Nicole Kidman gives a curiously wooden performance in The Invasion, while pod people swarm and vomit and intermittently deliver some really bad lines.
The Invasion is the third remake of the 1956 classic, Body Snatchers, a movie that introduced the following scenario: "What if the growing alienation a culture feels comes from outer space?" In this version of the story, the infecting space spores are now viral particles brought to earth on a crashed shuttle. Contact causes the infected to become emotionless or relentlessly cheerful – it’s hard to tell which. Witness a terrified patient complaining to therapist, Carol Bennell (played by Nicole Kidman), that her husband no longer beats her and so all the love has gone out of their marriage. Could the cause be other than alien!
Infection Spreads Rapidly
The infection spreads rapidly through cuts, or by the preferred method of vomiting on an intended victim. As more and more people fall prey to the invasion, wars and violence cease except for the head bashing required when those overly emotional humans refuse to accept their fate. Carol’s plight as a member of the resistance becomes personal when her ex-husband (played by Jeremy Northam), nastily trying to obtain custody of Carol’s son, vomits on her and she becomes infected. Since the virus takes over when the victim sleeps, Carol must do battle both with pod people and her growing fatigue. Luckily, she’s surrounded by techie friends who know just what to do to come up with a vaccine. And the answer lies in Carol’s son, who is of course immune to the dread disease. Can Nicole/Carol stay awake long enough to find him? Can we stay awake long enough to care?
Daniel Craig, who plays Dr. Ben Driscoll, Carol’s love interest in the film, adds a bit of spark with a distilled James Bond edge. Nicole Kidman is also lovely as usual. But it’s not enough to save this movie. And this movie has a bit of a history. Directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, the film wrapped in 2006. The script was subsequently edited by the Wachowski brothers, and portions of the movie were reshot by director James McTeigue (of V for Vendetta fame). Still, the editing knife was not sharp enough to put the film back on track.
Film is Dated by Cold War Allegory
The Invasion suffers from being a period piece and it shows in the dialogue. The 1956 version was filmed in the throes of the Cold War and considered by many at the time to be a hip allegory depicting the evils of communism. (Get it - evil aliens creating a communal mind?) Though it certainly could have been made a relevant parable for a modern age, this version seems to offer little more than the pat answer that it’s better to suffer through wars if it means human beings retain their individuality. Bad dialogue and choppy editing give an otherwise capable cast little to work with and moviegoers little to care about. We’re left to ponder the mayhem and massacres that ensue when people are “cured” of the virus from the vantage point of Nicole’s sunny suburban manse. “Hmmm,” she might be pondering in an interior monologue, “Well, it’s back to war. Time for more espresso.” There’s just no connection to any real suffering either for the characters in the movie or for those in the theatre, except of course during the movie experience itself.
Rating: 3 ½ yawns.
