A master class in shit

A shuttle breaks up in the atmosphere while attempting a landing, scattering debris across the United States and, as it turns out, planting the seeds of a mind-controlling virus why not. The virus quickly spreads to the highest levels of power in the country as the infected institute nation-wide flu vaccinations which are in fact just a means of spreading the virus. In no time at all our hero Nicole Kidman discovers what’s happening and also discovers that her son is immune to the virus, a condition the infected are none-too-happy with. It’s an action-packed race against time as Kidman tries to get her son to safety before she falls asleep.

How ironic.

The original Invasion of the Body Snatchers stands as a classic of 1950’s sci-fi, a goofy but powerful reflection on both communism and McCarthy-ism. This remake attempts to translate the original’s commentary on the “Red Scare” into commentary on the modern “War on Terror”, but frankly this seems largely unnecessary - the original applies to modern paranoia just as well as it does to the paranoia of the 50’s.

So what does this new version bring? Not much, beyond typical modern grotesqueries. The means of transmission is the expulsion of a putrid substance onto the victim’s face. The transformation from person to pod-person is shown in all its prosthetic-y glory. In a scene reminiscent of 9/11, we see a couple plunge off a building to their deaths rather than become pod people.

None of these additions are of any real substance, and where the film had the opportunity to improve upon the original - such as the original’s false ending - it fails miserably. One has to wonder why the filmmakers even bothered.