The Invasion
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Movie Reviews of The Invasion
Movie Review: EXCELLENT
Summary: 5 Stars
I absolutely love this movie :) If you like intense movies I think you'll enjoy this one. Nicole Kidman is always great, and this movie helps to prove that. If you liked I am Legend, The mist, or the others you will probably like this one!Movie Review: Loved It!!
Summary: 5 Stars
I forgot I had already seen this, but it was great watching it the SECOND time around! If you're into Sci-Fy, Mystery, and Mild Horror, then The Invasion is definitely the movie for you! Enjoy...Movie Review: Flawed, but enjoyable take on the Body Snatcher movies
Summary: 4 Stars
Sometimes a movie gets really terrible reviews and after I see it I often wonder why there is so much hate for it. I've seen movies that got bad reviews that I might have liked, but I do understand why it gets so many negative reviews. But in the case of The Invasion I really don't get all the hate this movie has gotten. The Invasion almost seems like a love it or hate it movie, while it does have its flaws I found it to be a fun ride.
The Invasion is the 3rd remake of the 1956 classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers and so far I have liked all four versions as well as the unofficial remake The Faculty and I even enjoy some of the knock off films. The Invasion is sort of pointless sense it really doesn't add anything new to the story, though it does attempt to. I just love the concept for these movies and thus far I haven't been letdown yet.
After The Invasion was shot it went through quite a few re-shoots and at times you can tell there was some studio tampering, Andy & Larry Wachowski did some rewrites while James McTeigue was hired for re-shoots. But none are credited and since I don't exactly know who did what I have to go based on the credits and only mention the original writer and director regardless of what they did.
The screenplay was written by Dave Kajganich and overall it wasn't bad at all. There were some good ideas presented that try and put a twist on the story and some work well and others don't seem to work as well. Overall though the script wasn't bad by any means; the characters are fairly decent, but not enough was done with them. The characters in this you won't dislike, but you don't really like as well. One of the twists on the story is the pods are gone. How can you have a Body Snatcher movie without pods? This time around the aliens instead vomit on you.
Yes you read that right; ok so maybe it's not vomit, but they spray things out of their mouth so what would you call it? That concept is a little silly and when they do it odds are you'll get a bit of a chuckle out of it. They also infect people by tricking them into getting flu shots, which was much better than the vomit. Also some people are immune to the alien virus, which was an interesting idea that sort of works.
Oliver Hirschbiegel makes his American directorial debut and for the most part does a good job. The Invasion runs at a pretty good pace and there are some fairly creepy moments and while they do lack a little bit it still mostly works. Oliver Hirschbiegel manages to get some decent suspense, but when all is said and done some scenes do lack and The Invasion really had potential to be a great movie, but I still think it mostly works and ends up being a good movie. The Invasion isn't as chilling as the previous 3 versions, but I do think there were a couple of creepy moments.
What I loved about the 1978 version is the movie gets to this point to where you don't know who is one of the pod people and who is still human. Even the people passing on by who are nothing more than extras you start to wonder if they are pod people. It has this great presence of paranoia. The Invasion never quite reaches that level sadly, but there is still some suspense even if not as suspenseful as the past installments. I suppose all the blame can't be placed on Oliver Hirschbiegel, but despite those flaws I still think he did well.
Nicole Kidman plays Carol Bennell and does a fairly good job. I'm not the biggest fan of Kidman, in general her movies don't really interest me, but she is a talented actress. The problem here is her performance is just sort of boring. If you didn't know any better you would think she was one of the aliens. She really doesn't show much emotion and again not a bad performance, but sort of boring. Daniel Craig played Ben Driscoll and like Kidman he also gives a good, but boring performance.
I did enjoy The Invasion, but it is the weakest of the Body Snatcher series. It lacks the thrills and chills of the previous 3. And while it does move at a slightly better pace than Body Snatchers, it never gets as chilling as that movie was at times. But despite all that The Invasion while pointless does make for a good time. I really don't get all the hate this movie has gotten. Again it's not a great movie and the weakest of the Body Snatcher series, but overall it is a pretty good movie.
