[The Invasion]
Plot:As a Washington psychiatrist (Kidman) unearths the origin of an alien epidemic, she also discovers her son might be the only way it can be stopped.

Cast: Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Jeremy Northam, Jackson Bond, Jeffrey Wright, Veronica Cartwright, Josef Sommer, Celia Weston, Roger Rees, Eric Benjamin, Susan Floyd, Stephanie Berry, Alexis Raben, Adam LeFevre, Joanna Merlin.

My Thoughts:It's like "The Faculty", just with adults.

Review:I'm always a sucker for alien invasion films. They present a very unique yet at the same time terrifying scenario. A force or forces from another galaxy overtaking the human race and those lucky enough to avoid or outsmart the invaders acting as the only hope and savior of humanity. "The Invasion" is another film along those lines, and after being plagued by numerous production issues, and the fact that it didn't really look that exciting, I wasn't too optimistic going into the picture. But that soon changed as I got more and more into the picture, and overal, I ended up enjoying it for the most part. The movie starts with an american spacecraft returning from a mission only to end up crashlanding upon re-entry, killing everyone aboard. The big question after the incident being why was there no real attempt to stop the spacecraft from crashlanding.

Was it simply beyond the control of the pilots or was there something else at work? Soon after the incident, people begin to become infected with a virus which makes them lack emotion, and basically become robots. At this point, it becomes obvious that something retuned from space along with the now dead astronauts, and after the alien-virus soon spreads across the city, claiming more and more people, the responsibility falls upon the shoulders of a psychiatrist (Nicole Kidman), and a few of her colleagues (one of which played by Daniel Craig and the other by Jeffrey Wright)...to stop the invasion and save humanity from a new cold, unemotional, state of existence. While at the same time, saving themselves from the very same thing.

"The Invasion' is the type of SCI-FI/Horror film which plays out exactly like it should. I was expecting this movie to just have alot of talking and nothing exciting happening. But writer Dave Kajganick really set up an on-screen scenario where things that would take place if this were a real life situation, do indeed occur. The films most eerie moments are watching the invasion begin and eventually become more and more dominant as people begin to notice their children and significant others have returned home as someone totally different than who they were when they left. Another layer of terror added to the situation at hand is that animals (particularly dogs) can apparently sense, and have a violent reaction towards those who the alien virus has taken over. One of the films creepiest scenes comes when Kidman's character, Carol Bennell goes into work one morning and her inbox is flooded with emails from patients claiming their husbands or wives have changed overnight into beings who show no emotion.

All of this paranoia and who can you who can't you trust scenarios are blended in with the usual plot devices of an alien invasion film. Such as the possessed weeding out those who haven't been taken over yet (there's one scene in particular which shows how these do this and it's quite gruesome and clever at the same time)...and a look into the inner-workings of the alien virus, which doesn't take over a person in the way that most people might would think it does before seeing the picture. "The Invasion" doesn't really delve into the key to stopping the takeover until late in the picture, but it does aid it's lead character with a clever little way to "blend in" with those who've been taken over early on.

The lack of a definite way-to-save-humanity being present for most of the picture, really plays on the viewer psychologically because by that time, such a bleak picture has been painted and one wonders if it's only a matter of time before the few survivors eventually become "changed" themselves. One of the big issues with this movie, and why it underwent so many reshoots and rewrites was because rumor had it the climax wasn't "action packed" enough. I'm not sure exactly what was changed, or how, but as a result, the new climax was certainly an exciting and intense one.

Between Nicole Kidman's wonderful performance, and the very clever and well written script, "The Invasion" is one of those few films that managed to actually make me walk out of the theater happy that I spent my money on seeing it, even though I wasn't too sure about the decision going into the picture.

Positives:Great acting by Kidman, and to a lesser extent Craig and Wright. Very well written script which had many eerie moments, and some very intense chase scenes, and a good ending.

Negatives:Nothing major.

Overall:Great SCI-FI/Horror flick.





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