Invasion is a new action thriller directed by Bobby Boermans. Director of App, Claustrofobia and Fissa. Since Fissa, he has focused more on directing TV series in recent years.
In the film, the Dutch ABC Islands are attacked by neighboring country Veragua. Here is a dictator in power who wants revenge on the Netherlands and is therefore attacking the Antilles.
Three young, novice marines must resist and keep a Dutch ambassador safe while this enemy invasion is underway.
In recent years, director Bobby Boermans has been more concerned with directing TV series such as Mocro Mafia and the Golden Hour. His last directing work was with the film Fissa in 2016. Taking up directing work again after eight years does not seem to go so smoothly for him. The story in this film is told very hastily without any real clear explanation or character development.
The enemy invasion also happens a bit too quickly and simply to really take it seriously. You would expect somewhat better defense in the Netherlands Antilles. The film playfully makes it look like the continent of Australia during a simple Risk game. Through too many coincidences they also try to get away with excesses why there is little security or other personnel.
For an action thriller about a military attack, the film lacks real tension. The film often remains on the predictable side. Furthermore, the film lacks a real threatening form of the attacking enemy. This threat is also easily resolved in the end.
Many action scenes are also animated or contain too many edits between the scenes. This can make many of these scenes difficult to follow. You can sometimes only tell the different groups of soldiers apart if you can see the flag of which country they belong to on their uniforms.
The cast members try to perform appropriately in this film, but due to the rushed aspects of the story, most of them have little room to do something with their characters. For example, you don't really know what their names are for most of them, or what their backstory exactly is. Because of this, there are also few good reasons to really care about most of the characters. Some have some small comedic moments, but most of these are also on the predictable side, or have already been given away in the trailers.
