The Invasion...they're here!

Some days it's fun to knock off and take in some mindless entertainment.

The next movie in queue at the Grove was "The Invasion" so I snapped up a ticket and slipped into my plush chair as the credits started to roll.

From the offset the stylistic pace was able to draw a captive audience in.

Without hesitation, the suspenseful tale unfolded before our watchful eyes, as we sat on the edge of our seats.

A space shuttle mysteriously plummets from the heavens and crashes to the earth below.

Puzzled scientists stumble on a curious organism - other-worldly - in nature?

Perhaps, but they can't quite put their finger on it.

But wait - one Doctor manages to - and suddenly an odd transformation takes place that night as he falls into a deep sleep.

At this juncture, the audience is introduced to a well-manicured, professionally-coiffed woman, played convincingly by Nicole Kidman.

Ah, Kidman has come a long way since her first big movie entrance (she of freckled face and tangled hair) opposite Tom Cruise in the Days of Thunder.

Mindful that she's a mature actress now (thank God the frizzies are gone) she appears here in the role of a psychiatrist with a look that is decidedly right for the role of a busy working professional.

When a patient laments that her husband is not "himself", she prescribes some meds; obviously, the woman is having an episode, she thinks to herself.

But when she strides down the street later, and spies the odd behavior of pedestrians all around her, it is evident to her keen eye that something more ominous is afoot.

Daniel Craig's character, who is pining for a relationship with Kidman's, plays a down-to-earth masculine guy who comes to her assistance.

He's an uncomplicated supportive foil, but a bit on the boring side.

Just what the film needed, a touch of sanity somewhere.

If you're familiar with the film - The Body Snatchers - then you'll be wise to what's going down about a quarter of a way through the thriller.

But the truth of the matter is, there's nothing original in this script.

In fact, the body of another idea integral to the premise was also lifted from an earlier sci-fi pic of the fifties. Once you've pretty much fathomed that, just sit back and take in the ride.

Material like this, in the hands of a director other than Oliver Hirschbiegel, may have fallen victim to high melodrama.

But under Kidman's skin, is handled with aplomb.

When zombie-like characters lope down the streets after her, spewing a virus-like vomit in her wake, she manages to keep a straight face and walks a tightrope between suspense and belief.

It's the same old story, though.

Alien gets human, alien loses human, alien -

Plausible, no; but for ten bucks, what the heck.

Gee, what's this flaky piece of skin on my face?