Film Reviews

The Invasion

• Rating:
• Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel
• Starring: Daniel Craig
• Details: US / 93mins (15A).

Twenty minutes into The Invasion, the third remake of the classic Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, there's a hope that this whole body snatchers theme is one of the classic stories, impervious to a bad remake and immune to all things crap. However, that optimism is short lived as Oliver Hirschbiegel's film succumbs to the usual nonsense. Psychologist Carol Bennell's (Kidman) patient is at the end of her tether: she says her husband is not her husband. Carol prescribes more medication, but when she notices that her ex-husband (Northam) is acting strange too, Carol suspects something is afoot. Soon, millions of people are turning into emotionless drones and Carol - with her doctor buddy Ben (Craig) and scientist Galeano (Wright) - struggle to find a vaccination as North Korea, America, Iraq and everyone else sign peace treaties bringing an end to war. Don Siegel's 1956 original was a Reds Under The Beds allegory, paranoia in post-Watergate America and a parody of the Me Decade was the theme of Phillip Kaufman's 1978 outing, while Ferrara's 1993 re-remake didn't really say anything about anything but at least it had mood. Hirschbiegel's The Invasion has a message and you'll be surprised to hear what it is. Ready? Hate, destruction, violence and war, although terrible, are what make us human and we should revel in that free will. Not a good message to send out in today's climate, is it? It has a patient set up and things move along nicely, but then all deliberation is thrown out as it launches headlong into the action as if twenty minutes were left on the cutting room floor. It's a jarring approach and the hop, skip and jump tactics for the remainder doesn't gel. Oh, and it's not scary either.

Review by Gavin Burke