This had better be the last incarnation of INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS because we’re running out of abbreviated titles. After BODY SNATCHERS and INVASION, the only other major word we’re left with is SNATCHERS, and that sounds like a really bad porno movie.
Ever heard of the term ‘too many cooks spoil the pot’? Well, that’s what we’ve got to contend with in this B-Movie botch. Whenever you find out a film has endured more than two directors, you gotta be skeptical. I mean, look at what happened to the latest EXORCIST films. First John Frankenheimer dies and Liam Neesan bails on the project. Then the studio doesn’t like Paul Schrader’s intellectual take so they hire Renny ‘I like to blow things up’ Harlin to pump up another version which winds up really, really sucking.
Oliver Hirschbiegel was awarded sole directorial credit for THE INVASION, though the film sloughed through four (yes, you read that correctly), directors – even having to weather through the Wachowski brothers’ decision to find yet another director because they allegedly didn’t feel that they could do the film justice.
… And it shows. It’s obvious from the onset that the editor had too much to contend with. The opening is clunky, the bulk is doughy and the ending is abominable. Although, that can’t be blamed entirely on the editor. I believe that blame in a situation like this usually winds up attributable to the producers and the studio and after all is said and done, the ending is so convenient it makes you long for ’50s flix with titles like EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS, THEM or even FIEND WITHOUT A FACE.