More often than not a lot of people forget how important editing is and that is one of the biggest flaws with The Invasion. While there was some suspense and some creepy moments there could have possibly been more if not for the editing. In one scene Carol and Ben are in a room talking to each other and the next scene they are in a car trying to get away, cut back to them in the room talking and cut back to them in the car. In an earlier scene Carol is at home the next at work and the next back home again. All that does take away some suspense from the scenes and also the transition from one scene to the next sometimes is a little sloppy.
My biggest complaint though is the ending; while I can't say much since it would spoil the movie. While I suppose it's not a Hollywood ending in the traditional sense, but the ending isn't as bleak as the previous 3. Like I said I really can't say much seeing as it would spoil the movie. It's not really a happy ending, but not dark like the other installments, which would have fitted better.
In closing, The Invasion really isn't as bad as the reviews seem to make it, while far from a perfect movie and not as chilling as the other 3 versions, The Invasion does provide a couple of jolts and despite the shortcomings I found it enjoyable.
Look for Veronica Cartwright of the 1978 version in a small role as Wendy Lenk.
Movie Review: Alien Nation
Summary: 4 Stars
There have been four film adaptations of Jack Finney's novel "The Body Snatchers." The first and most famous was Walter Wanger's "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," released in 1956 and starring Kevin McCarthy. This was followed by Philip Kaufman's 1978 remake, after which came "Body Snatchers," a spin off film released in 1993. Clearly, this story has gotten a lot of mileage, and if future filmmakers aren't careful, it's only going to wear itself out. This is why I was nervous about the latest adaptation, "The Invasion"; I would be watching a completely unoriginal film with a predictable story. I went to the theater fully expecting to be disappointed. Then a funny thing happened--I got into it. And by the time I left, I realized that I actually enjoyed it.
"The Invasion" is a rehash, but at the very least, it's a well-made rehash. This is a taut, suspenseful, creepy science fiction thriller that can put the audience in an uncomfortable place. All versions of this story play on our fears of identity loss, namely how humanity is gradually being replaced by an alien species. This new film adds an original twist; instead of clone-producing pods, a microscopic organism invades the body like a virus and reprograms the mind. In order for the transformation to occur, the infected person must fall asleep. The film opens with Carol Bennell (Nicole Kidman) in a trashed pharmacy. Dazed, frightened, and losing control, she searches for medications to keep her awake. Why this is happening, we don't yet know. All we do know is that, as she does this, something is trying to force its way through a locked door.
The film then flashes back to the events leading up to this scene. The invasion begins when a space shuttle breaks apart when reentering the atmosphere. Dozens of pieces land in various parts of the United States. As would be expected, many curious spectators try to take a small piece for themselves. What they don't know is that the hull of the shuttle is contaminated with some kind of organism; not long after the crash, people start to behave strangely, something that can only be attributed to a new strain of the flu. And it's rapidly spreading.
As all this is being established, Bennell is properly introduced as a divorced psychiatrist living in Washington, D.C. She begins to suspect something is wrong when her patient, Wendy Lenk (Veronica Cartwright, in an homage to her role in the 1978 film), confides that her husband is no longer her husband. He doesn't scream or hit, even when she does. He killed their dog. He always offers her something to drink. Such odd behavior is popping up all over the city, and pretty soon, random people stare at Bennell with blank yet horrifying expressions. Even her ex-husband, Tucker (Jeremy Northam), seems to have been affected. She rightfully feels nervous about letting her son, Oliver (Jackson Bond), stay with him, especially since he frequently wakes up screaming from fever-induced nightmares.
After a while, it becomes obvious that a full-blown pandemic has hit the nations of the world. Bennell seeks the help of Ben Driscoll (Daniel Craig) and Stephen Galeano (Jeffrey Wright), two doctors who might be able to isolate and define the virus. As they try to do their research, the infected are continuing to spread the alien virus, both by setting up phony inoculation centers and by vomiting on their victims. At this point, Bennell focuses solely on finding her son, who remains stuck with his transformed father. She knows Oliver is in terrible danger. What she has yet to discover is that, because of a childhood disease, Oliver may be the key to eradicating the alien virus.
