The original Invasion of the Body Snatchers(1956) was a startling, chilling film for its time. It was also a thinly veiled allegory for the U.S. vigil against the corrupting ways of Russian communism. The first remake(1978) kept the title, starred Leonard Nimoy, and was a journey into the meaning of self. The second remake, simply titled Body Snatchers(1994) was a convoluted mess--the less said about it, the better.
Now we have the brand new The Invasion, which is basically the third remake of a classic film. However, this is Body Snatchers Lite; all the same basic plotlines lain out, but with less than half the excitement, suspense, or ability to make the nerves tingle. Fewer calories, for those on a diet from good storytelling.
The story opens in a shocking, exploitative and repellant manner by showing a space shuttle reentering Earth's atmosphere and breaking up. The explosion of the shuttle is reminiscent of the destruction of the shuttle Columbia only a few years ago. In fact, the way it is shot, one can't help but instantly recall that tragic moment in time. This is a shameful pilfering of our collective consciousness, brought about by director Oliver Hirschbiegel, a foreign born auteur who until this fea-ture, directed only German films and commercials. Obviously, an ideal choice for reimagining an American film which has taken on legendary status.
This is the primary problem with The Invasion: that for all its fancy effects and three-star cast, it is a tale which has been told before, and to better effect. Depending on which version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers you watch, either humanity wins its war against assimilation or it doesn't. In this new version, it turns out the crew of the doomed shuttle probably crashed the vessel on purpose, once it was discover-ed there was no way to avoid bringing the alien lifeform back home with them. Someone on the team investigating the crash inadvertently comes into contact with the alien spores, and the silent invasion begins once they are infected. The alien lifeform, you see, attacks the nervous system while the victim is asleep, and re-writes their DNA completely... turning the victim into a cold being devoid of all emotions, yet retaining full possession of all memories.
Carol Bennell(Nicole Kidman), a psyciatrist, first becomes aware something is amiss when a neurotic patient of hers--played by Veron-ica Cartwright, a veteran of the 1978 version--forcefully declares that her husband isn't her husband anymore. Carol doesn't really believe the woman of course, and in a not-too-subtle jab at the medical profession(director Hirschbiegel also has a few knock-'em-over-the-head things to say about the Iraq war and our politics in general), simply writes a prescription to help her through it. After an attempted break-in at her house and evidence piling up which shows Carol's ex-husband(Jeremy Northam) may not be the man he once was, Carol quickly becomes a believer.
Aiding Carol in her three-fold quest to discover the truth about what's going on, reclaim her son(the adorable and worthy Jackson Bond) from her bodysnatched ex and ultimately find a way to stop the alien invasion before it's too late are Carol's would-be boyfriend Doctor Ben Driscoll and his lab partner Dr. Stephen Galeano. Driscoll is played by Daniel Craig who, in spite of mumbling a couple of key lines of dialogue, actually manages to put in his least annoying performance yet in a film. Stephen Galeano is played by fellow Casino Royale alum Jeffrey Wright, who rises to the challenge with his usual aplomb. As always, Wright's work is a joy to behold, in spite of the uneven amount of screen time he is given, in comparison to the other characters.
For a movie full of paranoia and potential doublecrosses in waiting, wherein the main character is supposed to be unsure from one mom-ent to the next who it is she can trust, The Invasion is surprisingly devoid of tension. As Carol makes her way from Washington to Balti-more amidst a veritable ocean of infected strangers, it seems Hirsch-biegel is unsure how to keep our attention riveted. It becomes not so much a case of whether Carol will make it to aid her son in time, so much as how long it's going to take to get there. It is established early on that Ben Driscoll has feelings for Carol, which she doesn't feel comfortable reciprocating. Therefore, it isn't a matter as to whether Ben will eventually become assimilated, so much as when it will happen and what Carol's reaction will be.
In the 1956 original, it was mankind's own ingenuity which allowed us to realize the threat and respond accordingly. The ending of the film was somewhat ambiguous, as to whether the threat was eventually ended, but it appeared there was enough reason to believe it had been. In the 1978 re-make, the ending was fairly nihilistic, with an unex-pected and terrifying turn. Let's just forget about the 1994 remake, and say we discussed it anyway. In this newest version, Hirschbiegel not only discards the best of what has gone before(no pods surreptitiously placed near the victims to assimilate them as they sleep; this time the possessed simply spatter their infected saliva either into your drink or onto you directly) he gives us a cop-out cure by having Carol's son possess the antibody which could save all humanity in his own blood. There is even a scene at the end of the film, where Carol and her son flee to a rooftop to await rescue by Galeano and a uniit of soldiers, that is directly ripped off from the superior film The Puppet Masters. As a matter of fact, Hirschbiegel might want to insist the next film studio he works with employ a better effects company for whatever project he works on. The helicopter on which Kidman and company escape is so clearly CGI rendered, it's a wonder Warner Bros. didn't immediately put a stop on the checks to effects houses Zoic Studios and Scanline VFX, upon seeing the dailies from the shoot.
The genre of science fiction is by its nature designed to purposeful-ly explore the human condition in all its forms, and examine things one might not be able to express in other genres--dramas, comedies, love stories, among others. It is a great tragedy when a science fiction film--especially one inherently and clearly meant to explore what, at the deepest level, it means to be human--is wasted, its potential squander-ed by someone who doesn't understand in the slightest what the genre is all about.
Oliver Hirschbiegel is one such figure. He has taken one of the great science fiction premises of all time--if a person has their very emotional framework stripped down, removed entirely, but the memor-ies remain, is that person still a human being?--and squandered its potential by reducing its essence into a bare-bones chase movie. It's as if Hirschbiegel has somehow bodysnatched the entire audience's collective consciousness; we travel with Nicole Kidman's Dr. Bennell and see what she sees, witness what she does every step of the way... but we simply lack the emotional connection to care at all. Through the fault solely of an oddly edited film(it's obvious that certain scenes were meant to be longer, but have been hastily chopped, perhaps to keep the pace moving), a lackluster and derivative script and in the end, a director who has no idea what the original classic was all about, we the audience are given no other option but to shamble from the theater as a disaffected group of emotionless figures who give no heed to the out-come of Dr. Bennell's quest...and like the claimed automatons within the film, have no more vested interest in caring.
Official Archives of LanceReviews...
The Invasion
(an existential trip falls flat)
"...of the Body Snatchers". Let's not forget the name of the real movie that's being ripped off.
Nichole Kidman and an audience shocked numb after seeing this movie.
"Damn! It's been almost a year since 'Casino Royale' came out, and I'm still getting negative reviews!"
"I'm pretty sure there's a message here. If only I could figure out what it means."
"Don't worry! I won't let that horrible director Hirschbiegel ruin your career! I promise!"
The audience's look of horror upon seeing this movie is reflected in the eyes of Kidman and two day players.
