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  • The Invasion

    A psychiatrist (Nicole Kidman) discovers that an epidemic altering the behavior of human beings is extraterrestrial in origin.

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    REELZ REVIEW
    "A slick, creepy sci-fi remake about the perils of group-think, and vomiting on your neighbor...."  [more]
    — Heather Huntington

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    • Heather Huntington

      ReelzChannel.com, August 17, 2007

      By and large, I liked the Nicole Kidman-Daniel Craig sci-fi thriller The Invasion, a modern-day remake of the B movie, Invasion of the Body Snatchers. However, it appears I may be the only one.

       

      In The Invasion, Kidman plays Carol Bennell, a Washington, D.C. psychiatrist who must try to find and save her son Oliver (Jackson Bond) when a virus-like alien life-form invades the country after hitching a ride on a returning NASA shuttle. It spreads throughout the country like an epidemic, turning unsuspectingKidman tries to play it straight in The Invasion (and suspecting) Americans into emotionless, zombie-like doppelgangers of themselves while they sleep, and threatening to take over the human race.

       

      Based on Jack Finney's 1955 novel The Body Snatchers, this story has already been adapted to film twice before--in 1956 and 1978--and I suspect that the bulk of the criticism of The Invasion stems from the inevitable comparison to these previous versions. However, having neither seen these movies, nor read the book, I come to The Invasion without preconceived notions of what it should be, which likely accounts for my arguably more-pleasant-than-the-norm reaction.

       

      The thing about Finney's story is that, like The Crucible, it easily lends itself to metaphorical interpretation of the social ills of any given era. Whereas the previous incarnations commented on the Red Scare and the Vietnam War, The Invasion seeks to make connections between the current trend of disease pandemic scares, the War in Iraq, and the unpopularity of the current political administration. It does so, however, by using timely news footage and issues as a back drop to the story without drawing any real allegories with the main story. If you are looking for this to be a message movie about the dangers of the sheep-like tendencies inherent in human nature and the importance of free thought, it is true that you will likely be disappointed.

       

      Taken as a more popcorn-y sci-fi flick with a cool look, a tense, creepy feel, and uncommonly handsome leads giving above-average-for-the-genre performances, however, The Invasion is perfectly entertaining. Did I think it was gross that the disease was transmitted basically by vomiting on each other? Yeah. Do I wonder what it is that makes Nicole Kidman seem to go for movies that warn against the perils of life without emotions (i.e., The Stepford Wives)? Absolutely. But that doesn't change the fact that taken by itself, I thought The Invasion was fairly interesting, a little scary, and just as good as anything else that's out there. 

       


      ReelzChannel Rating:  6

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  • Crew

    Director Oliver Hirschbiegel
    Producer Joel Silver
    Executive Producer Bruce Berman
    Executive Producer Doug Davison
    Executive Producer Roy Lee
    Executive Producer Steve Richards
    Executive Producer Susan Downey
    Writer Dave Kajganich

MOVIE NEWS

Friday, August 17

Friday, July 27

  • LIVE FROM COMIC-CON: WARNER BROS. PRESENTATION

    Jeff Otto here at Hall H at Comic-Con with live updates from the Warner Bros. presentation.

    Things just got rolling here and we were shown about 5 minutes from Get Smart. The footage looks great. Tons of laughs, lots of action. It ended with a scene in which Carell, as Maxwell smart, vomits in an airplane he is piloting. The vomit bag comes open and vomit goes everywhere. Big Applause.

    Now director Pete Segal, The Rock, Steve Carell, Ken Davidian (Azamat from Borat) and a few other cast members have come out.

    Carell, joking, says that Pete Segal never wore pants or underwear on set. "I found that funny," says Carell.

    "Especially because he wanted us to call him Big Pete," says the Rock. Big laughs.

    A nervous fan is taking forever to ask a question.

    Carell interupts, yelling "ASK THE QUESTION! ASK THE QUESTION! WE DON'T HAVE ALL DAY HERE!"

    Greeting from Nicole Kidman has been taped and is airing for Invasion.

    "It's an interesting twist on the original," Kidman says of Invasion.

    Clip from Invasion now. Footage looks all right, but nothing major. Very quick.

    Now we are seeing footage from an upcoming horror movie called One Missed Call. It's met with rather lukewarm applause.

    Now the stars Shannyn Sossman and Ed Burns have joined for a Q & A.

    Burns is asked about a sequel to Confidence.

    "Like most of the films I'm in, it came out and died at the box office, so that pretty much killed any sequel." Lots of laughs.

    Now we are getting the world premiere of Roland Emmerich's 10,000 B.C. It looks like Apocalypto meets Jurassic Park. Very tepid reaction from the crowd.

    Footage from Whiteout... Again kind of mixed reactions.

    Joel Silver is out for a Q & A now.

    Silver on Speed Racer: "The races are just unbelievable."

    Kate Beckinsale is supposed to be here, but isn't showing up. They show the Whiteout footage again. People still seem unimpressed.

    Finally, Silver disappears and returns with Beckinsale. Almost looks to be pushing her out.

    Kate is asked about playing Catwoman, which she says she'd consider. She's not sure about more black latex.

    The panel seems to go on forever and people are getting restless. We want The Dark Knight!

    Now footage from Trick 'R Treat. Actually looks pretty cool.

    It's time for Watchmen! And here's Zack Snyder!

    Snyder is saying that Watchmen will reflect the time in which it was made rather than directly referencing the current political climate.

    He verifies it's an R-rated superhero movie. "Are there other R-rated superhero movies?" Snyder says. "It's an adult movie, whatever that means. If you call me an adult, which is a mistake... I'm not going to make it accessable to teenyboppers."

    "We have a lot of sets that we are building in Vancouver. We have a New York City backdrop... We are not going to Mars, which I know if going to disappoint some people... I promise you, if we could, we would. They will not spend the money to send the crew to Mars on an R-rated movie." (Laughs)

    He says he cast actors in the middle of the age range of the characters so that he could age them up and down.

    "Manhattan needed to be more than a man... When he grows to 200 feet and he's tromping through the jungles of Vietnam, you've got to buy that and believe it."

    Some of the cast is coming out. Malin Ackerman (Entourage), who plays Laurie, and Jackie Earle Hayley, who plays Rorschach, join the panel.

    Questions about Alan Moore's participation. He is not involved and his name is not on the project. Snyder hopes he will check it out at some point and he hopes he's happy with it, but he understands why Moore has said "F**k Hollywood" up to this point.

    Snyder has one last surprise. It's the poster and they are giving it out. It's a drawing from the comic. It has the date: 03.06.09 - DC will have it here at the Con.

    And that's it from the Warner's panel. More to come in a bit.


    Posted 07/27/2007 by Jeff

    Steve Carell | Dwayne Johnson | Peter Segal | Dwayne ``The Rock'' Johnson | Get Smart | The Invasion | Speed Racer | The Dark Knight | I Am Legend | Watchmen

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