The Invasion

First serialised in 1954, first filmed in 1956, Jack Finney's classic story of paranoia has had another movie makeover, this time dropping the phrase, "Of The Body Snatchers", to give us The Invasion.

It's a slick, star-driven "re-imagining" with effects for the CSI generation and extensive flashbacks to remind audiences of the signposted twists and turns. Any subtlety it might have had is lost in the money lavished upon the screen, presumably paid for by the glaring product placement of cars and phones. The script is laden with biologic techno-babble, and while Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig are convincing, if not always interesting, they are wasted in this film.

Jeffrey Wright spouts much of the nucleotide nonsense and non sequiters, as one of Craig's colleagues, and with Kidman they attempt to find a way to escape, and then possibly to cure, the titular invasion. Oliver Hirschbeigel directs, and brings the same quality of vision seen in the grossly superior Downfall and The Experiment. Dave Kajganich adapts Finney's novel, and his screenplay has received a separate copyright credit. Not, one suspects, because of its quality, but because of its divergences from the original. These aren't the 'pod people' of the other versions, though they may look and act the same.

Jackson Bond is very good as Oliver Bennell, and has a convincing chemistry with Kidman as his mother. Jeremy Northam is her ex-husband, and her interactions with him are similarly convincing. Veronica Cartwright has a key role to play as a psychiatric patient who complains that her husband is not her husband any more, and joins a number of other faces more commonly seen on the small screen who add a depth to the film with high quality performances. The biggest problem, though, is with the words coming out of their mouths. This would be a much better film if it had the benefit of a different script.

The Invasion didn't receive press screenings. The last film with a budget this large that attempted to escape attention in this way was The Avengers, and as a rule it doesn't bode well. Here, the situation is a little more complicated.

The Invasion isn't a great film, but it's far from awful. It's pretty to watch, with solid car-chases, some chilling moments of inter-personal conflict, dazzling minor characterisations, and some points of genuine horror. Director and cast have done some tremendous work, and it's powerful in places. That said, there can't be a critic who hasn't seen one of the other versions, and in comparison The Invasion is just what it depicts - an old friend robbed of what made them special, individuality subsumed into a disturbing conformity.