and the dumb idea of bringing a cake into what should been a sterile environment. I would love to see this movie get a U.S. remake, which can fix flaws like that. This is why movies should be remade, not to re-do "name brand" movies that were already done right the first time just to cash in on the name recognition of the title. Speaking of the title, that's the first thing I'd fix. The title Invisible Sue feels like it should have some sort of wordplay going for it, but it doesn't; unless they were going for "Invis-SUE-ble Sue". (Side Note: I'm sure the filmmakers named the character Sue in reference to Sue Storm from Marvel's The Fantastic Four, who has the ability to make herself invisible. That still doesn't meam that the title is good.) The German title, Plötzlich Unsichtbar, translates to Suddenly Invisible, which is just as bad. I would rename the main character "Billie" and call the film, Invisi-Billie. Also, I would throw in a bunch of references to the 1990s Nickelodeon series, The Secret World of Alex Mack, which was about a girl Sue's age who was doused with a chemical and gained incredible powers as a result. It doesn't even have to be officially connected, so as to avoid conflicting that show's continuity. The main character would be Billie Mack. Her scientist mother would be Dr. Alexandra Mack, portrayed by Larisa Oleynik, the actress who bought Alex to life in the 1990s. The name of the chemical would be changed to "GC-161", which was the chemical Alex got doused in. And just for fun, the father could be named Andy Mack, a reference to the Disney Channel series, Andi Mack.
The English-dub voice cast is credited in the movie, during the scrolling credits, after the German cast. For the three main characters, Nicole Lee provides the English voice of Sue, while Jordan Knapp covers App, and Muhammad Zahra handles Tobi. I have never heard of any of these people before, but all three do an excellent job. In fact, there is not a single character who is dubbed by a voice that does not fit the appearance of the original actor. Unlike Four Enchanted Sisters, where the youngest sister has a voice that is too high-pitched. Since the original German audio track is not included on Viva's DVD, I have not had much of a chance to see how the on-screen actors really sound. However, this German interview with director Markus Dietrich and actress Anna Shirin Habedank contains several German movie clips: at 2:09 (Sue at lockers with Eileen), 5:07 (Sue triggers reactor), 7:32 (Mom and Lenia run tests on Sue), 9:24 (Sue and Tobi in his bedroom), 10:13 (App and Sue in the diner), 12:30 (Sue turns invisible outside DEC HQ), 14:33 (Sue humiliates Eileen in the diner), and 17:45 (Sue's entrance in new super-suit). I have done a little comparison using the scene with App and Sue in the diner. If I had a copy of the full German movie, I would have picked a better clip.
There are several trailers up on YouTube. These are the best ones.
German Trailer #1 contains two shots that do not appear in the final film. I assume these were deleted from the original German film, and not that the Viva DVD is edited. The first is a shot of Sue from behind in a dark tunnel with a bright light up ahead. It was not used in the pool service tunnel scene, though may have originated there.
The second shot is much more interesting. Sue is in some kind of basement when she sees "Freak Monster" written on the wall ahead. I don't think this is from the steel mill, so maybe there was some footage showing Sue going to the Robotics Club in the school basement, where App found her passed out.
Amazon does not have the U.S. Viva Pictures DVD, though you can buy the movie digitally on Amazon, or just check any Dollar Tree store near you. They're almost guaranteed to have a copy, and it will only cost you $1.00 plus tax. If you have a region-free Blu-ray player, you can buy the Region 2 Blu-ray from Lighthouse Home Entertainment (THIS DISC WILL NOT PLAY ON NORMAL U.S. BLU-RAY PLAYERS), but be forewarned that it DOES NOT CONTAIN THE DUBBED ENGLISH AUDIO. The specs on Lighthouse's site indicate that it only contains German audio (regular and descriptive), though it does have English subtitles, and special features: Making Of, Prank, and Heroes Music Video (presumably sung in English by Anna Shirin Habedank). I contacted Lighthouse to get some clarification, and the representative was kind enough to confirm that the special features are entirely in German without English subtitles. Only the movie itself has English subtitles. I may still pick up the disc to have a copy of the movie in HD and with the original German audio. The full movie is also freely available on YouTube, in English with burnt-in foreign subtitles and other crap over the video added by the uploader, but I will not link to it since it's not an official upload.
Anna Shirin Habedank's "Heroes" music video is up on her official YouTube channel, and she performs the song in English, so at least all of us in the U.S. can enjoy it.
Finally, I'd like to point out that Viva's DVD cover art (left) shows Sue wearing a Robin-style mask around her eyes. At no point in the movie does she don such a thing. This is because Viva took the original promotional image (right) and added a mask to it. Maybe they felt that the original image didn't look "superhero" enough, but the "dead eyes" they gave Sue make the DVD cover image look pretty creepy.
All images were taken from the DVD by me (Paul Rudoff) and the larger versions have since been uploaded to the Internet Movie Database gallery of the film. This item has been purchased by me for the grand sum of $1.00 in Dollar Tree.
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