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.
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Mediocre redo of a well-worn genre
Added 7/25/2009
Aliens from space land on earth and take over the human race. This is essentially the story of this movie. Unfortunately, it is also the basic story of hundreds of other movies, with recent ones being the Species franchise, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and various X-files episodes. So does any part of this movie make it noticeably better than any of the other movies in the same genre? No. Yes there is the attractive Nicole Kidman, but her role in this movie could have been filled by dozens of other actresses. Overall, an OK movie that is good space filler for a lazy night.
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This made me sleepy
Added 7/20/2009
It's funny how a movie that's supposed to scare you about what happens when you sleep, can actually make you sleepy.
This is the fourth movie incarnation of the whole body snatcher theme, and unfortunately it's the worst. Its not the fault of the actors, instead I would blame the writing and directing.
First of all, its already been done 3 times prior, not to mention a bunch of B movie knock offs, where aliens take over humans.
The original spin here is the replacement of alien pods with an alien virus. This is actually a plus for the movie, as the whole bodies growing out of pods, and almost nobody notices was always a bit of a stretch. A virus that infects and takes over mankind is far more believe and thus should be scarier, but unfortunately it wasn't. The vomiting int o food or people as a way of spreading the virus was far more gross then scary.
the suspense and eeriness was good for the most part, but it also felt all too predictable.
IMO despite its flaws the 1978 version remains the best and scariest of this franchise. It's creepy music, sounds effects and horrific "pod scream" kept you on the edge of your seat. That movie reminded you of what people were losing, first and foremost the ability to love, as well as the appreciation for music, and all of the other things that make us human. It's horrific lost cause ending, made you glad it was just a movie.
This current adaption, takes the opposite approach. First it attacks humanity a couple times halfway through the movie, and then again, with its unfullfiling ending. Rather then celebrating humanity, this movie tried awkwardly, to make some ludicrous liberal guilt argument that the aliens are better, cause they, all just get along. The happy ending where everything is back to normal, just didn't seem believable and felt tacked on. And people's attitudes about world problems at the end, just made them seem ungrateful to have been saved.
Other then the virus twist this adaption brings nothing new and worthwhile to the story.
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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A Sleep Inducing Remake
Added 7/9/2009
The Invasion is remake of the 1950's sci fi film, "The Invasion of the Body Snatchers". Hollywood has already produced two remakes and one TV spin off. I guess folks really relish in the idea of invaders coming to Earth and snatching our bodies. This latest iteration was driven by a large budget and a couple of sexy stars.
Nicole Kidman stars as psychiatrist, Carol Bennell, and besides looking like the fine Aussie vixen she is, there isn't much for her to do. The films other big star, Daniel Craig, is so criminally underused he might as well not even be in it. This leaves Kidman to carry the film and frankly she doesn't look like she really gives a crap.
The first half of The Invasion is gripping and the story unfolds nicely, if not predictably. It starts going downhill during a dinner party scene where some Russian guy spits out some nonsense rhetoric. It's supposed to make you think, but I hate when a movie spells out the exact message it's trying to convey. Shortly after, the film resorts to redundant chase scenes of Kidman trying to protect her dopey son, Oliver. Once most of the populace has turned into aliens, there are some genuinely uneasy moments, but these are few and far between. The ending is really bland and it fails at the deep, psychological impact it was going for.
Like most aliens, the little spores in The Invasion don't "come in peace" and are rather hell-bent on assimilating all of mankind into their cold and detached species. This is done by projectile vomiting on a person's face or ingesting something an alien has blown chunks into. Charming isn't it? Once a human being has ingested the host, they eventually go to sleep and wake up an emotionless alien. The transformation effects are mostly CG and they look abysmal. After someone falls asleep it looks like Ron Jeremy crept up to them and rubbed one out on their face. However, instead of looking real viscous and gooey...it appears flat, fake and clearly digitized. It's lame and it minimizes any real chance this film had at leaving a terrifying imprint on its audience.
The Invasion is a squandered opportunity for a decent remake. It's clearly trying to exploit our disease fearing, xenophobic civilization but it ultimately falls flat. The excellent cast isn't given much to work with and let's be honest...there is much better sci-fi horror out there. I'm sure some will find it interesting, but most of you will be bored. Perhaps if we wait fifteen years Hollywood will attempt a better remake.
