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Invasion, The
Warner Bros.


5.6

based on 31 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 51 votes
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for language

Starring Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Jeremy Northam, Jackson Bond, Veronica Cartwright, Roger Rees, and Jeffrey Wright

The Invasion is a nightmarish journey into a world where the only way to stay alive is to stay awake. The mysterious crash of the space shuttle leads to the terrifying discovery that there is something alien within the wreckage. Those who come in contact with it are changing in ominous and inexplicable ways. Soon Washington D.C. psychiatrist Carol Bennell and her colleague Ben Driscoll learn the shocking truth about the growing extraterrestrial epidemic: it attacks its victims while they sleep, leaving them physically unchanged but strangely unfeeling and inhuman. As the infection spreads, more and more people are altered and it becomes impossible to know who can be trusted. Now Carol's only hope is to stay awake long enough to find her young son, who may hold the key to stopping the devastating invasion. (Warner Bros.)

GENRE(S):	Action \| Drama \| Horror \| Sci-fi \| Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	Jack Finney (novel) Dave Kajganich
DIRECTED BY:	Oliver Hirschbiegel James McTeigue (uncredited)
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: January 29, 2008 Theatrical: August 17, 2007
RUNNING TIME:	93 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Connects on a gut level in two ways, political and existential.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

There's no question The Invasion works in a mechanical, by-the-numbers manner. But it's what the movie leaves you with -- absolutely nothing -- that is the scariest thing about it.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

The third remake of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1956) may not be a patch on the original, but it does have a few things the other versions lack.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Still effectively creepy and surprisingly unnerving despite the occasional misstep and rumors of a troubled production, the new film illustrates why and how the power of the original story remains undiminished more than half a century after its creation.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

An involving sci-fi action-thriller, probably longer on chase sequences than the original director wanted and shorter on the "ick" factor than the studio wanted.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

The movie isn't terrible; it's just low-rent and reductive.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Mostly about delivering thrills, and chills, and this it does with moderate success and a bunch of fast, no-nonsense edits.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

On the technical side, The Invasion has several first-rate, terrifying action sequences and grips totally from start to finish. But a subplot involving the Russian Embassy doesn't really pay off, and the relationship between Kidman and glum paramour Daniel Craig (another doc) isn't much.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

It's a moderately compelling sci-fi action movie with a handful of scary scenes -- though nothing at all special, and only a shadow of the original or even its 1978 remake.

Variety Dennis Harvey

A slick but forgettable, characterless thriller.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The mismatched blending of Hirschbiegel's low-key horror and the Wachowski Brothers' anything-but-low-key action sequences results in a cinematic dud.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

Enough with the snatching, already.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

At times, The Invasion comes across as a mishmash of "Rosemary's Baby" and "The Stepford Wives."

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

Whatever the case, The Invasion lurches and drags and teeters on the brink of death from scene to scene; it plays as if it had been made by someone in a trance, though not a cool one.

USA Today Scott Bowles

It's a shame the aliens are so preachy, because this remake of the 1956 and 1978 versions of Invasion of the Body Snatchers features a top-notch cast in Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig and moments of unnerving terror.

Wall Street Journal Joanne Kaufman

Except for one terrifically adroit sequence in a subway, there is nothing understated about The Invasion. With all the shoot-outs, the screaming, the chases, collisions and fireballs, there isn't much time for storytelling.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

There's little room for ideas when there are flaming cars to be crashed, and overall the film is an infelicitous hodgepodge that lifts as liberally from "The Quatermass Experiment" (1956) and "28 Weeks Later" (2007) as "Body Snatchers" while leaving all the best bits behind -- even the iconic pods are gone.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

Haven't they created a movie that is ultimately a soulless clone of a vibrant original and, thus, a splendidly dull example of the very forces it warns us against – the forces of grey and passion-sapping conformity.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Here is a great story born to be creepy, and the movie churns through it like a road company production. If the first three movies served as parables for their times, this one keeps shooting off parable rockets that fizzle out.

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig are adequate leads, but no great actor will be more squandered this year than Jeffrey Wright, who does nothing but speak in vast paragraph blocks of exposition while looking haggard and bored.

Salon.com Mary Elizabeth Williams

The problem with Hirschbiegel's ("Das Experiment," "Downfall") convoluted, car-crash-laden Invasion is that it doesn't know what symbolism it wants to grasp.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Buried somewhere within the bipolar extravaganza that is The Invasion is an awfully good movie that got away.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

Opting for car chases instead of the thought-provoking ideas of its predecessors, the film looks like the work of, if not pod people, folks who gave up any kind of passion for the material long before the cameras started to roll.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

There hasn't been so much pea soup spit onscreen since "The Exorcist."

Empire Simon Braund

If not a train-wreck, this is certainly more than a fender-bender. In a world overflowing with targets for a satirical pasting, we needed something a lot sharper than this.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

Obliterating the original structure and intent of "Body Snatchers" is cinema-lit blasphemy.

Premiere Glenn Kenny

Noisome, fragmented mess of a movie, the fourth film based on Jack Finney's novel "The Body Snatchers" and the worst of them all.

LA Weekly Scott Foundas

Is there a Razzie Award for worst casting? If so, it’s one of several that can be reserved early for this fourth, spectacularly lousy screen version of Jack Finney’s 1954 novella "The Body Snatchers," which some bright light envisioned as the ideal starring vehicle for the Cold Mountain herself, Nicole Kidman, and for Daniel Craig, last seen as the most poker-faced James Bond on record.

Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar

The only mildly interesting bit of casting comes from bringing Cartwright back (as one of Bennell’s patients).

New York Post Lou Lumenick

In the fourth and by far the worst screen version of "The Invasion of the Body Snatchers," Nicole Kidman's character struggles to stay awake - as will the audience.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

It's the pod people's version of a great, contemporaneously resonant cinematic fable, created by apparent committee, and utterly devoid of both meaning and feeling. The tagline warns: "Do not trust anyone. Do not show emotion. Do not fall asleep." Yawn.

The average user rating for this movie is 5.6 (out of 10) based on 51 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Johnny2cents gave it a0:
You know all that vomiting going on there in this movie?? Well say no more.

Judy T gave it a5:
Pretty good remake that's ruined with a contrived, feel good ending.

MiKE gave it a7:
yes, the movie has some flaws. But for the most part of the movie, it does create a scary atmosphere where people are taken over. I'm not a fan of Kidman, But I thought she was great in this movie! I would of liked the ending to be different. But overall a big surprise to a movie that only received a 45 percent average on metacritic.

Brenda M. gave it a6:
Very good movie, kept you on your seat, but nothing scary scary

Rob V. gave it a0:
One of the worst films I've ever seen. I walked out about 2/3 in and got a refund.

Kent C. gave it a6:
Watchable. Nothing brilliant or spectacular. I found it very funny that people barfed to infect others.

Andy M. gave it a3:
This movie's premise is so trite that I figured it would make up for it somehow. Well, the all-star cast didn't do it. So, yeah. It sucked. The structure was terrible. All sorts of build up, then a climax and falling action so short and unsatisfying it leaves you blinking stupidly. It ends on the APPARENT note that the humans are innately flawed and they are doomed as a species. So what, Mr. Director? Do you want us to become infected by an alien virus with vague intentions? Or do you want us to become absolute socialists and shed all human qualities? What saves this movie from a one is a few thrilling scenes, and their ATTEMPT at a philosophical message. I'm glad I didn't pay for this thing.

Invasion, The Warner Bros.

Invasion, The
Warner Bros.