Daniel Craig Movie:

		List Price: $35.99		Label: Warner Home Video Salesrank: 7358 Released: January 29, 2008
		Our Price: $6.14
		Used Price: $5.06
		MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) Media: Blu-ray

Editorial Review:
The Invasion tells the story of a mysterious epidemic that alters the behavior of human beings. When a Washington D.C. psychiatrist (Nicole Kidman) discovers the epidemics origins are extraterrestrial, she must fight to protect her son, who may hold the key to stopping the escalating invasion.

Description of The Invasion [Blu-ray]:
The Invasion deserves a second chance on DVD. This ambitious sci-fi thriller represents a flawed yet worthy attempt to bring contemporary vitality to Jack Finney's classic science fiction novel, previously filmed as Don Siegel's 1956 classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Philip Kaufman's suspenseful 1978 remake, and Abel Ferrara's highly underrated Body Snatchers from 1994. And while those earlier films are superior in many respects, The Invasion is not without strengths of its own, particularly for those who prefer action and suspense. Unfortunately these strengths were compromised by the unpredictable misfortunes of production: Original director Oliver Hirschbiegel (hired on the strength of Downfall) was eventually replaced by James McTiegue (V for Vendetta), and the Wachowski Brothers (of Matrix trilogy fame) added high-octane action sequences to the original screenplay by David Kajganich. Perhaps the movie had a curse on it (star Nicole Kidman was almost seriously injured in a stunt-car mishap during last-minute reshoots), but it's really just a matter of disparate ingredients that don't always fit together, resulting in a slick-looking film that can't decide if it's a sci-fi mystery, action thriller, or political allegory. It tries too hard to be all things at once.

Despite this, Kidman rises to the occasion with a solid performance as Carol, a Washington, D.C. psychiatrist who's convinced (with the help of costars Daniel Craig and Jeffrey Wright) that a flu-like virus is spreading throughout the population, its alien spores turning victims into soulless "pod people"... only in this case without the pods. The idea is that you'll be fine if you don't fall asleep, and especially if you don't let anyone sneeze or vomit on you. (There's a lot of vomiting; don't say you weren't warned.) With a crashing space shuttle to deliver the alien threat, cute tyke Jackson Bond as Carol's threatened son, and a nod to Kaufman's film with a small role for Veronica Cartwright, The Invasion will surely fare better on DVD than it did in theaters. If nothing else, it proves the timeless relevance of Finney's original premise, which continues to inspire a multitude of variations. --Jeff Shannon

The Invasion [Blu-ray] Reviews:
Another remake of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", but no pods.
2009-12-26 - The Space Shuttle, Patriot, has exploded upon entry leaving contaminated and radioactive debris in certain parts of America. A girl hands a piece of the wreckage to Tucker Kaufman (Jeremy Northam) she claims came from her roof. Tucker gets a pain from the fragment. When he comes home, the family dog growls and rejects him.
A woman, Wendy (Veronica Cartwright) visits psychiatrist carol Bennell (Nicole Kidman) and explains to her how much her husband has changed in behavior and she just can't take it anymore.
On Halloween, some of the children are beginning to change in mood and behavior.
Carol's son, Olivier (Jackson Bond), suddenly gets a pain on his hand. Carol gets a sample of something unexplainable from Olivier's hand and gives to a doctor friend of hers, Ben (Daniel Craig), who in turn gives it to lab technican Dr. Galeano (Jeffrey Wright) to analyze it.
The government believes people are suffering from flu-like symptoms and a vaccine is quickly created for it. They want everyone to be inoculated.
It is an alien bacteria very easy to get. It renders people emotionless and expressionlist. No sincere feelings at all and they go after those who are immune to the alien virus.

Also in the cast: Eric Benjamin, Celia Weston, Field Blauvett.

DVD also includes 4 featurettes.

This film is the 4th film made with the Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) storyline.
Veronica Cartwright was in the first remake, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Collector's Edition) (1978), which is the best version to see.

The next low-budget remake was Body Snatchers (1993).

Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig would also appear in, The Golden Compass (New Line Platinum Series Two-Disc Widescreen Edition) (2007).

Daniel craig and Jeffrey Wright have several scenes in this film together.

Daniel Craig was doing this film when he got the call that he was chosen to be the new "James Bond" in Casino Royale (2-Disc Widescreen Edition) (2006). Jeffrey Wright would also join him as the new "Felix Leiter". They would also work together again in Quantum of Solace (2008).



an OK re-make
2009-08-30 - This is the third, I think, re-make of the 1956 film 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' by Don Siegel. In 1978 there was a first re-make featuring Donald Sutherland as the lead character.

I have to compare this new one to the 1978 re-make, which I see as the best of all versions, even better than the original 1956 version.

First of all the 1978 re-make was alot scarier, the suspense grew throughout the film as the truth behind the invasion unraveled, it had an excellent build-up and surprise ending.

In this new re-make the "truth" is revealed far too easily and quickly, there is not much build-up.
For example, the main character just happens to be friends with doctors, who then happens to who have connections with the military etc...these "coincidences" takes away some of the excitement, the main character gets everything handed to her on a plate.

