"Maybe it's that bug that's been going around."
Added 1/27/2010
All the succeeding versions of Invasion of the Body Snatchers have been weaker than the ones which came before, but they've all had interesting additions to the basic story of the pods taking over people.
The original (1956 with Kevin McCarthy) was the best because it was a low-budget film noir that didn't take itself too seriously. The Philip Kaufman remake in 1978 set in San Francisco anticipated the AIDS/STD crisis that was just around the corner. Abel Ferrara's version Body Snatchers (1993), set on an Army post, gave us a look at what happens when a society is increasingly militarized without wide scale involvement in the military by civilians for a temporary term of service, the way Americans experienced World War II.
The Invasion starring Nicole Kidman is the least interesting yet, but even it has a couple of intriguing ideas. I get the feeling it was intended to say some halfway serious things about the United States and its place in the world before a glamorous movie star got involved.
Pills have replaced pods in this version of the story.
Psychiatrist Carol Bennell (Kidman) prescribes a change in medication when a woman in an abusive marriage reports that her husband has become much calmer, except for strangling the dog when it growled at him.
Later one of the newly infected asks Bennell if she can give him a pill to prevent a Darfur, or a New Orleans.
Before the alien infection arrives on Earth, Bennell is caught between her ex-husband and her platonic boyfriend. We see both men before and after they're infected. Unlike previous versions of the story, people aren't killed and replaced by duplicates grown from pods, they are just transformed by an infection into a joint human-alien entity.
These monsters aren't the emotionless pods of previous invasions. One old man, after he's transformed, comes back to his wife and begs her to join him. His desire for the woman he's loved for decades seems real.
Bennell's ex-husband is a jerk before and after he's infected, and her boyfriend is the same calm rational man he was before. This invasion of the body snatchers doesn't really result in losing your identity. The peace that breaks out all over the world is almost as ludicrous as in the 1952 B movie with Peter Graves, Red Planet Mars, when God speaks from Mars.
I think the people who conceived this film wanted us to consider that maybe we should allow the infection to change us.
There's one moment at the climax, when it looks like Bennell and her son (who's immune to the infection) can't escape, when she considers surrendering. But they won't allow her immune son to survive and risk the new order. So she blasts away.
It's no surprise that salvation comes from Fort Detrick, where the scientists have been working on a drug (of course!) to reverse the infection.
The world goes back to normal, but the movie doesn't tell us that the scientists at Fort Detrick have kept a sample of the alien substance and are working on a way to turn it into a weapon. If that's the sequel to this movie, it may be the most honest version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers yet.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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superior sci-fi
Added 1/21/2010
This is a surprisingly enjoyable and engrossing film.
To be honest I wasn't expecting much from it. Re-makes of classic movies usually disappoint. And this one follows in the wake of three previous versions - two of which are universally acknowledged as all-time greats. So what on earth could a fourth attempt bring to the table?
Add to this the film's troubled production history and much-publicised tales of failed test-screenings, shelving and re-cutting and it doesn't sound inspiring.
But I was pleasantly surprised. It's very watchable from the outset and draws the viewer into a disconcerting world of isolation and dystopia.
The film does a remarkably good job of recapturing the powerful sense of unease and creeping terror that was the hallmark of the original Invasion of the Bodysnatchers. It succeeds well at translating the themes of the original film into a modern context without merely repeating them in a different setting. It really hits the mark in terms of creating a disturbing sense of contemporary paranoia.
Does it have it's faults? Yes. Niolce Kidman's character, for instance, is at times annoyingly slow at grasping what she's up against and walks a little too predictably into trouble. And some of the plot solutions are a bit convenient to say the least.
All in all, I don't think it's quite up there with either Don Seigel's original or Philip Kaufman's re-make of Invasion of the Bodysnatchers. Then again, Seigel's original was apparently viewed as cult curiosity in the 1950s before being hailed retrospectively with the passing of decades. And I recall that Kaufman's re-make got a pretty tepid reception when it was released in the 1970s - but time and TV repeats have established it as a worthy classic in its own right. How many of the films we regard as classics today were immediately considered to be when they first came out? The Invasion has the feel of a film that critics will probably be alot kinder to when they look back in years to come.
In the meantime, The Invasion ought to be enjoyed as a very compelling sci-fi thriller that's intelligent, thought-provoking, well-paced and far superior to most offerings in the genre.
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Don't sleep; they take you when you sleep!
