Monday, January 5, 2009

Invasion of The Inept Film Makers





THE INVASION-2007-Nicole Kidman tries to save her Hollywood movie career by starring in this new adaptation/remake of INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (based on the book by Jack Finney).

She plays a psychiatrist who notices people are “changing” after a space shuttle crashes and spreads a flu like disease. Current James Bond portrayer Daniel Craig is her scientist boyfriend. The transformed humans do a lot of spitting into the faces of their intended victims. Alien police round up people who show emotion. Kidman pops a lot of pills and washes it down with Mountain Dew.

The whole intent of the original story is kind of twisted here. Where as in the original version aliens taking over human beings against their will and turning them into emotionless drones, stealing their individuality and making them incapable of feelings like love was to say the least a pretty evil act! However in this version the aliens are actually seen as a force for good because while people might lose their emotions they have somehow eradicated the war in Iraq and gotten George Bush and Hugo Chavez to work together (and get oil for NYC!).

You would think that Kidman would have seen her ex-husband’s WAR OF THE WORLDS remake and learned from his mistakes.

Also with Veronica Cartwright (who was in Phillip Kaufman’s 1978 version), Jeffery Wright, Jeremy Northam, Josef Sommer and Roger Rees. Former video action star Jeff Wincott is a small role as a cop.

This was the first English language film by German director Oliver Hirschbiegel (THE DOWN FALL). After it was finished the studio (Warner Bros.) was unhappy with his final cut and brought in THE MATRIX brothers Andy and Larry Wachowski to do some re-writing and James McTeigue (V IS FOR VENDETTA) to direct some new scenes. This may account for dismal premise and the shoddy ending that ties everything up and makes no real sense.

"The road to a friend’s house is never long"-Danish proverb

Thanks for reading!

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