With all the talk lately of aliens possibly being real, this was a fun film
to watch. It is a British production with a smart script until it falters
badly in the final 15 minutes and it reminded me of those early Hammer sci-fi
films with a quarter of the budget. Or maybe an early Dr Who episode with
an equal budget. The writer Robert Holmes did a few Dr. Who scripts. But
for a film like this you don't really need a lot of money. It is all atmosphere,
a minimum of special effects, a couple costumes, a location to shoot most
of it in, solid acting and some nervous apprehension. It all plays out with
typical British understatement. Oh, it's an alien. Anyone for tea? Not quite
like that but close enough. If I came across an alien- even a cute one like
Yoko Tani - I think I would A. Freak Out or B. Freak Out. And then ask her
what she was doing later. But then I am not British.
Something strange is happening outside of London in a small town. A person
driving runs over an Asian looking man in a rubber suit. He is taken to the
hospital where the doctors take his blood and a x-ray. They quickly realize
he isn't human but he can immediately learn English by touching someone who
speaks the language. He tells them he is from Lystria and was escorting two
prisoners to another planet when they crashed. They have escaped. He needs
to go after them. But a force field shuts down the hospital and the temperature
is rising rapidly. But the alien may not be what he seems. One of the two
other aliens gets in, puts nurse Lim to sleep and takes her place.
Lim is played by the lovely Tsai Chin who was the daughter of Fu Manchu in
all the Christopher Lee movies and later was in The Joy Luck Club, Memoirs
of a Geisha and was Madam Wu in Casino Royale. Her mother and father had
been legendary Peking Opera stars in Shanghai but Tsai left China to study
acting in London. The alien - Yoko Tani - must have touched someone who speaks
English with a Japanese accent. Interesting that the three aliens were Asian
- China, Taiwan and Hong Kong? Probably not! I enjoyed it. Just a little
creepy and mysterious and at 80 minutes just about the right length. The
title is more than a little misleading - not quite an invasion - perhaps
an intrusion.
