Invincible: How To Kill Villains With The Power Of Love

In 2001, Billy Zane had a certain cache. Long before the Kelly Brook nonsense, just after The Phantom and Titanic, the world was his oyster.

So, what did he do with it? Star in a rubbish TV pilot. Hit the jump and join Zane in his quest to slay villains with the power of hippy, spiritualist twaddle:

Invincible is a 2001 TV pilot that, unsurprisingly, was never taken up and instead became a TV movie that was made available on DVD.

It starts out well. A camp, eyelinered Zane shows up, with hair, being psychotic and killing people. You see, he's one of a group of evil dimension-hopping, martial arts aliens known as Shadow Men, who came to our world millennia ago and are now trapped here. Yet, have no fear, he is soon beaten up by Galadriel from Lord of The Rings, or so it appears, who pops a love-cap in his ass (not like that! You know, spiritually...). This for some reason makes Zane bald (hair is the root of all evil, apparently) and gives him a propensity for smugly pontificating about the power of  love, while scouring the world for a group of martial arts experts who are destined to become Earth's saviours and defeat the Shadow Men. Admittedly, there is a slight flaw in that he's already killed one of the five while evil, but hey ho.

What follows is a vague attempt to make a tokusatsu series for grown-up western audiences, complete with superpowers and individual "element" signs for each of the remaining four heroes. So far, so B-series.

However, this movie is really made by its ending, where, finding themselves unable to defeat the main villain in combat, Zane and our heroes are able to depower him non-violently by channelling the power of love. Yes, it's Care Bears do The Matrix...

I distinctly doubt this pilot would even have been made were it not for Zane's involvement, bless his hippy little soul. Nonetheless, a quick flick over the credits will find Jet Li and Mel Gibson producing, and DayHWStoodStill favourite Dominic Purcell, who used to make a living by starring in doomed-to-fail TV series before he got his big Prison Break.

Everyone should see this movie at least once, just for the sheer insanity of it, which has now granted it a legendary cult status. Rifle through some bargain bins and you're sure to happen across a copy. You won't regret it.