Another significant difference is that this new version has another ending.

This new one also has an irritating political spin, using the Iraqi war as the background for this spin,...you know, the usual "is mankind destined to self-destruct? ".

So the storyline could have been much better, it felt very rushed and abit sloppy. In contrast, the story line in the 1978 re-make is alot more subtle and refined.

But there are two good things I can say about this film: the acting by Nicole Kidman is very good, and so is the directing.
The film feels fresh and the co-actors, like Daniel Craig, were convincing in their roles.

So in summary, this is a decent re-make, but that's all, it's not fantastic by any means, those who think so should see the 1978 re-make.

Mediocre redo of a well-worn genre
2009-07-25 - Aliens from space land on earth and take over the human race. This is essentially the story of this movie. Unfortunately, it is also the basic story of hundreds of other movies, with recent ones being the Species franchise, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and various X-files episodes. So does any part of this movie make it noticeably better than any of the other movies in the same genre? No. Yes there is the attractive Nicole Kidman, but her role in this movie could have been filled by dozens of other actresses. Overall, an OK movie that is good space filler for a lazy night.

This made me sleepy
2009-07-20 - It's funny how a movie that's supposed to scare you about what happens when you sleep, can actually make you sleepy.
This is the fourth movie incarnation of the whole body snatcher theme, and unfortunately it's the worst. Its not the fault of the actors, instead I would blame the writing and directing.
First of all, its already been done 3 times prior, not to mention a bunch of B movie knock offs, where aliens take over humans.
The original spin here is the replacement of alien pods with an alien virus. This is actually a plus for the movie, as the whole bodies growing out of pods, and almost nobody notices was always a bit of a stretch. A virus that infects and takes over mankind is far more believe and thus should be scarier, but unfortunately it wasn't. The vomiting int o food or people as a way of spreading the virus was far more gross then scary.
the suspense and eeriness was good for the most part, but it also felt all too predictable.
IMO despite its flaws the 1978 version remains the best and scariest of this franchise. It's creepy music, sounds effects and horrific "pod scream" kept you on the edge of your seat. That movie reminded you of what people were losing, first and foremost the ability to love, as well as the appreciation for music, and all of the other things that make us human. It's horrific lost cause ending, made you glad it was just a movie.
This current adaption, takes the opposite approach. First it attacks humanity a couple times halfway through the movie, and then again, with its unfullfiling ending. Rather then celebrating humanity, this movie tried awkwardly, to make some ludicrous liberal guilt argument that the aliens are better, cause they, all just get along. The happy ending where everything is back to normal, just didn't seem believable and felt tacked on. And people's attitudes about world problems at the end, just made them seem ungrateful to have been saved.
Other then the virus twist this adaption brings nothing new and worthwhile to the story.

A Sleep Inducing Remake
2009-07-09 - The Invasion is remake of the 1950's sci fi film, "The Invasion of the Body Snatchers". Hollywood has already produced two remakes and one TV spin off. I guess folks really relish in the idea of invaders coming to Earth and snatching our bodies. This latest iteration was driven by a large budget and a couple of sexy stars.

Nicole Kidman stars as psychiatrist, Carol Bennell, and besides looking like the fine Aussie vixen she is, there isn't much for her to do. The films other big star, Daniel Craig, is so criminally underused he might as well not even be in it. This leaves Kidman to carry the film and frankly she doesn't look like she really gives a crap.

The first half of The Invasion is gripping and the story unfolds nicely, if not predictably. It starts going downhill during a dinner party scene where some Russian guy spits out some nonsense rhetoric. It's supposed to make you think, but I hate when a movie spells out the exact message it's trying to convey. Shortly after, the film resorts to redundant chase scenes of Kidman trying to protect her dopey son, Oliver. Once most of the populace has turned into aliens, there are some genuinely uneasy moments, but these are few and far between. The ending is really bland and it fails at the deep, psychological impact it was going for.

Like most aliens, the little spores in The Invasion don't "come in peace" and are rather hell-bent on assimilating all of mankind into their cold and detached species. This is done by projectile vomiting on a person's face or ingesting something an alien has blown chunks into. Charming isn't it? Once a human being has ingested the host, they eventually go to sleep and wake up an emotionless alien. The transformation effects are mostly CG and they look abysmal. After someone falls asleep it looks like Ron Jeremy crept up to them and rubbed one out on their face. However, instead of looking real viscous and gooey...it appears flat, fake and clearly digitized. It's lame and it minimizes any real chance this film had at leaving a terrifying imprint on its audience.

The Invasion is a squandered opportunity for a decent remake. It's clearly trying to exploit our disease fearing, xenophobic civilization but it ultimately falls flat. The excellent cast isn't given much to work with and let's be honest...there is much better sci-fi horror out there. I'm sure some will find it interesting, but most of you will be bored. Perhaps if we wait fifteen years Hollywood will attempt a better remake.

Final Grade: D