The Invasion DVD

DVD Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers Released on DVD

The original Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), starring Kevin McCarthy, was based on The Body Snatchers, a serialized novel by Jack Finney
published by Colliers Magazine. That black and white, sci-fi classic was set in a California town where citizens were being murdered and mysteriously replaced by identical pod people.
The first remake was released in 1978, followed by another in 1993. This version stars Nicole Kidman as Dr. Carol Bennell, a psychiatrist living in Washington, DC, one of many cities where people have begun behaving strangely after the explosion of a Space Shuttle during reentry from outer space. Seems that the debris has somehow contaminated the planet with an intelligent alien life force capable of reprogramming DNA.
Soon, this otherwordly catalyst starts turning people into polite automatons willing to sacrifice their individuality for the sake of a mind-numbing conformity. So, it falls to Dr. Bennell, her boyfriend, Dr. Driscoll (Daniel Craig) and another colleague, Dr. Galeano (Jeffrey Wright), to figure out how to reverse the epidemic before everybody is turned into a sea of easily-managed, insufferably well-behaved robots.
The film features a silly subplot revolving around Carol’s frantically text-messaging her missing young son, Oliver (Jackson Bond), a spunky kid who had been left in the care of her possibly infected ex-husband (Jeremy Northam). While this sidebar might accurately illustrate the current fad in electronic communication, here, it proves to be more of an annoying distraction than a compelling cinematic device.
Not that the front story is any more credible. Can someone explain to me exactly how a horror flick about a scourge that’s making humanity more civilized is supposed to be scary? Intermittently amusing, tautly-edited and very well-acted, but hopelessly crippled ab initio by a fatally-flawed script.
An amusing diversion, but not exactly edge of your seat excitement.

Good (2 stars)
Rated PG-13 for violence, terror and disturbing images.
Running time: 96 minutes
Studio: Warner Home Video
DVD Extras: A documentary and three featurettes.