David O'ConnellThe Invasion
May 6th 2009 02:56
Misguided, ill-advised, and utterly extraneous. All sadly descriptive of the latest rehash of Jack Finney’s classic novel Invasion of the Body Snatchers, previously adapted by Don Siegel in 1956, Philip Kaufman in 1978 and Abel Ferrara in 1993. The Kaufman version is one of my favourite films of all time, a true masterpiece, though the original and Ferrara’s interesting variation, set on a military base, are worthy contributions in their own right.
This latest incarnation, handed to Oliver Hirschbiegel, an acclaimed German with Das Experiment and the much vaunted Downfall already under his belt, was doomed from the outset. Stories of post-production tinkering pointed to its imminent demise with the director’s vision obvious tampered with beyond repair.
It's not long before psychiatrist Carol Bennell (Nicole Kidman) is tangled up in an alien plot to overtake humanity after a satellite comes crashing back to earth in millions of infected pieces. Quickly humans are replaced by emotionless facsimiles of themselves, needing a messy spray of vomit in the face before having a good nap to complete the transformation. The internationally-engineered assimilation takes place under the guise of a flu infection sweeping the globe and requiring immediate vaccination.
There’s little time taken to develop characters in David Kayganich’s mediocre first produced screenplay as Carol begins a frantic search for her son, Oliver (Jackson Bond), now in the hands of ex-husband Tucker (Jeremy Northam), one of the first to be exposed to the alien influence. Lending occasional assistance to his damsel in distress as they attempt to dodge the pod people is doctor, best friend and potential lover rolled into one, Ben (Daniel Craig).
There’s nice acknowledgement of the legacy of the 1978 version with a small role for Veronica Cartwright as one of Carol’s patients in the early scenes, but otherwise, this neutered, half-baked decimation of a classic and timeless story is a sadly forgettable exercise in futility.
Kidman tries hard to enliven proceedings with the kind of fierce desperation the screenplay is utterly devoid of. Sadly, her face aghast at the dire evolvement of the human race, she’s merely swimming upstream into the jaws of certain creative death. If I wanted to be cruel I might add that ironically, maintaining a steadfastly neutral expression whilst walking amongst the infected masses on the streets, may not have been as difficult a task as you’d imagine for Nicole with her botox-hardened features. But of course, I would never say that.
It’s easy to be harsh on a project so emphatically botched, but a few decent scenes have survived the carnage intact and there’s even some momentum created in the film’s second half. How effective Hirschbiegel’s film in its initially completed state may have been is anyone’s guess. But despite the film’s lameness, it has to be said that the basic premise of Finney’s original story is so strong that even a failure as monumental as this retains a watchability factor from a purely nostalgic perspective.
Craig’s half-heated performance is symptomatic of the film’s failings; with that unmoving, granite exterior, he appears dispassionate, bloodless, and only vaguely interested in his relatively minor role, his most passionate advance saved for a lip-locking scene with a drunken Carol.
The ending is the real kicker with the sublimely brilliant final scene of Kaufman’s film forever burned into my mind: it’s a cop-out of such cosmic proportions, so neatly tied up in a mainstream audience-friendly bow that you want to tear limb from limb the committee of harried, clueless executives responsible for it. With re-shoots and post-production delays, Hirschbiegel’s intentions were obviously nixed from on high, but desperate to leave the audience without a heavy heart on exiting the cinema, they’ve only succeeded in providing a final insult.
This latest incarnation, handed to Oliver Hirschbiegel, an acclaimed German with Das Experiment and the much vaunted Downfall already under his belt, was doomed from the outset. Stories of post-production tinkering pointed to its imminent demise with the director’s vision obvious tampered with beyond repair.
It's not long before psychiatrist Carol Bennell (Nicole Kidman) is tangled up in an alien plot to overtake humanity after a satellite comes crashing back to earth in millions of infected pieces. Quickly humans are replaced by emotionless facsimiles of themselves, needing a messy spray of vomit in the face before having a good nap to complete the transformation. The internationally-engineered assimilation takes place under the guise of a flu infection sweeping the globe and requiring immediate vaccination.
There’s little time taken to develop characters in David Kayganich’s mediocre first produced screenplay as Carol begins a frantic search for her son, Oliver (Jackson Bond), now in the hands of ex-husband Tucker (Jeremy Northam), one of the first to be exposed to the alien influence. Lending occasional assistance to his damsel in distress as they attempt to dodge the pod people is doctor, best friend and potential lover rolled into one, Ben (Daniel Craig).
There’s nice acknowledgement of the legacy of the 1978 version with a small role for Veronica Cartwright as one of Carol’s patients in the early scenes, but otherwise, this neutered, half-baked decimation of a classic and timeless story is a sadly forgettable exercise in futility.
Kidman tries hard to enliven proceedings with the kind of fierce desperation the screenplay is utterly devoid of. Sadly, her face aghast at the dire evolvement of the human race, she’s merely swimming upstream into the jaws of certain creative death. If I wanted to be cruel I might add that ironically, maintaining a steadfastly neutral expression whilst walking amongst the infected masses on the streets, may not have been as difficult a task as you’d imagine for Nicole with her botox-hardened features. But of course, I would never say that.
It’s easy to be harsh on a project so emphatically botched, but a few decent scenes have survived the carnage intact and there’s even some momentum created in the film’s second half. How effective Hirschbiegel’s film in its initially completed state may have been is anyone’s guess. But despite the film’s lameness, it has to be said that the basic premise of Finney’s original story is so strong that even a failure as monumental as this retains a watchability factor from a purely nostalgic perspective.
Craig’s half-heated performance is symptomatic of the film’s failings; with that unmoving, granite exterior, he appears dispassionate, bloodless, and only vaguely interested in his relatively minor role, his most passionate advance saved for a lip-locking scene with a drunken Carol.
The ending is the real kicker with the sublimely brilliant final scene of Kaufman’s film forever burned into my mind: it’s a cop-out of such cosmic proportions, so neatly tied up in a mainstream audience-friendly bow that you want to tear limb from limb the committee of harried, clueless executives responsible for it. With re-shoots and post-production delays, Hirschbiegel’s intentions were obviously nixed from on high, but desperate to leave the audience without a heavy heart on exiting the cinema, they’ve only succeeded in providing a final insult.
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Comment by MelGee
Comment by David O'Connell
Screen Fanatic
Comment by Matt Shea
20/20 Filmsight
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
This one however I have avoided like a snatcher free man evading triffids...when I heard Kidman wasn't the first victim of possession I lost all hope (she can't play human) even with such a brilliant Director behind the scenes
Thanks for confirming what i already feared david
Comment by David O'Connell
Screen Fanatic
JD, you're a harsh man! Poor old Nicole...........