The Invasion

There is nothing left for me but a little comparison - Invasion and the newer The Box. Both films are sci-fi with elements of horror and thriller, played by likable blondes, well-known and famous actresses with likable counterparts, both movies feature crowds of people marching through the streets without emotions and with washed brains, Invasion has a faster and more action-packed plot, but lacks the presence of the fascinating Frank Langella. From the aforementioned it follows - both films are rather mediocre and I would rather focus on other things than watching such stupid stories. (24.11.2009)

For fans of the genre, The Invasion offers a decent dose of spookiness with the still beautiful Nicole Kidman. Casting Daniel Craig as the male lead was a bit strange, but interesting. The biggest failing of the movie is its unoriginal script, which just recycles what we’ve seen in all those “invasions of body snatchers” and The X-Files, without throwing anything original into the mix. On the other hand, I wasn’t bored for a single second. Of course, Spielberg’s War of the Worlds is more exciting and powerful, but The Invasion doesn’t lack some decent tension. This tension is doled out gradually, in a more intimate way and with more subtle emotional nuances. (19.10.2007)

A slightly unfortunate combination of two creative approaches that allow neither for a full connection to the psychological level of the premise, nor for the film to be a gripping dark thriller. The material, however, is promising; there are parts where the film irradiates hopelessness and we root for the female lead, but the last act only telegraphs the main ideas of the story, which can’t develop in an interesting way and ultimately lead to a trivial finale. The previous versions managed to give this smart material a far more subtle and distinctive touch. (24.09.2019)

Decent as a thriller, but doesn’t work at all as horror. The effect of having two directors is markedly clear and I think the result is weaker than either a fully slow or fully fast treatment would have been. Kidman and Craig deliver good but not great or memorable performances. Spoiler: the criticism about the real human population is interesting, but it could have been worked better, for instance, that people remembered their healing and weren’t grateful to their “rescuers” – that would have been a lot more striking. End of spoiler. Interlacing dialogues with flash forwards of events to come is such a weird idea that I’m grateful they didn’t use it more than a couple of times in the entire film… 60% (30.01.2008)

Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig are certainly not the ideal dream couple, although two attempts were made. Besides, it's a shame to cast Kidman in action movies. But in terms of being average, The Invasion can be tolerated. It's nothing we haven't seen many times before, but why bother despising a relaxing genre? There's going to be another version of this so enough anyway. (04.02.2009)