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Movie Reviews
Author: Victoria Alexander Aug 21, 2007 - 7:39:23 AM |
Stars: Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Jeremy Northam, Jeffrey Wright They found the one woman on the planet who isn't turned on by the
sexy-rough Daniel Craig. If you ask me, Nicole Kidman prevented Craig
from taking the movie away from her through the use of asexual sabatage
(she barely glanced at him). Why not just cast Paul Giamatti if you
don't want sexual chemistry on the screen?
Casting Kidman with
Craig must have looked good on paper and poster, but Craig plays a very
minor, uninteresting role. He mostly stands in the background. Kidman
throws all her acting at her real co-star, Jackson Bond, who plays her
son. Designed as a Kidman-starring vehicle, "The Invasion" is an
updated version of Don Siegel's 1956 sci-fi classic Invasion of the
Body Snatchers. But they dumped The Pod! I still say, "What happened?
Did a pod take your place?" Spoiler Alert Ahead! How did
screenwriter David Kajganich ruin this classic? He, or the "they" who
tinkered with it afterwards, gave "The Invasion" a happy ending! An
antidote is found to the alien invasion! Everything goes back to normal
– all bad alien infestation memories are erased – and all is good with
the world. Such fraudulance. With 2012 soon upon us and Adam Yahiye
"Azzam the American" Gadahn speaking directly to us in English, warning
that we will "Allah willing - experience things which will make you
forget all about the horrors of September 11th, Afghanistan, Iraq,
Norbert." "The streets will run red with blood." Carol Bennell
(Kidman) is a psychiatrist separated for four years from her husband.
She is raising their son Oliver (Bond) alone. Carol has a platonic
relationship with a very desirable doctor, Ben Driscoll (Craig (Bond)).
Her unhappy marriage has distanced her from happiness and sex with Doc
McDreamy. When Oliver brings home a weird living tissue, they give it
to Ben's hospital technician Galeano (Jeffrey Wright). Since the tech
is tapped in, he tells them it is not a vigilant form of the flu but
something far more sinister. The "flu virus" turns people into
complacent zombies with a Universal Mind. (Can Warners afford a King's
Ransom - that storyline is straight from the Cell.) Carol's
estranged husband Tucker Kaufman (Jeremy Northam) turns up. He just
happens to be a Centers for Disease Control doctor who already has been
"turned." He vomits goo over a hysterical Carol. Husbands. Honestly.
Now, as you all know, if Carol falls asleep she will become a part of
the hive – emotionless, quiet, and part of the Universal Mind. She does
not want to be part of the One. Due to a previous medical situation,
Oliver is immune and holds the key to an antidote. They go on the run
with Ben's help because suddenly Carol starts screaming how much she
loves him. When did that happen - she's yet to glance his way? According
to all New Age philosophy and Mellen-Thomas Benedict's Near-Death
Experience, we are all directly connected to The Source of Everything.
We are part of the Higher Self Matrix. We are connected, as Benedict
experienced firsthand, "as one being, all humans are connected as one
being, we are actually the same being, different aspects of the same
being." I'm definitley paying way too much for health insurance. "The
Invasion" says no to this. Stay human with all the bloodthirsty
reptilian drives. Rage into that fuzzy gray ameoba. And after the
antidote is given to Carol and Ben? They become a robotic happy family! Perhaps
original director Oliver Hirschbiegel had another perspective in mind
that questioned alien conformity vs. human individuality. But in
today's movie market, another team was brought in to create car crashes
and hysteria. Kidman, tall, ethereally thin, and wearing only standard
gray, leaves her shrink's sensible demeanor and becomes a crazy nut.
Even when told how to behave – stay emotionless and do not run – what
does she do? She runs like crazy without her handbag. That Stepford
(Scientology) fallout never ends.
Directed by: Oliver Hirschbiegal
Reviewed by: Victoria Alexander, Zboneman.com
Grade: C-




