The Invasion Review
by [email protected] (dnb AT dca DOT net)August 20th, 2007
THE INVASION
A film review by David N. Butterworth
Copyright 2007 David N. Butterworth
** (out of ****)
Nicole Kidman is starting to wear a bit thin. SheâeTMs always playing these earnest mothering types, these mousey, prim (and often blonde) do-gooders bent on setting the world to right. Take her latest film, for example. "The Invasion." ItâeTMs about the umpteenth big screen variant on Jack FinneyâeTMs alien invaders page turner, those my-spouse-is-not-my-spouse chillers that kicked off in the âeTM50âeTMs (if not earlier) with "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" and, it would seem, continue to this very day. In Oliver HirschbiegelâeTMs film Kidman plays a Washington, D.C. psychiatrist with a young son, ex-husband, and crazed client who one day starts claiming that her husband is no longer her husband (and sheâeTMs doesnâeTMt mean Dallas!). In a kinda sorta update of FinneyâeTMs oft-filmed story the invasion in "âeTMInvasion" is a virus carried on the debris of the Space Shuttle Patriot that exploded on re-entry, causing those unlucky enough to come into contact with chunks of NASAâeTMs ill-fated space cruiser to turn into expressionless, upchucking zombie types. I kid thee not. ThatâeTMs how the aliens (to use that term loosely) spread their takeover-the-earth disease on their unsuspecting human victims: they cough, loudly and with much emission of mucus, all over them. KidmanâeTMs Carol Bennell gets wise to this at one point but not before her ex (an appropriately stiff Jeremy Northam) has impolitely coughed right in her face! Exactly why these spore-carrying, body-snatching aliens want to take over our world is not exactly clear--I donâeTMt remember any muted flashbacks about a dying planet or some such--but what *is* clear is that once the virus starts to spread thereâeTMs no stopping it. Fortunately Carol has The New James Bond on hand to help her out. Daniel Craig plays her sort of boyfriend, Ben Driscoll, M.D., but CraigâeTMs not very convincing as a doctor for some reason (thereâeTMs a scene in which he spews some medical mumbo jumbo which sounds like heâeTMs reading it right off the cue card!). Josef Sommer and Celia Weston (you might not know the names but youâeTMll likely recognize the faces) play colleagues of CraigâeTMs character and theyâeTMre somewhat unconvincing too, what with their cheesy Polish accents anâeTM all. The boyâeTMs not bad. Bond. Jackson Bond. He plays CarolâeTMs son Oliver whom, as luck would have it, is having his first ever sleepover at DadâeTMs the exact same weekend said paterfamilias gets taken over by an alien! Bummer, eh? Sensing this, Carol grabs Ben, commandeers a police cruiser, and tries to get to her son before Dad wipes his nose on Oliver. Jeffrey Wright, typecast as a beltway boffin, determines that the viral strain appears to take hold during the rapid eye movement of deep sleep, so Carol pumps herself full of pills and Mountain Dew in an effort to stay awake. Turns out Oliver *has* fallen asleep at DadâeTMs but given the relative normalcy of his text messages Carol suspects that maybe her son harbors some kind of immunity, which doesnâeTMt make his tenuous situation any more secure. There *is* one way to outsmart the invaders, however: pretend youâeTMre already one of them (by showing no emotion). ItâeTMs in the filmâeTMs tagline, after all--"Do not trust anyone. Do not show emotion. Do not fall asleep." I myself had the harder time with that last one.
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David N. Butterworth
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Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
