Body Snatchers, l'invasion continue

"Body Snatchers" is a good film by Abel Ferrara, a worthy version of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" by Jack Finney, of course without being better than the 1978 version. This 1993 version has a good script but what is taken slowly, suspense is absent for much of the film, the characters and their loss of individuality by being supplanted is a gloomy idea but in the film it is executed in an uninteresting way. The performances are good, especially from Meg Tilly and Christine Elise. A great positive point of "Body Snatchers" is the special effects, which appear in few scenes but are well done and with good gore. "Body Snatchers" isn't the best movie based on Finney's work, but it's worthy and well-produced.

Abel Ferrara is a talented and interesting director. He's made some great films ("bad lieutenant", "china girl") and he always seems to bring out the best in his actors. With "Body Snatchers", Ferrara tackles the task of directing a big budget, studio sci-fi film. And for the most part, he succeeds. Ferrara injects the film with tight closeups and experiments with tilted and off balanced framing. Making the viewer feel like something in the film is off and eschewed. But the film just isn't that exciting. It's more of a slow burner. It never really lives up to it's own potential sadly. But the effects are solid and some of the semi-transformation scenes are disturbing.

The acting for the most part is solid with Meg Tilly giving the best monologue in the film. Gabrielle Anwar is gorgeous to stare at and Billy Wirth (Lost Boys) plays the chopper pilot hero. It could have been a better film, but "Body Snatchers" is entertaining, well-acted, and often creepy. I'm always surprised that an independent director like Ferrara was the guy chosen to helm such a big budget studio film...

Entertaining, but totally unnecessary and uncalled for remake of the classic 1956 movie makes the fatal mistake of moving the action to a military base which has fallen victim to pods that kill everyone in site and replace them with cold emotionless replacements. Very unmemorable fare with an appealing cast and decent visual effects.

Rated R; Nudity, Violence, and Profanity.

The EPA sends Steve Malone (Terry Kinney) to a military base in Alabama for a month. He brings along his daughter Marti (Gabrielle Anwar), his second wife Carol (Meg Tilly) and their son Andy. Marti is scared by a soldier who tells her that "They get you when you sleep". She befriends base commander (R. Lee Ermey)'s wild daughter Jenn Platt (Christine Elise). She falls for chopper pilot Tim Young (Billy Wirth). There are strange things happening and Maj. Collins (Forest Whitaker) asks Steve if it could be chemical toxins. Military personnel delivers mysterious boxes to the Malones. Carol is the first to turn.

The major drawback is that the premise is known to everybody. There is no surprises except for the sci-fi uninitiated. The bathtub scene is pretty good although it's nothing shocking. This is a solid execution. The army base location is pretty good. Body snatchers can be camouflaged by being stoic soldiers and they are pretty creepy. There is nothing wrong with this version but it adds nothing new to the idea.

Everyone knows the plot of THE INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS because they`d already been two adaptations before the 1993 remake . The same basic plot had also been done in the 1955 television serial QUATERMASS 2 which was also remade by Hammer films in the late 1950s and we`ve seen DOCTOR WHO stories like Spearhead From Space that uses a very similar premise . In short the idea had been done to death by the 1990s

On its own BODY SNATCHERS isn`t a terrible film , it is moody and dark as it should be , but it does have a rather mechanical script with a scene featuring some teen angst followed by a mysterious scene followed by a scene featuring teen angst followed by a mysterious scene followed by a scene featuring teen angst . Everyone knows that the plot revolves around alien infiltration so do the audience get to find out why the aliens come to Earth ? Not really , unlike the 50s original there`s no real ambiguity as to the aliens motive or subtext either . I should also point out that aliens taking over military bases makes perfect logical sense if they want to nullify humanity but unfortunately setting the story on a military base where through necessity human individuality is disallowed and where the newly introduced protagonists don`t know the other characters means we have a story that lacks compelling and terrifying drama . We find it somewhat difficult to care about the people involved because they lack individuality to begin with .

As I said it`s by no means terrible but BODY SNATCHERS fails alongside the 1978 version which I rate as the greatest paranoid thriller ever made