Griff the Invisible [Blu-ray]

Some kids never grow up, whatever Griff's condition is (if he has one) - as a 28 year old he harbours visions of being a superhero, patrolling the city at night like an Australian Batman. He perceives the world in a different way, he has been bullied throughout his life but his fantasy world helps him deal with it and he shapes his world around his fantasies. Nobody sees the world quite like Griff - except that is, for Melody.

This Australian comedy is often incredibly heartwarming as we see two misunderstood people who are seen as oddballs find in each other someone who understands what is to believe in the impossible. From invisibility suits, secret missions and futuristic technology, they share the fantasy and find that it's more fun with two. No doubt this will be compared to the likes of Kick-Ass and Super, both of which look at regular people becoming costumed vigilantes, but this is a very different film. Instead of becoming a de-facto hero, initially you aren't quite aware of what is real and what is imagined. The film eventually lets us see the world as it is rather than from Griff's perspective, we see how his bank of high-tech CCTV monitors are just a bunch of old computer screens, how his invisibility suit is just a pair of decorating overalls, and how his Batman-style costume is a little, well, home made - and reality is less magic, it's easy to see why Griff and Melody would rather exist in their own little bubble.

This Blu-Ray disc looks surprisingly good - I say that because I didn't expect it to look so impressive. This low budget film has a hand-crafted look to it and I thought it wouldn't really benefit from viewing in High-Def, I was wrong. The level of detail is excellent, there are many close ups in 'Griff The Invisible' and skin textures are rendered beautifully. The colours really pop and director Leon Ford has made use of very bold colour at times, his saturated colour-scheme makes for some great looking scenes (the yellow and black 'bus stop' scenes become a signature image of the film, trust me!). In terms of audio, large chunks of the film rely solely on dialogue, which is always clear, but Griff's superhero theme music is purposefully derivative and naturally evokes the image of a costumed hero. Some well selected indie-sounding songs fit in well.

In a nutshell: At first this looks a bit 'made for TV' but as it progresses it becomes a much more engaing and adventurous film which will probably suffer from being mis-marketed as an Aussie version of Kick-Ass. This isn't an action film, it's a gentle comedy-drama about two socially awkward people who ultimately just want each other for who they are, without trying to change each other so that they 'fit in'.