After the successes of Das Experiment and Downfall, many were looking forward to Oliver Hirschbiegel's Hollywood debut, not least because he had one of the hottest commodities in Hollywood at his disposal, in revered new James Bond Daniel Craig - plus the ever watchable and bankable Nicole Kidman. However, after a troubled production - including injured stunt performers and a car crash which nearly spelled the end for Kidman - what started out as a much-anticipated contemporary spin on Invasion of the Body Snatchers became a serious disappointment, due in no small part to the infamous curse of studio interference, which resulted in the dreaded hatchet job final cut which drove the final nail into the proverbial coffin lid
I watched this movie because I am a Danial Craig and Nicole Kitman fan....I think Nicole Kidman does a good job as Carol Bennell, a professional, single mom whose world revolves around her son Oliver and her job as a psychiatrist. All in all the acting was fair, the editing was good but the story lacks on so many levels. I expected better.
The title is pretty much self-explanatory, "The Invasion" is just that, an invasion -- of an alien life form.
Other than not finding it the least bit scary (more intriguing than anything) there really isn't much more I can say about it. It's pretty straight forward...
At first, this doesn't seem like an adaptation of "The Invasion of the Body Snatchers," which was good. I thought this was an amazingly good movie, with a lot of suspense. One of the better performances Nicole Kidman has given in a long time.
A painfully slow thriller that lacks a clear message and good performances needed to drive the allegoric premise that worked so well in previous adaptations of the Body Snatchers. Especially bad is Nicole Kidman, who's expressionless even when she isn't faking grinds the film down to a halt and wastes Daniel Craig, who deserves better than what hes given.
When Jack Finney wrote seminal sci-fi novel The Body Snatchers in 1955, he could never have anticipated what an enduring, all-purpose metaphor its central premise would become. It wasn?t even, in truth, a particularly original one - Philip K. Dick beat him to the punch by a year with his short story The Father Thing, and the concept of psychotic delusions that turn out to be real can be found throughout literature. Nevertheless, it was Finney?s take that has become immortal, thanks less to his prowess as a writer and more to the fortuitous timing of the 1956 Don Siegel adaptation and the then-prevailing climate of Reds-under-the-bed paranoia.
In short, Invasion Of The Body Snatchers is regarded as the gold standard of metaphorical sci-fi. Whether that metaphor was ever intended is debatable - s is the question of whether it stands for McCarthy?s attempt to cow the American public or for the subversive forces of international Communism. In fact, it?s possible that the ?56 version of Body Snatchers is so intriguingly of its era because the satirical slant was not purposely embedded. Which, skirting the excellent 1978 Phil Kaufman and Abel Ferrera?s half-decent 1993 version, brings us to The Invasion and its most serious, but by no means only, flaw.
Although not the disaster that US critics and dismal box office might suggest, The Invasion, which stars Nicole Kidman as a psychiatrist and single mother (who, for no good reason, describes herself as a ?postmodern feminist?) and Daniel Craig as her doctor chum (who, because the writers forgot to give him a personality, doesn?t describe himself as anything) is not only deeply unsatisfying but also, in its desperation to win points for au courant-ness, philosophically troubling. And, frankly, offensive. Try this on for size: the upshot of a mysterious alien virus that turns everyone into soulless pod people is that it spells the end for all the despicably bad stuff that we do to each other. In other words, slaughter in Iraq and genocide in the Sudan are part of what makes us human. Ergo, pacifists and liberals equal soulless pod people. That can?t, surely, have been the message the filmmakers had in mind, but that it can be - and inevitably is - interpreted that way is an indication of The Invasion?s sloppiness.
Nominally directed by Downfall?s Olivier Hirschbiegel with, reportedly, extensive re-shoots by James McTeigue, the film is by turns ponderously slow (ten minutes of Kidman trying not to fall asleep does not constitute high-octane action) and inexplicably frantic. At one point someone, without apparent motive, pelts Kidman?s car with a Molotov cocktail which, for the simple reason that it looks kinda cool, keeps burning at fireball intensity until the car slams into a concrete pillar. There?s a couple of effectively chilling moments - Kidman?s Night Of The Living Dead-style doorstep encounter with a pod-peep, for instance - but it?s mostly pedestrian, predictable and riven with continuity errors, while the CG ?toons of the virus ricocheting around a bloodstream are laughable.
remember nicole tits out...great now your an alien. it really is hard to tell she kinda looks like an alien to me anyway. the movie was watchable though.
Contrary to what most critics say, I think this is a fantastic movie (or maybe I'm just too concentrated on Daniel Craig to think otherwise). Despite the first version starring Sutherland, this movie was able to hold on its own and show a whole new meaning to then terror that resides in dreams.
The Invasion of the Body Snatchers in all its incarnations is one of my favorite sci-fi stories. I remember seeing the original on TV when I was a kid, it left a large impression on me, because it was the first time I'd ever seen a movie where the good guys lost. The 2nd one is also very good. The third one, made during the 90's;The Body Snatchers is good cheesy fun. The idea of our loved ones being taken over by something alien, their body still being there, but their mind belonging to somebody else, is a wonderful plot device; and it seems worthwhile to remake every 10 years or so, because there are constantly new generational themes you can attach to it.
