Okay, let’s just say it and get it over with, Invasion of the Body Snatchers. For all of you not familiar with the Jack Finney novel, just think back to those creature double features you morbidly fixated on as a kid. Remember the storyline where an unknown, parasitic alien race was brought back, unknowingly of course, to earth by the crew of some unsuspecting space shuttle? Don’t remember? Well, think of the modernized movies that have repeatedly used this same theme. Two extremely scary movies include John Carpenter’s, The Thing, and Ridley Scott’s, Alien. Both stories brilliantly incorporate the concept of humans appearing, to the naked eye, to be as harmless and untainted, while all the time harboring an unspeakable evil, parasitic alien inside of them that is merely biding its time to burst forth and reveal itself.
Unfortunately, not every director is either John Carpenter or Ridley Scott. We’ve seen this in Rand Ravich’s, The Astronaut’s Wife, as well as the short-lived ABC series, Invasion. Perhaps we, the audience, as horror fans simply do not respond well to concept that our closest loved ones could be, in reality, pod people. It certainly seems like the films that keep the threat on a distance, i.e. a spaceship, ala “Aliens” or in the middle of the Antarctic, ala The Thing, simply fair better at the box office. Whichever the pathology, Oliver Hirschbiegel’s update of Finney’s classic is, to put it simply, ineffectual. There is virtually no mystery here and very little suspense by way of script.
The movie follows the life of psychiatrist, Dr. Carol Bennel (Kidman), fellow colleague, Ben Driscoll (Craig), and her son Ollie (Bond). We know right away that her son is out of the ordinary, although mainly because of the disturbingly good job his hairdresser did in putting in those unnaturally bright, blonde highlights. I mean, wow, I know I was intrigued.
Basically, the movie is pretty formulaic. Our lead heroine, who just happens to hold a doctorate in psychology, is the only hope for saving humanity from alien, parasitic entities that travel and spread person to person. Much like the 1918 influenza epidemic, which swept the world, killing more people than World War I but that no one born after 1918 either remembers or cares about, The Invasion, falls somewhere along those lines.
The good doctor comes fully equipped with a ruggedly masculine, handsome sidekick who also, wouldn’t you know it, happens to be a PhD, as well as an adorable, almost cherubically angelic, child, who is tediously in need of constant rescue from ‘those’ that want to get their parasite infested hands on him.
All we know about this otherworldly “virus,” is that it lies dormant within the host until he or she falls asleep and enters the REM cycle. If this were Wes Craven’s, A Nightmare on Elm Street, we’d all expect Freddy Krueger to make his entrance about now; but as it stands, no one was gorily hacked to pieces and Freddy didn’t save us with his crass, yet humorous, ranting. No Ridley Scott alien burst from the chest cavity to snarl and speed off into a darkened corner; instead, and possibly much more terrifying, every infected human is transformed into a mindless, Borg-like robot. Much like the folks you’ll find sipping coffee in the ‘break-room’ at work during their 10.2-minute company allotted break period.
In truth, the film is no worse than half of the lame sci-fi flicks resurrecting old, worn-out themes, which toss in the obligatory car-chase scene to justify labeling it a ‘thriller.’ Nicole Kidman, refusing to be cowed by the pitiful screenplay, manages to deliver an excellent performance as the distraught mother trying to find and protect her son while, simultaneously, struggling to remain free of the identity consuming, soul snatching parasites.
Daniel Craig, poor thing, is really added to the bill to help provide a box-office draw; he isn’t really given much to do. The biggest problem I had with this film is that it was simply boring. Kidman can act her way out of a paper bag, but even she couldn’t save this film from becoming yet another late night, Cinemax, special feature.
If you managed to refrain from gouging out an eye with a hot poker while watching Flight Plan, then you may enjoy this film for its overly maternal, “I’ll kill anything that stands between my son, and me” melodrama driven script. Personally, I’m still shopping for an eye patch. This is a film best viewed on a rainy, balmy evening after you’ve just put the kids to bed (haven fallen asleep during the movie). When you just want to do nothing else but curl up on the couch together, watch some inane, wholly unmemorable flick, throw popcorn at the screen and cuddle - just remember to have extra popcorn at hand, you’ll need it.
The mysterious crash of the space shuttle leads to the terrifying discovery that there is something alien within the wreckage. Those who come in conta...More at HotMovieSale.com
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