The Invasion:
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig
Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel
Genre: Action / Drama / Horror / Sci-Fi / Thriller / Remake
Rated: PG-13 for violence, disturbing images and terror.
Plot: The Invasion tells the story of a mysterious epidemic that alters the behavior of human beings. When a Washington D.C. psychiatrist (Nicole Kidman) discovers the epidemic’s origins are extraterrestrial, she must fight to protect her son, who may hold the key to stopping the escalating invasion.

My Review: What a dud of a remake The Invasion turned out to be. The characters on screen weren’t the only ones trying to keep awake as this hour and a half attempt at a horror/suspense movie just kept dragging along. If you’ve seen the previous remake version from 1978 with Sutherland then be content with that. If you haven’t seen the previous rendition (this latest Kidman version was the 4th make of it) then go back and watch Invasion of the Body Snatchers instead. For what was supposed to be a horror/suspense/thriller movie The Invasion possessed none of those qualities and had it not been for the quality of the cast and production I would have rated this even lower.

The problem with The Invasion is that there is no real sense of urgency or fear. You won’t find it in the storyline and you won’t find it in the acting. The characters are supposed to be racing against time and a need for sleep to overcome a biological alien invasion. However, considering the very short run time of the movie (approx. 1hr 30mins) the “action” doesn’t start until more than half way though it and after that it’s very restrained. Even that tipping point in the story is laughable as a scientist reviews a piece of slime and is able to completely deduce everything that is going on, and I mean everything. He sums up the entire “REM induced hormones enables the take over” in a far too absurdly all-knowing kind of way based on incredibly limited information. So even when the characters know I don’t get much of a feeling of terror and fear. There’s a scene where Craig calls Kidman after they get separated and have what reminds me of a “Hi honey, I’m at the store can I pick anything up for you?” kind of conversation. He just calls to let her know he’s going to swing by the hospital to pick up some infected blood for the lab research. There’s no “Holy crap! We’re screwed! We’ve got to get out of here!” I was never concerned for the characters or worried about their safety, and this is supposed to be a horror movie!

This remake changes a lot of the story and that was a big mistake as the changes were on what made it work in the first place. In the ‘78 version once someone is converted they are drastically changed and are more of just zombies wandering along without purpose. The Invasion changes that so “converts” are pretty much exactly the same. They can talk, interact, watch TV, eat dinner as a family, and everything else as before, but now just in a calmer way. The background is constantly filled with news stories of peace spreading around the world as nuclear threats disarm and peace treaties are exchanged. All of this left me wondering, “what’s the problem then?” This sounds like a great change and everyone would want it. Sign me up. Stephen King had a short story (the name evades me) where a scientist creates a “peace drug” and puts it in the water. Suddenly everyone gets calm, relaxed, and peaceful. Soon after the scientist realizes it also destroys people’s minds leaving them as babbling idiots. Now there’s a downside to peace and harmony through forced changes. But there’s nothing like that in this movie. There is absolutely no downside to the invasion.

There’s also this obnoxious method used by the director where as the transition between scenes approach he starts to flip back and forth between the scene coming next and the current scene. So you get 2 secs of now and 2 secs of future, then back and forth, back and forth. It gets worse when they start mixing in past scenes as well as the characters recall previous events. These past events are mixed in the same way making for a very confusing situation, especially when they use past scenes that we didn’t actually see. I could have really done with out that little transitioning “trick” as it was just one more thing to tick me off.

So please, skip this terrible remake and go back and watch the older version, Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Now that was a tense, creepy horror movie with an ending that couldn’t have been better. I could in no way recommend The Invasion to anyone, ever.

My rating: 1.5/5 stars
High point: Kidman is good as well
Low point: No horror, no suspense, no good

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