The Invasion
FLICK Anytime a science fiction classic is remade, or any good film is updated for that matter, the new version usually will have to redefine it to make the venture worthwhile and escape the wrath of moviegoers and critics. As John Water’s once said, it’s the bad movies that should be remade, not the good ones.
In The Invasion, the latest incarnation of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the story has stayed relatively the same, but it has a slicker look than the prior adaptations and stars Nicole Kidman. Though Daniel Craig is given second billing, he has way too little screen time.
It all begins when a space shuttle reenters the earth’s atmosphere and crashes, releasing a strange substance unknown to scientists as well as doctors at the Center for Disease Control. Jeremy Northam is one of those doctors as well as Kidman’s estranged ex-husband who gives good stares and is our first clue that at the signpost up ahead our next stop will be the twilight zone. Kidman is a mother and a psychiatrist who deals with the emotions of her patients, yet everywhere she turns people are starting to lose their personalities and possess the same blank expressions. I wouldn’t say she’s miscast, but Kidman has this same tabula rasa look from the beginning and creates little distinction later when she’s trying to blend in.
Creepier than The Stepford Wives, and more effectively suspenseful than Kidman’s ex-husband’s assault movie War of the Worlds, The Invasion is successful as an action thriller plus uses subtle political undertones that were present in the earlier works. When it's announced that they come in peace, and later you see George Bush signing a treaty on the television, you might question why allowing the takeover would be a bad thing. That this “danger” is never explored is just one of the film's faults. You could question the implausibility of some scenes, but it’s a sci-fi mystery so it’s fair game.
Though directed by Oscar-nominated Oliver Hirschbiegel (Downfall) much has been made about the Wachowski brothers’ uncredited overhaul of the chase scenes, which work but seem to go on a bit longer than needed. The sections apparently by Hirschbiegel are more nightmarish and create a sense of paranoia.
