SPOILERS IN THIS POST! BE WARNED!
I went to see The Invasion because of (a) Nicole Kidman, (b) Daniel Craig and (c) because the first two Invasion of the Body Snatchers movies were fantastic.
(a) Nicole Kidman's number one fan is the camera. It loves her in a respectful, adoring way, in a way it hasn't loved anyone since the divas of old Hollywood, possessors of a type of glamour that has mostly disappeared. She's a good actress but more than that, she's iconic, unreal and mysterious. I almost always enjoy her. In this film, she's gone a bit odd. She looks incredible, her body like a long, lithe whip. Her face is a little puffy although I did see a crease above her brow at one point so either the botox is wearing off, or she has eschewed botox in preference to the Isabelle Adjani school of acting, i.e. show no expression whatsoever and offset aging as long as possible. Her lips look enhanced and her makeup is heavy, rather Marilyn Monroe-like. All this is not that important... EXCEPT...
*SPOILER ALERT*
EXCEPT... she's kind of alien-like already. As Barbara said to me, Brooke Adams in the 1978 version had the kind of quirky, expressive, female appeal that made the possibility of losing that personality to an unfeeling alien so terrifying. With Nicole I was thinking... hey, maybe it's not such a stretch. I still think she's fascinating, I just wish someone else had played this part. She also had, as a prop, the dead giveaway in any Hollywood movie that you are about to have a happy ending, and that was the tow-headed, dimpled blond son who just HAD to survive the infectious, saliva-spewing aliens. Oh yes, and they spewed alright. Right into everyone's mouths. Gosh... it's hard to be frightened when all you're thinking is "yuck."
(b) Daniel Craig. rrrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrr... I liked him in this. He was sexy, rumpled, British, brave, strong, silent... mmmmmmm. Wow... he has this moment when he's wearing a turtle neck under a buttoned wool jacket and I was reminded of Steve McQueen in Bullitt (1968). I was too young to remember the impact Steve must have had but I'm sure everyone was thinking "ooh, sports coat and suede shoes... he's so rebellious!"
(c) The first two versions of this story were fantastic. To my surprise tonight, on http://www.imdb.com/, I found that a third version was made in 1993. I had no idea. I've never seen it, but I know the first two versions were terrifying. Completely terrifying, with spine-tingling endings and fabulous actors.
Hey, I'm still glad I saw it. That's star appeal for you. Plus I got to catch up with Barbara and that's always a treat.
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