The Invasion
Reviewed by David on August 19, 2007
The Invasion revolves around bulimic zombie-humans infected with an alien virus, wreaking havoc on society. The virus, delivered to Earth on a NASA space shuttle, does nothing more than turn otherwise normal people into Mormons. All signs of personality, humor, and pain are stripped from each convert. Curiously, greed and disgust appear to be left behind, as the zombies spend their waking hours seeking out victims with a determination bordering on obsession, and then vomiting on them.
The film spends an unhealthy amount of time focused on zombie binge-and-purge habits. We're treated to zombies vomiting into coffee, tea, hot cocoa, and an epic subway train vomit melee. Nicole Kidman escapes the bile-filled train car of horrors, but sadly, the rest of us are left to watch as regurgitation ensues. While the vomit method of infection is admittedly disturbing and easily could have made for a subtly creepy film, the sheer volume produced--and the accompanying sounds effects--only lend a comically sad veneer to this thriller.
So, The Invasion presents an interesting proposition: is it better to fill the world with placid, peaceful zombies with unhealthy body image issues or with normal, war-mongering humans who can keep their meals down? Director, Oliver Hirschbiegel (The Invasion), condescendingly hammers the audience with the "humans are inherently evil" message throughout the film, concluding with a flat, uninspired voice-over in case you missed his point the first few times. In the end, The Invasion only gives us pause over whether those nice missionaries at our doors have been body-snatched or are just plain dull.
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