Final Grade: D
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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To believe it is too simple
Added 7/3/2009
One more invasion in the history of the cinema ? Banal. But this one is not that banal because it really updates the fear. Not invaded by some kind of ugly green monster, please. Nor an egg laying alien. Let's be more modern and be invaded by something that is invisible and yet kind of ugly. Or rather gross, like some expectoration from a throat invaded by a serious infection. Gooey, gluey, inducing vomiting more than attraction. At the same time, beyond the bla bla about the DNA and its reprogramming when the subject is falling asleep, there is another myth: peace. To transform the most brutal and ferocious surviving animal species on earth and probably in the whole universe if not cosmos into a peaceful, peace loving and peace seeking bunch of automata. That's a dream for sure. Why not after all, to finally be able to love everyone and to forget and forgive all the evil the others have done to us, even if we have done to them maybe things that were worse. The peace you can only find during a funeral, provided no one has drunk himself or herself into a tantrum. That kind of future is frightening because you do not control yourself any more and also because there would be no fun in life any more, since fun is adventure, cops and robbers, wars, torturing chambers, dungeons, and a few dragons for fun on top of it all to crown the ice-cream with a nice cherry, you know the cherry you have forcefully taken from your neighbor yesterday night in the garden, though you just can't remember neither the sex, nor the age, nor the name or identity of that neighbor who just was there next to you when you had a sudden desire to eat a cherry and break it in. We can't really take that kind of fun away from all of us. Some of us need that fun, and I may say that maybe most of us need it. The film plays on that very well, till there is no escape what-so-ever, and there the film becomes a quick shortcut to a palatable end, after getting a glimpse of George W. Bush on TV. The poor woman and her son will manage to kill a few regenerated human beings who are no longer human, then she or they will kill a couple of dozens more ,and finally escape in a chopper that was handily flying by, and then on the following frame everything is back to normal, a vaccine has been found and the millions of weirdo sickly mutants have been brought back to normal. It is so nice to go back to school, to have pancakes that are not burnt, etc. The suspense is OK, the story is nothing phenomenal, Nicole Kidman wears and carries or even bears her name well, oscillating between the frenzy of a kid and the determination of an adult, but with a touch of French looking erratic psychosis. It is probably not worse than the old "Body snatchers" and the more recent remake of "The War of the Worlds". Just entertaining, though not that much inspiring.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne, University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines, CEGID
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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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Mediocre redo of a well-worn genre
Added 7/25/2009
Aliens from space land on earth and take over the human race. This is essentially the story of this movie. Unfortunately, it is also the basic story of hundreds of other movies, with recent ones being the Species franchise, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and various X-files episodes. So does any part of this movie make it noticeably better than any of the other movies in the same genre? No. Yes there is the attractive Nicole Kidman, but her role in this movie could have been filled by dozens of other actresses. Overall, an OK movie that is good space filler for a lazy night.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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This made me sleepy
Added 7/20/2009
It's funny how a movie that's supposed to scare you about what happens when you sleep, can actually make you sleepy.
This is the fourth movie incarnation of the whole body snatcher theme, and unfortunately it's the worst. Its not the fault of the actors, instead I would blame the writing and directing.
First of all, its already been done 3 times prior, not to mention a bunch of B movie knock offs, where aliens take over humans.
The original spin here is the replacement of alien pods with an alien virus. This is actually a plus for the movie, as the whole bodies growing out of pods, and almost nobody notices was always a bit of a stretch. A virus that infects and takes over mankind is far more believe and thus should be scarier, but unfortunately it wasn't. The vomiting int o food or people as a way of spreading the virus was far more gross then scary.
the suspense and eeriness was good for the most part, but it also felt all too predictable.
IMO despite its flaws the 1978 version remains the best and scariest of this franchise. It's creepy music, sounds effects and horrific "pod scream" kept you on the edge of your seat. That movie reminded you of what people were losing, first and foremost the ability to love, as well as the appreciation for music, and all of the other things that make us human. It's horrific lost cause ending, made you glad it was just a movie.
This current adaption, takes the opposite approach. First it attacks humanity a couple times halfway through the movie, and then again, with its unfullfiling ending. Rather then celebrating humanity, this movie tried awkwardly, to make some ludicrous liberal guilt argument that the aliens are better, cause they, all just get along. The happy ending where everything is back to normal, just didn't seem believable and felt tacked on. And people's attitudes about world problems at the end, just made them seem ungrateful to have been saved.
Other then the virus twist this adaption brings nothing new and worthwhile to the story.
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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