Lethal Invasion - Attacke der Alien-Viren

There is something about movies like Invasion that I get a kick out of and admire is a small way. Material like this feels like a throwback to the fifties and sixies, the dawn of sci-fi. I suppose that judging by those standards, one could make the argument that Battlefield Earth is a success, which may not be such a smart thing to do aloud. Regardless, Invasion is very cheesy, but it is amusing.

One night over Arizona, a shower of little black stones rains down on a city. The first to fondle of these stone is Beau Stark, an ordinary law abiding fellow. The tiny thing gives him an electric shock and before long he has a flu, which is messing with his mind. As more people handle the black pebbles scattered across town, the flu starts to spread, first across town then across Arizona and eventually the country. Stark is rallying his fellow infected citizens together to become part of some major plan to build a gateway to space which will (somehow) spell doom for humanity as we know it. Stark's girlfriend teams upwith a handful of Rogue doctors to try an find a cure, while everyone around is out to get them.

So what makes something like Invasion any better than say Battlefield Earth? It's a tough argument to make, but not impossible. For one thing Battlefield Earth feels muddled and badly paced, while this more is more temporaly believable (on account of being a three part programme of course). Time duration is very important for the credibility of a thriller or adventure story. More importantly, in Battlefield Earth you really don't care what happens to people. Here you end up actually rooting for and against who you are supposed to.

There are times when Invasion feels a little slow, and there are definitely some things that need to be changed, but the programme in general, is a good source of cheesy B-movie sci- fi. I don't know where you would find something like this, and I doubt if it will get any airtime in the future, but if it just happpens to be on the box one night and there is nothing else on (assuming you are a sci-fi geek) may as well watch for a bit.

A virus, presumably of extraterrestrial origin, takes over human beings.

By the numbers made-for-tv movie travels down well-known territory with few redeeming virtues. The familiar story is padded with mumbo jumbo galore and cheesy special effects. Even though the acting by most of the cast is decent, there is little else to be remembered.

Recommended only to desperate diehards craving for their sci-fi daily shot!!! With due respect to the canine breeds, skip this dog of a movie and go for the real thing. Rent out Don Siegel's Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), Village of the Damned and the underrated Independence Day or any of those wonderful campy sci-fi B-movies of the 50's... and treat yourself to a pleasurable Saturday afternoon and don't forget the right words: Klaatu barada nikto!

Rating: 2/10.because of beautiful locations.

Hokey music, cheesy special effects, a really dumb script, and heavy-handed, pedestrian direction, all drawn out to great lengths - is this a movie? No, clearly it's a TV mini-series, and a poor one at that. The only thing that might attract you to it is some meaningful acting talent, and that certainly is present. I was drawn into watching it by the presence of Kim Catrall and Rebecca Gayheart, both of whose work I've previously admired... but don't make the same mistake. Truly, it's not worth it. Give this one a miss.

There is an app FilmRise that has this movie, it is shown in three episodes, it is dated 1969 (could be a mistake on their part) it is titled "Robin Cook's Invasion "

I didn't see this miniseries in its original run in 1997, but watched it last week in a rerun on the SCIFI channel because of Robin's Cook's involvement. All of his work (books, screenplays, miniseries) has been consistently good. (Remember "Coma"?). This one was no different. I thought it was an interesting story, played seriously by a better than average cast. Luke Perry plays the leading man, the first to be infected by the alien virus, and his girlfriend (the extremely cute Rebecca Gayheart) who becomes the one to try to save him from it with the help of a molecular biologist in the person of Kim Catrall. As I enjoy most 'virus' type movies (Outbreak, The Stand), I enjoyed this one, too. I give it a 9 out of 10 for a TV miniseries.