Director: Andrew Niccol
Year Released: 2013
Rating: 1.5
An alien species has once again taken over the residents of Earth (ho-hum) by a process that involves shoving glowing white caterpillar things into formerly human brains that gives everyone Paul Newman Eyes - one of the few remaining humans, Melanie (Saoirse Ronan) gets captured and implanted with a strange supernatural soul named "Wanderer" (Wanda for short), except Melanie's consciousness is not completely eradicated and Melanie/Wanda naturally seeks out other humans (who don't trust her). As if the rehashed plot (once again, Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Stepford Wives get reused) and poorly worked out inner mechanics aren't intolerable enough, the Young Girl Torn Between Two Men storyline is there to 'appeal' to teenage girls (also see: Meyer's equally egregious Twilight saga) as Ronan has the task of comically fighting with and talking to herself like a pretty little schizophrenic - there are nuggets of terrible dialogue ("It's not me you like, it's this body!") atrocious enough to turn the whole enterprise into a bad joke. Only Diane Kruger's vengeful Seeker and William Hurt's wizened Jeb make much of an impression - Niccol, who also directed Gattaca, is just as icy as his post-human architecture.
