The Invasion is a 2007 science fiction and horror thriller film starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, primarily directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel. Warner Bros. Pictures later hired James McTeigue to shoot scenes rewritten by the Wachowski Brothers.
Released on August 17, 2007 in the United States it was a commercial failure that met with mixed reviews. It ultimately earned $40,170,568 worldwide against a $65 million budget. The film received a tepid reaction from critics, with a Metacritic score of 45 out of 100.[2]
The Invasion is the fourth film adaptation of the 1955 novel The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney, following the 1956 film Invasion of the Body Snatchers directed by Don Siegel, the 1978 remake also titled Invasion of the Body Snatchers directed by Philip Kaufman, and 1993's Body Snatchers directed by Abel Ferrara.
Plot
An alien lifeform, much like a fungus or spore, clings to the space shuttle Patriot as it crashes back to Earth, spreading tainted debris from Texas to Washington, D.C. Curious onlookers steal, touch and even sell the parts on eBay, much like what happened with the Columbia disaster. This in turn infects many people, robbing them of their emotions when they enter REM sleep.
One of the first people infected is Tucker (Jeremy Northam), a CDC director investigating the crash. Once he is overcome, Tucker uses the CDC to spread the disease further, disguising the spores as flu inoculations. In a panic from a made-up "flu bug," people rush to get "inoculated," later becoming pod people when they sleep that night.
Tucker's ex-wife, psychiatrist Carol Bennell (Nicole Kidman), knows something is amiss and, after locating several patients who say their loved ones are "imposters," teams up with love interest and fellow doctor Ben Driscoll (Daniel Craig) to uncover what is really going on.
With the help of Ben's friend Galeano (Jeffrey Wright), a biologist, they find out about the spore and discover that it takes over the brain during REM sleep. They also find out that people who have suffered diseases that affect the makeup of the brain, such as encephalitis or ADEM, are immune to the spore because their previous diseases prevent the spore from "latching on" to the brain matter. Carol's son Oliver (Jackson Bond) is immune to the spore because of scarlet fever-type symptoms he had as a young child. Also seen immune is one of Carol's patients, Wendy Lenk, who escaped to her sister's house. On her way to her office, Carol sees several people crying and distraught and a homeless man having some sort of fit. When she gets to her office, Carol remembers what Wendy said about her husband not being her husband and searches on the Internet for similar responses. Suddenly, her secretary (infected) makes her favorite tea and infects it to spread the disease to her. Carol is about to drink the tea but receives a call from Ben and she leaves.
Carol meets with Ben, Ludmilla, Stephan and Ludmilla's aide Jill and witness Yorish's transformation into one of the infected. Carol attempts to take a photograph of him, partially bringing him out of REM sleep and causing him to have a cardiac arrest. Carol then leaves to get her son back from Tucker. When she arrives at his house, he and several colleagues attempt to seize her and he infects her by spitting on her face. She escapes and returns to Nem at Ludi's house. They leave when Henryk returns, infected with some other people. Stephan and Jill safely arrive at a base outside Baltimore where they and several Nobel Prize winners attempt to make a cure for the alien virus. Carol and Ben separate to find Oliver, who tells Carol his location by texting her. She is chased by several infected and pretends to act infected when Gene, Tucker's neighbor's child, finds her. He takes her back to Tucker's mother's house, where the four dine. Carol pretends to be one of them, and secretly tells Ben her location. She finds Oliver in a back room and they reunite. Gene interrupts them, and Carol knocks him out and leaves with Oliver.
She sees several normal people attempting to pose as infected, including one woman who is dragged out of her car, another who two cops chase down and subdue. To help stay awake, Carol heads to a pharmacy and takes an assortment of prescription amphetamines from Ritalin to Dexedrine. She encounters Ben, who has come to seek them, but discovers that he is infected. She uses the gun retrieved earlier from an infected/transforming police officer against Ben and several people who she locked inside a closet. She kills them all except Ben, who she shoots in the leg. Shortly after a brief fight to get away, some of Ben's colleagues pick up the two on a rooftop via helicopter. They head with Galeano at the base of operations. Scientists use Oliver's blood to create an airborne vaccine. Because the spore latches on to the brain during REM sleep, victims don't remember a thing when they are cured. They feel as though they have woken from a dreamless nap.
Both Ben and Carol are actually sympathetic towards the pod people and what they had to offer through a perfect world at the end of the movie, when they read the paper and see "business as usual" (other tragedies, war, violent news, etc.).
Cast
Production
In March 2004, Warner Bros. hired screenwriter Dave Kajganich to write a script that would serve as a remake of the 1956 science fiction film Invasion of the Body Snatchers.[3] In July 2005, director Oliver Hirschbiegel was attached to helm the project, with production to begin in Baltimore.[4] The following August, actress Nicole Kidman was cast to star in the film then titled Invasion, receiving a salary of close to $17 million. Invasion was based on the script by Kajganich, originally intended as a remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but Kajganich crafted a different enough story for the studio to see the project as an original conception.[5] Kajganich described the story to reflect contemporary times, saying, "You just have to look around our world today to see that power inspires nothing more than the desire to retain it and to eliminate anything that threatens it." The screenwriter said that the story was set in Washington, D.C. to reflect the theme.[6] In August, actor Daniel Craig was cast opposite Kidman in the lead.[7] The film, whose original title Invasion of the Body Snatchers was shortened to Invasion due to Kajganich's different concept, was changed once more to The Visiting so it would not be confused with ABC's TV series Invasion.[8]
Filming began on September 26, 2005 in Baltimore and lasted 45 days.[9] The film had minimal visual effects, with no need for greenscreen work. Instead, the director shot from odd camera angles and claustrophobic spaces to increase tension in the film.[10] In October 2006, The Visiting changed to the title of The Invasion, due to the cancellation of ABC's TV series of a similar name.[11] The studio, however, was unhappy with Hirschbiegel's results and hired the Wachowski brothers to rewrite the film and assist with additional shooting.[1] The studio later hired director James McTeigue to perform re-shoots that would cost $10 million,[12] an uncredited duty by McTeigue.[13] After 13 months of inactivity, re-shoots took place in January 2007 to increase action scenes and add a twist ending.[14] The re-shoot lasted for 17 days in Los Angeles.[1] During the re-shooting, Kidman was involved in an accident, while in a Jaguar that was being towed by a stunt driver and was taken to a hospital briefly.[15] Kidman broke several ribs, but she was able to get back to work soon after being hospitalized.[16]
In May 2007, composer John Ottman recorded the musical score for The Invasion, using heavy synthesizers combined with a 77-piece orchestra intended to create "otherworldly foreboding and tension". The music was also designed to have an avant-garde postmodern style, with atmospheric and thrilling action elements.[17]
The trailer for the film features a small part of the eighth song off the album ( ), by Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós
Reception
The Invasion was not a success critically or financially. The film was originally slated to be released in June 2006,[18] but it was postponed to 2007.[11] The film was released on August 17, 2007 in the United States and Canada in 2,776 theaters. The film grossed $5,951,409 over the opening weekend. The Invasion has grossed $15,074,191 in the United States and Canada and $24,727,542 in other territories for a worldwide gross of $40,170,558 as of March 9, 2008.[19] On the movie review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, The Invasion rates 19% out of 123 reviews.[20] The film has received a Rotten Tomatoes' Cream of the Crop rating of 26% out of 31 reviews from major news outlets.[21] On another aggregator, Metacritic, The Invasion received an average score of 45 out of 100 based on 30 reviews.[22] German film critic Peter Körte wrote that the film "drowned in mediocrity".[23]
References
External links
