The Invasion (2007) is a science fiction horror film adapted from the 1955 novel “The Body Snatchers” by Jack Finney. The film stars Nicole Kidman as Dr. Carol Benell, a psychiatrist, and Daniel Craig as Dr. Ben Driscoll. The story revolves around Carol and Ben’s discovery that an alien mushroom is attacking almost all the people in Washington DC, turning them into emotionless creatures that attempt to spread the disease to the entire United States. The two doctors then embark on a mission to find a vaccine to cure the residents of this bizarre epidemic.
The movie opens with a spaceship crashing in the United States, from Dallas to Washington DC. The debris is strewn throughout the area. The government initiates a small quarantine in the incident’s location. Tucker Kaufman, the Director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the United States, comes to the scene to investigate the foreign organisms living in the spaceship’s debris. Tucker accidentally touches one object from the spaceship and is infected by the alien mushroom. The alien mushroom grows in his body while he sleeps, and he transforms into a different creature the next morning, without any emotions and with a plan to spread the alien mushroom to everyone in America.
Meanwhile, Carol Benell, Tucker’s ex-wife and also a psychiatrist, becomes suspicious of everyone she meets who is acting strangely. This includes her patient, Wendy Lenk, who explains that her husband has “changed” and become someone else. Carol investigates further and discovers a “skin” that has peeled off. Carol suspects that the skin has a connection with the rapidly spreading flu epidemic across the United States. She takes the skin sample to her doctor friend, Ben Driscoll, for analysis.
On the way back, Carol and her son Oliver witness a woman getting hit by a car. Carol approaches the accident site and tells the police that she is a witness of the accident. However, a police officer with a strange attitude asks her to return to her car. Over the weekend, Carol takes Oliver to Tucker’s house to spend time with his father. That night, Carol and Ben attend a dinner with Russian diplomat Yorish and Czech diplomatic couple Belice and Luddie. Tucker uses the CDC organization to spread the alien mushroom to everyone, turning the mushroom into a flu vaccine. On the other hand, Carol is attacked by census officials after returning from dinner.
Ben meets with his colleague, Dr. Stephen Galeano, a biologist studying the skin sample he received from Carol. He explains that the alien mushroom takes over the human brain while they sleep. Dr. Stephen also explains that people who have ADEM disease symptoms are immune to the alien mushroom’s attack. After learning that Tucker has been taken over by the alien, Carol tries to take Oliver from him. When she arrives at her ex-husband’s house, she discovers that Oliver is not there.
Tucker and his group then attack Carol and try to infect her with the alien mushroom. Carol is in a difficult position, but Tucker keeps trying to force her to join them.
Overall, The Invasion is a relatively entertaining movie with a story that can be quite scary and thrilling. Director Oliver Hirschbiegel maintains a fast pace throughout, with the best moments coming in the last 30 minutes with a reasonably exciting action sequence. However, Hirschbiegel and screenwriter David Kajganich could have developed the movie even more, as the plot seems rushed, disorganized, and lacking in character development. The movie focuses too much on suspense and tension, neglecting to flesh out many aspects of The Invasion’s storyline.
In conclusion, The Invasion is a movie worth watching for science fiction horror fans. Its storyline, although rushed and disorganized at times, can be scary and thrilling. The exceptional cast, including Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, also delivers their parts well. Despite its flaws, The Invasion is still a movie worth checking out on a lazy night.
