FAQ

After the Space Shuttle Patriot explodes upon re-entry and its fragments spread an alien organism along a path from Washington D.C. to Texas, D.C. psychiatrist Carol Bennell (Nicole Kidman) begins observing changes in her patients and in the people around her. They have become detached, emotionless, and no longer like themselves. Together with her boyfriend, research scientist Ben Driscoll (Daniel Craig) and biologist Stephen Galeano (Jeffrey Wright), they attempt to analyze the organism and look for a way of defeating it. Unfortunately, Carol's young son Oliver (Jackson Bond) is visiting his father, Tucker Kaufman (Jeremy Northam), who has been infected, although it appears that Oliver may be immune. But Carol has to find him first.

The Invasion is based on The Body Snatchers (1955), a science fiction novel by American author Jack Finney. It is the fourth adaptation of Finney's novel, preceded by Die Dämonischen (1956), Die Körperfresser kommen (1978), and Body Snatchers - Die Körperfresser (1993). The screenplay was written by David Kajganich with additional rewrites by American screenwriting team Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski.

It is first described by the Center of Disease Control (CDC) as a monoploid (having a single set of chromosomes) endospore, a seed-like form produced by a bacteria that allows it lie dormant for extended periods or until the environment becomes more favorable. Later, the CDC refers to it simply as a flu-causing virus and sets up a nationwide inoculation program that is actually a covert means of spreading the organism. When Dr Galeano examines it, he also refers to it as viral-like but larger than any known virus. In short, it's a large virus capable of placing itself in a dormant state in which it can travel through space until it reaches a hospitable environment like Earth with hospitable hosts, like humans.

Dr Galeano thinks that it's an intelligent entity only a few cells big and that it invades the brain's gray matter and reprograms the body's DNA when it unites with hormones produced while the brain engages in REM (rapid-eye movement) sleep.