Alright, one last Body Snatcher Film! This is The Invasion, the 2006/7 Remake/Update of the Classic Story. This is the last one- so far- and the one that got an Asylum Version. Weird that I reviewed *that* Film like 10 years ago and only just did this one, huh? Life is strange and so am I. This Film was an attempt to modernize the Story (even though the last one was in 1993) and make it more realistic. Sadly, it means no more Pods. Before we were forcibly removing Tide Pods from teenagers' mouths, a Studio was doing the same with these Pods. The Film is another one of those weird cases where a Studio hires a guy (the Director of Downfall) to make the kind of of Movie he makes...and then they get upset when he makes the kind of Film that he makes. Why is your Film so somber and about people's feelings? Where are all of the car crashes and shoot-outs? No worry- they brought in the Wachowskis (with James McTeigue) to shoot a bunch of a new Action Scenes. To put things into perspective, they spent $10 million on these Reshoots, while the Budget of Body Snatchers was just $13 million in total. Is the Film disjointed or can you ignore it? Is it a worthy (and necessary) update of the Story? To find out, read on...
In a bit that actually fits into the Asylum Version of
The Omen (in 2006), a Space Shuttle crashes and people look into it.
One of them is a Bacterial Expert/Geneticist and he gets infected with germs from the survivors.
When he sleeps, the germs take over and make his face look all freaky.
Since there are around 7 Billion people, but this is still a small World, that guy is the Ex-Husband of our Heroine, who's a Psychologist (and not a General Practitioner like in the Book).
She's dating Daniel Craig, who's got some sort of nebulous accent that isn't quite British, Australian or American.
They made sure to market this Film around him, since he literally had to stop shooting this for a day to publicly be announced as the new James Bond.
As more people get infected (but it's the First Act, so it's low-key), the pair have dinner with some folks.
The Sheriff from Robin Hood: Men in Tights (also M.A.N.T.I.S.) plays a Russian Guy here who talks about freedom and individuality.
Some subtle foreshadowing there.
Weird stuff continues to happen as people act different, her Patients report strange behavior in relatives (right out of the Book) and people start killing their dogs (who suddenly don't like their Masters).
Our Heroes figure out that it has something to do with a weird skin sample Kidman found earlier. It mutates in weird ways that even Craig's future
Casino Royale Co-Star Jeffrey Wright can't explain.
The Scientists quietly sneak away to work on a cure (good luck surviving in the meantime, everyone else!).
Kidman is separated from her Son (who is with her Non-Podded Dad). A convenient man on the Subway explains that she needs to look calm to blend in.
Thought: instead of some of the early filler, let us see this guy and how he figured this out!
The big change here is that you have to be infected in some way and then fall asleep for the toxin to transform you. If you want more explanation for how this actually works, forget it!
This gives us the big tension hook of the Film as Kidman was infected earlier when her Ex spit all over her. Yummy.
Can she stay awake for the next few days?!?
Skipping to the finish here, she keeps nearly succumbing to it (even having her kid give her the Pulp Fiction heart-starter once!), since she can't think of a basic medication that any Psychologist would know about.
She has to escape more Non-Pod People and this involves...an obvious Reshoot Scene where she's literally driving a car that is on fire so that she can bring her son to the Doctors.
You see, her son had Encephalitis early on, so he's immune. There's that ailment again!
In the aftermath, they gloss over how they somehow dosed millions of people- including every World Leader, it seems- and things are back to normal.
These Aliens don't replace and destroy you, so just take a shot and you're all good.
Back in the normal World, Craig wonders when violence in the Middle East will end and Kidman seems to...think about how maybe the mind-controlling Aliens were right? The End.
It sure thinks that it has alot to say, that's for sure. Right off the bat, I don't want to seem like I'm being too negative. No, I haven't been replaced by alien slime! I think that the Writers and Director wanted to say something about how we would be stronger in many ways without individuality and emotion, but ultimately we would give up too much to achieve that goal. I liked it better in Equilibrium. The big problem for me is that I can't quite tell if Kidman is truly against this. She doesn't want to be an alien symbiote- granted. However, she seems to consider how 'good' things might be, until her Ex says that her son- as an immune person- has no place. With that and the Ending bit, did she only really turn against them due to her son being in danger? There's also some odd focus on people and things that don't really matter much in the long-term. The bit with the Russian Ambassador is a bit too long for the pay-off of him being turned to be worth it for me. Likewise, they spend a bunch of time on a Patient that ultimately matters little. She has 2 big Scenes and is later seen being taken away, leading them to look into her Medical History and see the Encephalitis bit...which matters for the Son. It's weird seeing that be a shared Theme- also involving a little boy both times- in these two otherwise-disconnected Films. As mentioned earlier, the push and pull between the Reshoots vs. Original Film are jarring to me. Imagine if
Harold & Maude suddenly had them in a big Car Chase, for (silly) instance. They also proved to be dangerous, as their Lead and some Stunt People got hurt shooting them.
The Invasion is, ironically-enough, a Film that seems to have an identity...which it eventually loses. Oh well- enjoy this Product Placement...
Next up, I'll look at a weird bit of Social Commentary by way of early '60s Sci-Fi. I hope you like talking and basically nothing else. Stay tuned...
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