Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that this latest cinematic take on Invasion of the Body Snatchers could definitely scare kids, despite the fact that much of its violence is implied instead of shown. Not that it's short on action-violence scenes: There's a space shuttle crash, lots of loud car crashes, fights/struggles, and bloody shootings. And the alien virus leaves humans looking creepy (crusty, featureless, and wheezing), before they're turned into eerie copies of themselves. The movie -- which is structured to reflect the main character's disjointed state of mind -- cuts back and forth quickly in time in ways that might confuse younger viewers. Language is brief (one or two uses of "s--t" and "damn"), there's some social drinking, and Carol downs pills to stay awake.
Families can talk about the impact of implied violence in scary movies. Are movies scarier when they show violent acts taking place on screen or when those acts are left to your imagination? Why? Families can also discuss what message the movie is trying to send, if any. Do you think the aliens' proposed choice -- sameness without fighting, or individualism and selfishness accompanied by war and conflict -- is meant to reflect any specific issues in today's society?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Cynthia Fuchs
"Somebody finally realized there's a war going on, and the only way we're gonna win it is in a lab!" Bent over his microscope, Dr. Stephen Galeano (Jeffrey Wright) isn't a likely action movie hero. Neither are his cohorts, Washington, D.C. psychiatrist Carol Bennell (Nicole Kidman) and her colleague, Ben (Daniel Craig).
But if the doctors don't crash cars or shoot villains with panache, they do suggest the thematic shift in this fourth film version of Jack Finney's 1955 novel (previous adaptations include the 1956 Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Philip Kaufman's 1978 remake). The alien-engineered change that threatens humans is no longer a matter of pods that enclose victims while they sleep, but a virus-like "highly resilient organism" transmitted through body fluids (most grotesquely, glutinous phlegm).
The change suits our current times. Following a space shuttle disaster that leaves fiery debris and ominous goo all over the crash site, the CDC declares a "flu" epidemic and encourages people to line up for "inoculations." But Carol and company begin to suspect that the shots are actually making people into aliens and begin searching for an antidote. Their quest is made more urgent by the fact that Carol has been spit on by her ex, Tucker (Jeremy Northam), a CDC official who was afflicted with gooey fingers early in the film. If she falls asleep, she will change, too -- a threat that's made visual by occasional shots of her blood molecules coursing turbulently through her veins.
The film further indicates Carol's personal chaos with its fragmented, sometimes hard-to-follow storyline, which cuts back and forth in time. And Carol's perspective also limits potential philosophical questions. When Tucker tries to infect their young son, Oliver (Jackson Bond), he insists that it's for the boy's good, to be part of "our world," where everyone feels peaceful and "the same" (news reports reveal that the rest of the world is changing: Darfur declares a ceasefire, the Iraqi president calls off suicide bombings, and Hillary Clinton and George W. Bush appear together, all smiles and agreements). As Tucker puts it, this conformity by force isn't so different from the pills Carol prescribes for her unhappy patients: Everyone just wants to "feel better."
The hitch is that the new world cannot brook difference, so anyone who's immune to the transition or otherwise resists it is eliminated -- brutally. And so the film undergoes its own change, from sharp paranoid thriller to noisy action flick, with lots of shooting and cars crashing, a chase in D.C.'s metro system, and a by-the-numbers helicopter rescue. Sadly, all this physical commotion eventually prevails over the film's more complicated questions about fear, independence, and social order.
Fans should check out earlier versions of the same story, including Abel Ferrara's 1994 Body Snatchers. You might also want to see other alien invasion movies, like Independence Day, War of the Worlds, and The Andromeda Strain, or similarly themed TV series like Invasion, Surface, and Threshold.
Rate It!
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Sexual ContentPassionate kiss between Carol and Ben, which is cut off when she changes her mind. Brief shot of Carol undressing (down to pantyhose) as she hurriedly changes. |
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ViolenceMuch of the movie's violence is implied, though what is seen can be jarring and even frightening. Standard action-movie violence includes car chases and crashes, as well as shootings, foot chases, fights, and rough take-downs by cops; these result in bloody bodies (slammed on windshield, etc.) and screams of fear and pain. Some violence occurs in front of young Ollie (his mother shoots someone, his mother almost dies, he has to give her an adrenalin shot to her heart/chest), who is duly upset. Other potentially upsetting images include a space shuttle crashing to earth (recalling the 2003 Columbia disaster); the yucky, crusty goo that the invading virus creates on its victims; a dog attacking a little boy who has been infected, leaving blood on his face (the boy throttles the dog); a woman being hit very hard by a car; an alien trying to break into Carol's house; a victim's intense cardiac arrest; Ollie waking from a nightmare in a panic and later running from his father and hitting him with a crowbar; a dead cop shown in a bloody pool on the sidewalk; TV news reports on suicide bombings in Iraq; and a Molotov cocktail thrown at Carol's car. |
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LanguageLanguage includes infrequent uses of "s--t" and "goddamn." |
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Social BehaviorAliens are implacable, humans are fearful, a mom defends her son absolutely. |
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CommercialismShots of and references to a Mac laptop, Mountain Dew, Pepsi, eBay, USA Today, CNN, Fox News. |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoCarol downs handfuls of stay-awake pills; Carol discusses medications for her patients (anti-psychotic drugs). People drink champagne, wine, and beer at parties. |
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