Added 12/31/2009
4 of 5 stars for the sci-fi movie Invasion. This movie is a variation of the "bodysnatcher's" genre. As with other movies of this type, those who have been "snatched" move slowly, calmly and peacefully. In this movie, that is how "they" tell those who are infected and those who are not yet infected. OK, a strange new infection is brought to earth from space. Once a person is infected (passes from person to person) they turn into these peaceful slow moving zombies. The key to the infection is to not sleep! The lead character is played by Nicole Kidman who does a great job. Interesting to watch how she learns to move about in the community of the zombies without being discovered. Usually zombie movies are low budget "B" movies; this one has high production values, looks great, and is well crafted. Call it an "A" class zombie movie. Minimal violence. This is a good movie and well worth watching. The Blu-Ray has a good selection of additional contents. I do recommend this movie.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Another remake of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", but no pods.
Added 12/26/2009
The Space Shuttle, Patriot, has exploded upon entry leaving contaminated and radioactive debris in certain parts of America. A girl hands a piece of the wreckage to Tucker Kaufman (Jeremy Northam) she claims came from her roof. Tucker gets a pain from the fragment. When he comes home, the family dog growls and rejects him.
A woman, Wendy (Veronica Cartwright) visits psychiatrist carol Bennell (Nicole Kidman) and explains to her how much her husband has changed in behavior and she just can't take it anymore.
On Halloween, some of the children are beginning to change in mood and behavior.
Carol's son, Olivier (Jackson Bond), suddenly gets a pain on his hand. Carol gets a sample of something unexplainable from Olivier's hand and gives to a doctor friend of hers, Ben (Daniel Craig), who in turn gives it to lab technican Dr. Galeano (Jeffrey Wright) to analyze it.
The government believes people are suffering from flu-like symptoms and a vaccine is quickly created for it. They want everyone to be inoculated.
It is an alien bacteria very easy to get. It renders people emotionless and expressionlist. No sincere feelings at all and they go after those who are immune to the alien virus.
Also in the cast: Eric Benjamin, Celia Weston, Field Blauvett.
DVD also includes 4 featurettes.
This film is the 4th film made with the Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) storyline.
Veronica Cartwright was in the first remake, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Collector's Edition) (1978), which is the best version to see.
The next low-budget remake was Body Snatchers (1993).
Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig would also appear in, The Golden Compass (New Line Platinum Series Two-Disc Widescreen Edition) (2007).
Daniel craig and Jeffrey Wright have several scenes in this film together.
Daniel Craig was doing this film when he got the call that he was chosen to be the new "James Bond" in Casino Royale (2-Disc Widescreen Edition) (2006). Jeffrey Wright would also join him as the new "Felix Leiter". They would also work together again in Quantum of Solace (2008).
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an OK re-make
Added 8/30/2009
This is the third, I think, re-make of the 1956 film 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' by Don Siegel. In 1978 there was a first re-make featuring Donald Sutherland as the lead character.
I have to compare this new one to the 1978 re-make, which I see as the best of all versions, even better than the original 1956 version.
First of all the 1978 re-make was alot scarier, the suspense grew throughout the film as the truth behind the invasion unraveled, it had an excellent build-up and surprise ending.
In this new re-make the "truth" is revealed far too easily and quickly, there is not much build-up.
For example, the main character just happens to be friends with doctors, who then happens to who have connections with the military etc...these "coincidences" takes away some of the excitement, the main character gets everything handed to her on a plate.
Another significant difference is that this new version has another ending.
This new one also has an irritating political spin, using the Iraqi war as the background for this spin,...you know, the usual "is mankind destined to self-destruct? ".
So the storyline could have been much better, it felt very rushed and abit sloppy. In contrast, the story line in the 1978 re-make is alot more subtle and refined.
But there are two good things I can say about this film: the acting by Nicole Kidman is very good, and so is the directing.
The film feels fresh and the co-actors, like Daniel Craig, were convincing in their roles.
So in summary, this is a decent re-make, but that's all, it's not fantastic by any means, those who think so should see the 1978 re-make.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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"Maybe it's that bug that's been going around."
Added 1/27/2010
All the succeeding versions of Invasion of the Body Snatchers have been weaker than the ones which came before, but they've all had interesting additions to the basic story of the pods taking over people.
The original (1956 with Kevin McCarthy) was the best because it was a low-budget film noir that didn't take itself too seriously. The Philip Kaufman remake in 1978 set in San Francisco anticipated the AIDS/STD crisis that was just around the corner. Abel Ferrara's version Body Snatchers (1993), set on an Army post, gave us a look at what happens when a society is increasingly militarized without wide scale involvement in the military by civilians for a temporary term of service, the way Americans experienced World War II.
