The Invasion (2007)

As a Washington, D.C. psychiatrist unearths the origin of an alien epidemic, she also discovers her son might be the only way it can be stopped.

Directors:

Oliver Hirschbiegel, James McTeigue (uncredited)

Writers:

David Kajganich (screenplay), Jack Finney (novel)

Stars:

Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Jeremy Northam

1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Nicole Kidman	...	Carol Bennell
Daniel Craig	...	Ben Driscoll
Jeremy Northam	...	Tucker Kaufman
Jackson Bond	...	Oliver
Jeffrey Wright	...	Dr. Stephen Galeano
Veronica Cartwright	...	Wendy Lenk
Josef Sommer	...	Dr. Henryk Belicec
Celia Weston	...	Ludmilla Belicec
Roger Rees	...	Yorish
Eric Benjamin	...	Gene
Susan Floyd	...	Pam
Stephanie Berry	...	Carly
Alexis Raben	...	Belicec's Aide
Adam LeFevre	...	Richard Lenk
Joanna Merlin	...	Joan Kaufman

Storyline

While returning to Earth, the space shuttle explodes and the fragments bring an alien virus that recodes the human DNA. In Washington, the psychiatrist Carol Bennell observes the modification of the behavior of one of her clients first, then in her former husband and finally in the population in general. Together with her friend Dr. Ben Driscoll the researcher Dr. Stephen Galeano, they discover that the extraterrestrial epidemic affects human beings while sleeping and that her son Ollie, who had chickenpox when he was a baby, is immune to the disease and may save mankind from the outbreak.

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Plot Keywords:

psychiatrist | emotionlessness | alien invasion | alien | alien organism | 

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Taglines:

Don't Sleep. Don't Go Home. I'll Find You. - Mom

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Genres:

Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for violence, disturbing images and terror

Details

Official Sites:

Warner Bros. [United States]

Country:

USA Australia

Language:

English Russian

Release Date:

17 August 2007 (USA)

Also Known As:

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Filming Locations:

Union Station/Columbus Circle, Washington, District of Columbia, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$80,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$5,951,409, 19 August 2007, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$15,071,514, 7 October 2007

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros., Village Roadshow Pictures, Silver Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

At 59m 9s, Carol Bennell is looking in the mirror and sees a copy of herself swing a hammer and hit her. On impact, red sparks appear to fly. When slowed down, three film frames of a red virus cell against a black background are revealed in this cut.

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Goofs

Carol is interrupted before she can break the chain on the machine shop door. When she leaves the room, however, the chain is no longer holding the door shut.

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Quotes

[first lines]
News Announcer: [off-screen] Tragic news tonight as the space shuttle "Patriot" explodes during an unscheduled landing attempt.

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Connections

References Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)

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Soundtracks

Them Boyz in the Hood
Written by Tommy Armstrong and Deyon Davis
Performed by Drop Tha Bomb
Courtesy of Cinematic Tunes Inc.

User Reviews

The Fourth is the Worst

This is already the fourth large-scaled film version based on Jack Finney's legendary story "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" and I must say this is just one too many. The two oldest films (the 50's film directed by Don Siegel and the 70's version by Philip Kaufman) are righteously regarded at as genre milestones, but the "newer" films don't manage to convey the creepy basic premise in a good old-fashioned and atmospheric way. Abel Ferrara's 1993 film "Body Snatchers" still contained a few very effective moments of fright, but this latest; big-names-involved version became somewhat of a disappointment. It's is clearly noticeable that director Oliver Hirschbiegel ("Downfall", "The Experiment") wanted to make his English language debut like a genuine throwback to paranoid & claustrophobic 50's Sci-Fi, with enthralling suspense, mysteriousness and character development. Unfortunately, however, the producers wanted more spectacle and explosions, and thus hired other people for re-writes and re-shoots. The finished product evidently suffers from this, so my advice would be to try and focus as much as possible on the substantially terrific sequences and the creepily-themed ambiance. The familiar concept is still, according to me at least, the archetype of superior Science Fiction. What if some sort of extraterrestrial force caused people to metamorphose into soulless, emotionless and insensitive replicas of themselves overnight? For some reason, I always found this the most nightmarishly plausible Sci-Fi formula, and apparently many genre fanatics with me. This time, the "epidemic" is generated when a US Space Shuttle, containing the unidentified alien substance, crashes down on earth. Shortly after, the entire population is gradually getting replaced by exact copies. Psychiatrist Carol Bennell desperately tries to get to her son, who's staying with his estranged father and happened to be one of the first victims of the infection. Apart from a couple of really powerful sequences and a few isolated moments of pure shock (the tunnel-accident, for example), "The Invasion" is a rather redundant movie that adds absolutely nothing to the original masterpieces. The alien menace isn't very detectable here and the fear in the eyes of the survivors is never fully convincing. The additions to the original storyline, like for example the sub plot on immunity, are inefficient and not compelling. Nicole Kidman, of whom I'm usually not a big fan, is quite good looking in this film and her performance is more than adequate. Her male co-stars Daniel Craig, Jeremy Northam and Jeffrey Wright all give away much more intense and plausible performances, however. I hope that, one day, perhaps Hirschbiegel director's cut will be available and we get to see the film as it was initially intended: slow-brooding, uncanny and petrifying.