In our age of terrorism and fear of disease, it only made sense for the filmmakers of The Invasion to bring those ideas into the fold. This time around, the body snatching affects are passed on by alien germs, brought to earth by a space shuttle exploded in the atmosphere. Instead of pods growing whole new bodies, it takes over like a nasty disease, after a night of morphing you wake up as an alien pawn.
Nicole Kidman is Carol, a psychologist and mother, whose ex-husband, a NASA spokesman is one of those first infected. When he suddenly has an interest in seeing their young son, after being absent for a while, she's suspicious, but obviously has no clue as to his true intentions. Her first touches with the new world reality come when one of her patients claims that her husband, isn't her husband. She blows it off at first, but after some online investigation, sees that this woman isn't alone in her feelings. She starts to notice people changing too, and has to get her son back immediately. Too the rescue comes handsome Dr. Ben, played by the always cool Daniel Craig.
They run around Washington D.C. while the whole world starts to fall apart around them. It's really fun to watch in the background for signs of weirdness, it's subtle at first, then begins to get more pronounced, and soon it's completely obvious that the aliens are in the majority. They have a bit of a twist in this version, by having the virus attack those in command first, so citizens will listen to the politicians and cops when told what to do. Eventually it's just Carol and her son running around in a constant state of fear, made worse by the fact, that she can't fall asleep because she fears she's infected.
The ending wraps up a little too neatly, my only major complaint with the film. But with it, comes some interesting questions. As the aliens are taking over, you'll see on the news, talks of peace treaties in the Middle East and hear from the aliens themselves about how everything is so much clearer. One of the new twists in this version, is that once you're taken over, you retain your memories and some of your personality, so family units stay intact; but mankind has one greater purpose, leading to world-wide peace and probably a better chance of survival. So what's the better option? Directed by German Oliver Hirschbiegel, in his first English language film, builds the suspense and terror subtlety, he doesn't jam the idea down your throat, lets it wash over you. I heard that the Wachowski Brothers stepped in at the end, to direct some action scenes to sell the film better; but it really didn't need it. This film works better as a think piece and I believe that's probably why it was such a bomb at the box office. While not a classic, I'd place it third among the Invasion films; the quality of the filmmaking is much higher here than the usual brainless sci-fi/action films, and it'll leave you with some ideas to ponder.
I heard a lot of bad reviews about this film, but i don't think it was that bad. The thing i like about this film was the message that it contained about terrorists and the world we live in today. Although i didn't think Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig were that great together, the film was still watchable.
I liked this movie simply because it was not a rip off of the original. This story line had it's own unique slant. Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig were very good in this. This is worth watching.
The Invasion was a good film but not the best of the summer of 2007. but I expected it to be more of a thriller. but great performances from great actors who are Daniel Craig and also Nicole Kidman
I was expecting worse as I remember this movie did not get good reviews. Rotten Tomatoes was only 19% on the Tomato Meter. IMDB was only 6.1/10 out of 16,533 votes. And here it only averages a 3/5 out of nearly 30K. So I went in having a rather low expectation. And it was not as bad as I expected!!
My friends thought the same:
Sam said, "I didn't think this was all that horrible (to my surprise!)."
April said, "I was actually surprised by the quality"
Barry thought it was "a really great movie"
Tania said, "very enjoyable and not a bit boring"
Sheron said, "creepy enough and had a good deal of action"
Some of my friends definetly did not like it with votes of 2 and 2-1/2 stars.
All this is to say, I guess you can take this with a grain of salt.
I personally liked it. I thought Nicole looked great. It was weird to see Daniel Craig, current 007 in a role like this but I warmed up to his character by the end. The ending is not strong but that is okay. It was not as awful as I expected.
I thought it was a complementing remake. I enjoyed it and thought it worth seeing. But don't expect fireworks or to be scared or dazzled. It also helps if you have a good buzz going and turn the volume up high!
ohmygod i love this movie from the beginning to the end. i love zombie-like movies, nicole kidman is a good actress, and the kid is soo cute! love the plot, it was so intense, and the ending is unlike the others. i wanted to watch more! (:
Maybe it was my low expectations, but I really enjoyed this intriguing thriller. Yes the ending seemed very convenient but for the most times, I didn't know how t was going to end. One of those thrillers that makes you think which then creates the chills. Much better than I was led to believe.
Have to say i was really liking this, right up until the car crash ending (by that i mean it looks as if they only had 90 minutes of film, the director noticed they'd got to 87 mins and just gave us a piss poor conclusion after a few wrap up scenes) Another 15 minutes with a decent conclusion and this might be more than just another failed re-imagining.
Its a good movie, maybe it could be better. It has really good suspense and mystery and some moments of action. The first part is better than the second that I feel it a bit exaggerated. Very good cast. Nicole Kidman with a good performance, Daniel Craig role was also convincing and the little kid Jackson Bond was very good also. My conclusion is that this is a movie worthy to take a look at.
Not bad as a movie in it's own right, but for mine doesn't really live up to, or add anything new to, it's predecessors. People who aren't familiar with the original will probably get a lot more out of it.
Rotten Tomatoes may have given it a 20%, and it may deserve it, but it was really fun to watch. I watched it in an empty theater with my parents and it was a blast. Might wanna go into the movie with low expectations, you'll only be entertained.
MCT:September 5, 2008
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