In the midst of all this tension, the film takes an interesting turn by forcing us to question the true nature of the virus: Could it, in fact, be offering humanity the promise of peace? Is it worth losing our individuality if it means an end to war, violence, and hate? I have to admit; it sounds pretty tempting, considering the age we live in. The filmmakers seemed well aware of this, as seen during a news report announcing a peace agreement between North Korea and Iran. A welcome turn of events, no question. But at what cost? At one point, Bennell and a Russian diplomat engage in a very thought provoking conversation about the nature of humanity; history has shown that humans are aggressive in nature, and to lose that aggression is to lose all that is human. It isn't my place to agree or disagree with this line of reasoning. I will say that, if the diplomat is right, then we have some serious work to do.
The film's major weakness is its final thirty minutes, which was reportedly rewritten by the Wachowski Brothers and re-shot by director James McTeigue. Indeed, moments of "The Invasion" do seem tacked on and awkward, such as a couple of car chase sequences. Nonetheless, I was taken by the general direction of the story, and I give a lot of praise to credited director Oliver Hirschbiegel for crafting some genuinely frightening moments. In general, I liked this movie. Why, I'm not entirely sure; I'm usually the first to criticize a film for being unoriginal. But this time, I didn't really care.
Movie Review: JACK FINNEY'S PREMISE IS STILL ALIVE AND WELL
Summary: 4 Stars
Jack Finney's science fiction novel INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (serialized is COLLIER'S magazine in 1954; published in book form in 1955) was made into a highly regarded film of the same title in 1956, starring Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter in an intense and heartbreaking political parable of the times. In 1978 it was filmed (with the same title) as a satire of California society, starring Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, and Leonard Nimoy--and again was quite well received. In a third film version, BODY SNATCHERS: THE INVASION CONTINUES (1994)--starring Gabrielle Anwar, Terry Kinney, Meg Tilly, and Forest Whitaker--the focus seems to be on horror and suspense for their own sake, and although most reviewers rate it below the first two movies, many consider it worth seeing for its young female star if nothing else.
In THE INVASION (2007), the latest remake starring Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig (the newest James Bond), and Jeffrey Wright, Finney's central idea is alive and well: i.e., our "humanity" (for better or worse) can be taken from us by an "alien" life-form. In this outing, the traditional pods are dispensed with and a much more plausible (but far less visually dramatic) virus takes their place. Ms. Kidman's character (a brave, intelligent, and attractive female psychiatrist) is clearly the protagonist of the action, which centers around her attempts to find and rescue her young son, who is important not just to her but to all members of the human race who do not wish to be altered mentally by the virus. (In a sense, Kidman plays a kind of heroic "Ripley" figure, parallel to Sigourney Weaver's roles in the various ALIEN films.)
This film abounds with tense action and dramatic chase scenes--as well as a few tender and/or funny moments between the mother and son; there are also several thought-provoking discussions of human nature that almost seem to have been spliced in to add depth and "serious purpose" to the film. Given the United States' recent and current national divisiveness, parts of this film may lead some viewers to see it as a parable about our religious/political factions. (I think this would be misinterpreting the film's intent.)
As far as the "inner peace" of the infected people is concerned, the script and acting suffer from many inconsistencies--with the disgruntled husband of Veronica Cartwright (who had been in the 1978 remake) and the ex-husband of Kidman among the worse offenders. (But, since logic has usually been sacrificed for the sake of vivid effects throughout 2,500 years of dramatic literature, why quibble about one more instance?)
The ending (which I shall not reveal here) strikes me as a bit "rushed" in the sense that we do not so much SEE the outcome as HEAR ABOUT it in a short voice-over that summarizes the later events in a minute or less. In this one respect, I will say it is comparable to the ending of M. Night Shyamalan's SIGNS (2003), an alien invasion film starring Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix, which I (in the minority) rated very low on several accounts.