The Invasion starring Nicole Kidman is the least interesting yet, but even it has a couple of intriguing ideas. I get the feeling it was intended to say some halfway serious things about the United States and its place in the world before a glamorous movie star got involved.
Pills have replaced pods in this version of the story.
Psychiatrist Carol Bennell (Kidman) prescribes a change in medication when a woman in an abusive marriage reports that her husband has become much calmer, except for strangling the dog when it growled at him.
Later one of the newly infected asks Bennell if she can give him a pill to prevent a Darfur, or a New Orleans.
Before the alien infection arrives on Earth, Bennell is caught between her ex-husband and her platonic boyfriend. We see both men before and after they're infected. Unlike previous versions of the story, people aren't killed and replaced by duplicates grown from pods, they are just transformed by an infection into a joint human-alien entity.
These monsters aren't the emotionless pods of previous invasions. One old man, after he's transformed, comes back to his wife and begs her to join him. His desire for the woman he's loved for decades seems real.
Bennell's ex-husband is a jerk before and after he's infected, and her boyfriend is the same calm rational man he was before. This invasion of the body snatchers doesn't really result in losing your identity. The peace that breaks out all over the world is almost as ludicrous as in the 1952 B movie with Peter Graves, Red Planet Mars, when God speaks from Mars.
I think the people who conceived this film wanted us to consider that maybe we should allow the infection to change us.
There's one moment at the climax, when it looks like Bennell and her son (who's immune to the infection) can't escape, when she considers surrendering. But they won't allow her immune son to survive and risk the new order. So she blasts away.
It's no surprise that salvation comes from Fort Detrick, where the scientists have been working on a drug (of course!) to reverse the infection.
The world goes back to normal, but the movie doesn't tell us that the scientists at Fort Detrick have kept a sample of the alien substance and are working on a way to turn it into a weapon. If that's the sequel to this movie, it may be the most honest version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers yet.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
|
superior sci-fi
Added 1/21/2010
This is a surprisingly enjoyable and engrossing film.
To be honest I wasn't expecting much from it. Re-makes of classic movies usually disappoint. And this one follows in the wake of three previous versions - two of which are universally acknowledged as all-time greats. So what on earth could a fourth attempt bring to the table?
Add to this the film's troubled production history and much-publicised tales of failed test-screenings, shelving and re-cutting and it doesn't sound inspiring.
But I was pleasantly surprised. It's very watchable from the outset and draws the viewer into a disconcerting world of isolation and dystopia.
The film does a remarkably good job of recapturing the powerful sense of unease and creeping terror that was the hallmark of the original Invasion of the Bodysnatchers. It succeeds well at translating the themes of the original film into a modern context without merely repeating them in a different setting. It really hits the mark in terms of creating a disturbing sense of contemporary paranoia.
Does it have it's faults? Yes. Niolce Kidman's character, for instance, is at times annoyingly slow at grasping what she's up against and walks a little too predictably into trouble. And some of the plot solutions are a bit convenient to say the least.
All in all, I don't think it's quite up there with either Don Seigel's original or Philip Kaufman's re-make of Invasion of the Bodysnatchers. Then again, Seigel's original was apparently viewed as cult curiosity in the 1950s before being hailed retrospectively with the passing of decades. And I recall that Kaufman's re-make got a pretty tepid reception when it was released in the 1970s - but time and TV repeats have established it as a worthy classic in its own right. How many of the films we regard as classics today were immediately considered to be when they first came out? The Invasion has the feel of a film that critics will probably be alot kinder to when they look back in years to come.
In the meantime, The Invasion ought to be enjoyed as a very compelling sci-fi thriller that's intelligent, thought-provoking, well-paced and far superior to most offerings in the genre.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Don't sleep; they take you when you sleep!
Added 12/31/2009
4 of 5 stars for the sci-fi movie Invasion. This movie is a variation of the "bodysnatcher's" genre. As with other movies of this type, those who have been "snatched" move slowly, calmly and peacefully. In this movie, that is how "they" tell those who are infected and those who are not yet infected. OK, a strange new infection is brought to earth from space. Once a person is infected (passes from person to person) they turn into these peaceful slow moving zombies. The key to the infection is to not sleep! The lead character is played by Nicole Kidman who does a great job. Interesting to watch how she learns to move about in the community of the zombies without being discovered. Usually zombie movies are low budget "B" movies; this one has high production values, looks great, and is well crafted. Call it an "A" class zombie movie. Minimal violence. This is a good movie and well worth watching. The Blu-Ray has a good selection of additional contents. I do recommend this movie.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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