Tags:
Journalism of Courage
cast: Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Jeremy Northam
DIRECTOR: Oliver Hirschbiegel
Aliens which invade by possessing a person while he is asleep, leaving him a zombie devoid of all emotions.
So what, you might ask. Ask again, for this idea seems to have such power of possession of its own that The Invasion, with its impressive star cast, is the fourth film to be made on the sci-fi novel by Jack Finney. With some massive upgradation for the times, including a little bit of Iraq, a little bit of Afghanistan, a dash of Darfur, and even a fleeting mention of North Korea.
It takes a Russian diplomat, talking to his Czechoslovakian counterpart, to put it all in perspective: that it is human nature to be an animal and a world where war didn8217;t exist wouldn8217;t be human at all. He says a lot of other things of course 8212; this being that kind of movie, with cinematic ambitions disguised as political aspirations.
But the basic 8220;idea8221;, we gather, is that what the aliens are setting out to do, blanking out all emotions for a one-ness, may not be so bad after all.
And in this very Hollywood production, German director Oliver Hirschbiegel, shepherding his first English film, hopelessly flounders. What starts out as a film with a fair bit of foreboding quickly descends into a formula where the whole of America seems intent on chasing a doctor Kidman and her child, who seems to be immune to the alien infection.
And where the US President seems blissfully unaware of what his Center for Disease Control head among those infected by the aliens seems to be unleashing on the population. People are dragged off streets screaming and no one blinks an eyelid! Come on, that could have passed muster in 1953 the first film on the novel The Body Snatchers, 1978 the second and perhaps even 1993 the third. But in 2007, some amateur video recording would have toppled the government.
But the fault isn8217;t entirely Hirschbiegel8217;s. The studio apparently thought his product wasn8217;t dramatic enough and so the Wachowski brothers as well as James McTeigue were brought in to reshoot parts. The brothers and McTeigue were also behind The Matrix series, which was not exactly high on comprehension or low on philosophising. While Kidman at least has the whole movie revolving around her, Craig8217;s excuse perhaps is that this role came to him before Casino Royale. Don8217;t go looking for Bond.
