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The movie further drains itself of tension and suspense by introducing the possibility that some people might be immune to the virus—and that their genes might hold the key to a cure. (The zombie sequel 28 Weeks Later explored a similar theme earlier this year.) Part of the terror of the previous films stemmed from the fact that body-snatching was irrevocable; you needed to resist the pod people at all costs, because once you were assimilated by them, there was no going back. The previous films also tended to underscore the fact that we humans, no matter how highly we think of ourselves, really are vulnerable to larger forces beyond our control—and while it might be going too far to say that such films provoke a sense of religious awe, there is still some overlap there, in the way such films put us in our place. The new film, however, suggests that we humans may still be able to save ourselves.

Desperate times call for … well, you know

The Invasion does have its interesting points, though they tend to get lost behind the filmmakers' tendency to make literal what was only implicit and suggestive in the earlier films. The first two film versions of this story emphasized that a world without emotion is a world without love, but the new film, like the third film before it, makes the more challenging point that a world without emotion is a world without conflict. But where the third film kept the stakes personal—most of the conflict that we saw in that film took place within a dysfunctional family—the new film makes explicit references to Iraq, Darfur, New Orleans, Hugo Chavez, Kim Jong-Il and various other topical subjects that will forever date this film to a very narrow point in time.

The result, combined with some distracting editing choices and a few other problems, is a movie that is so focused on the here and now that it won't resonate for future viewers the way its predecessors still do, and a movie that is so preoccupied with humanity in the abstract that it forgets to be all that interested in actual people.

Talk About It

1. A Russian diplomat tells Carol that civilization is just "a veneer of civility" on what he calls the natural animal instincts of human beings. Are humans primarily animal? Spiritual? Both? Is civility necessarily a bad thing, even if it hides our animal instincts?
2. What about the scene where Ben recalls how Carol once wondered what it would be like if humans could exist peacefully like trees? What makes humans different from trees, or from animals? Can we learn anything from them?
3. One of the "snatched" people says people who have been "snatched" get along with each other because there is no more "other." How essential is it that we humans retain our sense of "otherness"?
4. Is conflict a good thing? How can we avoid it while retaining our individuality and otherness?
5. Carol says that when people claim to tell her "the truth," they are really revealing something about themselves to her. How does this tie into the film's themes of individuality? Is there an objective "truth" that is "other" to us and which we can point toward? If so, how do we distinguish between it and our view of it?

The Family Corner

The Invasion is rated PG-13 for violence, disturbing images and terror. People are shot, hit with hammers, and run over by cars, and several people are seen transforming as the virus overpowers their bodies. One or two four-letter words are spoken, too, and a couple of women are seen in their underwear at home.

Photos © Copyright Warner Brothers

© Peter T. Chattaway subject to licensing agreement with Christianity Today International. All rights reserved. Click for reprint information.

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