The Invasion certainly has the makings of a good summer movie; you have big name stars Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig and you have a plot about aliens taking over the world. What more can you ask for in a decent summer movie? Everyone loves movies about aliens taking over the world. The trailer seemed a promising mixture between intrigue and suspense, and while it came out late in the summer, it seemed like one of those movies that was simply a little late boarding the summer movie boat and that it would deliver none-the-less. Unfortunately for movie goers, The Invasion turns out to be a half baked, crusty excuse of a movie.
As I said, The Invasion certainly had potential; a plot involving an alien creature taking over the bodies of people as they slowly take over the world seemed intriguing. It is the 3rd remake of the original 1950s classic, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, so it was based on some solid material, and overall it seemed like it would be a quality thriller. After all, one of my favourite paranoia thrillers is The Thing, a movie about an alien that takes over peoples bodies and systematically picks off a band of Antarctic researchers. The Invasion actually started off decently, and I liked the atmosphere as psychiatrist Carol Bennell (Nicole Kidman) begins to notice that people are acting a bit ‘strange’, but as the movie continues it enters a sharp nose dive and spirals out of control, never recovering. By the last half hour The Invasion is nothing but a smouldering pile of wreckage.
One of the problems with The Invasion is that so much of it is utterly absurd, yet the movie takes everything so dead pan seriously. The ‘alien’ that is taking over the bodies of humans turns out to be nothing more than a virus, and the humans that have been infected by it are not too much more compelling or scary. For most of the movie they just walk around the city streets in a sort of trance, occasionally looking blankly at the main characters. It is supposed to be ominous and scary, but it just looks really weird, and after a while it becomes quite juvenile and silly. To make matters worse, when you are cornered by one of the infected, what do they do? They vomit all over your face. When you expect to see a movie about alien possessed humans bent on turning you into one of them and all you get are infected people who puke all over you and then walk away, it is a bit disappointing.
Furthermore, The Invasion has a strikingly stale, artificial feeling to it. It is the cinematic equivalent of a hospital operation room. It actually was very alienating, and I felt like the movie wasn’t allowing me to be sucked into the story. It kept the audience at arm’s length, allowing you to observe, but not participate. The pathetic attempts by screenwriters to have characters explain everything scientifically is just unconvincing and sad. The movie treats the audience like they are idiots and has no respect for them. The result is an audience that stands back and realizes just how stupid the movie really is. By the time the movie is at the last act, you know there is no salvaging it and all you can do is sit back and watch it spin out of control, crash, and burn. You would think it would at least be entertaining to watch a disaster unfold in front of your eyes, but surprisingly it was just really boring. This is not a ‘so bad it’s funny’ movie. This is a ‘so bad it’s...well just really, really bad’ movie. The ‘climactic car chase’, conclusion and epilogue are so half baked, contrived and stupid that when the credits roll you almost feel sorry for everyone involved. Kidman and Craig did not deserve this.
The moral of the story is to not go see The Invasion. It is slow, feels artificial and manufactured, takes itself too seriously and most importantly is just plain dumb. It’s a stupid movie. There isn’t often a situation where using words like ‘dumb’ and ‘stupid’ are sufficient, but in this case The Invasion is just that. At first I was thinking, “hey, this isn’t so bad,” but after about twenty minutes I could see why it got such bad reviews. By the last half hour I couldn’t help but just feel really sorry for everyone that was involved in making the movie – but maybe that was just me trying to deal with my boredom. If you want to waste two hours watching a movie about people that puke all over your face, then this is for you – otherwise, just plain avoid it.
2 comments:
Eric,
Perhaps they shouldn't have chosen a lead actress known for her frozen, botoxed face to play a role in which terror and fear should be shown. She would have been much better as one of the zombies.
One of the best remakes of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" was 1998's "The Faculty"; now that's a great summer film. Bonus: my favourite fake newsman, Jon Stewart, plays a high school teacher.
Yep, she did indeed have quite a blank, expressionless face for much of the movie. My friend actually commented on that, now that I think of it.
Anything with Stewart is at least worth checking out, so I'll see about giving The Faculty a rent next time I see it.
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