Review of The Invasion (2007) by Spangle — 02 Oct 2016

While not a truly horrific film, Warner Bros.' remake of the 1956 classic is simply bereft of anything that made the original so good while offering a truly fractured and tonally awkward film in its place. Originally directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel and written by Dave Kajganich, this troubled film was sent back for action movie and twist ending reshoots with director James McTeigue and The Wachowskis writing. This disjointed nature is truly evident as this film offers the occasional look at the paranoia and terror only to then abandon everything over-and-over again in favor of long action sequences.

The original was great because of the paranoia, the hopelessness, and the isolation inherent in its storyline. Taking place in a small out-of-the-way town, you knew there was no way help would ever arrive. The characters had to piece things together on their own and fight back. The Invasion takes this isolated premise, puts it in Washington DC and in the modern world where we are always connected. Interesting idea to update everything in this regard, but it ruins the aforementioned areas in which the original excelled. This could be okay if there was something offered up to help bolster the film up. Some true horror.

Luckily, there are a few scenes of panic. The film has interesting action set pieces with a few moments that really get your heart pumping along the way. These may be few and far between while entirely tacked on, but hey, they are there all the same. However, the problem is that these feel weightless. The entire time this one feel incredibly rehashed and "been there done that" to the point that nothing feels unique. I get the plot is not original, but it could have brought the original story to the modern day with some new elements while still bringing forth the horror of the original. Yet, this one is like every other political science fiction thriller on the market nowadays.

The worst way in which it updates it is with immunity and Dr. Ben Driscoll (Daniel Craig) guessing within 30 seconds what illness would have made somebody immune to the invasion. To state it again, the original had this hopelessness and this endless feeling to it, bolstered by the fact that we never see the invasion take any losses. It is undefeated in the original. For The Invasion, however, it is clear the studio determined that modern audiences could not handle such dread or anything nearly as bleak as the original. Rather, we must fight back because "for better or worse" we are human. Classic Hollywood. Nothing too dark, only the lightest possible conclusions are acceptable. While the opening is incredibly tense and well handled, the second the immunity is revealed, the film nosedives hard and not just turns into an action movie, but turns into a film unwilling to take chances, which is a terrible thing to be.

That said, on the positive end, the acting is good. I love Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, and Jeffrey Wright. As is expected, the trio do the movie more justice than it truly deserves. The first half is also very well done and shows considerable promise, in regards to delivering on this sense of mystery, dread, and horror, while also not just treading on the same plotline as the original. Though some of the same characters exist, the updates and changed roles are a welcome addition to make this one feel even fresher than just its setting.

The Invasion is a largely misguided remake that simply misses the essence of the original. It was not action movie. Rather, it was a terrifically executed political film that executed the science fiction part even better. Filled with dread, bleakness, and hopelessness, it underscored this in the way in which the film ended. Though humans were just figuring out what was happening, there was no way to know how to fight back. Here, Nicole Kidman makes breakfast for Daniel Craig and her, now, two sons while they play happy family.

Also, did anyone get 1984 vibes from this one? Essentially, this one argues that to be human, there must be war, anger, and hatred. Sounds a lot like "War is peace" to me, just saying...