Release
Date: January 08, 2008 Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel Starring: Daniel Craig, Jeremy Northam, Malin
Akerman, Nicole Kidman Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for violence, disturbing
images and terror)
This slick sci-fi horror hybrid is
the fourth adaptation of Jack Finneys THE BODY SNATCHERS to land on screens.
Infused with modern details like text messaging and 24-hour cable news, THE
INVASION updates the classic story for todays tech-centric world. After the
space shuttle Patriot crashes unexpectedly, people across America begin to
exhibit strange behavior. Psychiatrist Carol Bennell (Nicole Kidman, BEWITCHED)
begins to notice the change in those around her, including her ex-husband,
Tucker Kaufman (Jeremy Northam, GOSFORD PARK), who works at the CDC. Joined by
her friend Ben Driscoll (Daniel Craig, CASINO ROYALE), Carol attempts to unravel
the mystery as she rescues her young son.
THE INVASION gives Kidman a chance to act the part of an
action hero. She runs in heels, crashes cars, and shoots guns, but she looks
more like a Hitchcockian blonde than a latter-day heroine. Clad in steely grays,
she perfectly matches the films sober palette of neutrals. Genre veteran
Veronica Cartright gives a good performance as one of Carols patients, who
suspects that her husband isn?t himself. Cartright has appeared in sci-fi
classics such as THE X-FILES and ALIEN, but she also starred in Philip Kaufman's
1978 version of the story. Unlike WAR OF THE WORLDS or SIGNS, the invaders here
dont arrive in UFOs or appear as little green (or gray) men. Instead, the threat
in THE INVASION is so creepy because the aliens look just like everyone else
Extras: "We've
Been Snatched before:
Invasion in Media History"
documentary; three
featurettes: "The Invasion:
A New Story," "The Invasion:
On the Set" and "The
Invasion: Snatched."
Available on HD DVD and Blu-Ray
Disc. (Warner).
Movie Spotlight
The Invasion Release
Date: August 17, 2007 Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel Screenwriter: David Kajganich Starring: Daniel Craig, Jeremy Northam, Malin
Akerman, Nicole Kidman Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for violence, disturbing
images and terror) Official Website: TheInvasionmovie.com
Plot Summary:
Academy Award winner Nicole Kidman ("The Hours") and
Daniel Craig ("Casino Royale") star in the science fiction action thriller "The
Invasion," a nightmarish journey into a world where the only way to stay alive
is to stay awake.
The mysterious crash of the space shuttle leads to the terrifying discovery that
there is something alien within the wreckage. Those who come in contact with it
are changing in ominous and inexplicable ways. Soon Washington, DC psychiatrist
Carol Bennell (Nicole Kidman) and her friend, Dr. Ben Driscoll (Daniel Craig),
learn the shocking truth about the growing extraterrestrial epidemic: it attacks
its victims while they sleep, leaving them physically unchanged but strangely
unfeeling and inhuman. As the infection spreads, more and more people are
altered and it becomes impossible to know who can be trusted. Now Carol's only
hope is to stay awake long enough to find her young son, who may hold the key to
stopping the devastating invasion.
The
Invasion gets you rooting for the aliens to be defeated, but the
film's soul feels as if it had already been snatched Owen Glieberman: Entertainment
Weekly
People are turning into pods. They lack feeling, nuance,
individuality. They speak and act more or less alike, and they have no
tolerance for anyone who dares to be different. If you hear that
description and think, ''Gee, what else is new?'' then you're right on
the wavelength of the so-horrible-it's-funny nightmare — or, at least,
what ought to be the nightmare — of The Invasion, the fourth
adaptation of Jack Finney's 1955 sci-fi thriller novel, The Body
Snatchers....more
A
slick but forgettable, characterless thriller Dennis Harvey: Variety
All good things must come to an end -- in this case, the
lucky streak that's made every adaptation of Jack Finney's
1955 sci-fi novel "The Body Snatchers" distinctive and
effective, until now. Troubled production "The Invasion" --
of which the Wachowski brothers reportedly reshot at least a
third after helmer Oliver Hirschbiegel's cut failed to
please suits -- emerges a slick but forgettable,
characterless thriller...more
Release
Date: August 17, 2007
EN 5 Second Review:
Quick Review
A
slick but forgettable, characterless thriller