When I heard of a sequel to the Decline of the American Empire, I couldn't wait to see, but what I saw could hardly reach the ingenious original.
Surely the intentions were not bad, the name is the perfect historical choice for a followup, the theme of a capitalist son of a socialist was already kind of obvious, the rest then was completely foreseeable.
While "The Decline" used subtle clauses, often only understandable in the whole movies context to point out certain criticism, "The Invasion" tries to enforce it to you with a hammer, no matter if it adds anything to the movie itself. For example, there is a scene about unused old statues the catholic church wants to sell, which has absolutely nothing to do with the plot of movie itself.
"The Invasion" mostly focuses around the son, who at far too many occasions is demonstrating that money can buy everything - we know the message, we live in the real world - but that son is only used to link some fragments together by being the person on site. Except for the father, the other actors have no role at all, especially the women are not existent.
The movie depicts women as stupid, fun-oriented and at best just looking for the love of their life, which is I find offending. Gone is the pointing out of the discrimination of women, even in the supposedly most progressed parts of the society.
My suggestion, get "The Decline of the American Empire" and enjoy it, and be glad that many people won't notice that there may be a link between those completely different movies.
Surely the intentions were not bad, the name is the perfect historical choice for a followup, the theme of a capitalist son of a socialist was already kind of obvious, the rest then was completely foreseeable.
While "The Decline" used subtle clauses, often only understandable in the whole movies context to point out certain criticism, "The Invasion" tries to enforce it to you with a hammer, no matter if it adds anything to the movie itself. For example, there is a scene about unused old statues the catholic church wants to sell, which has absolutely nothing to do with the plot of movie itself.
"The Invasion" mostly focuses around the son, who at far too many occasions is demonstrating that money can buy everything - we know the message, we live in the real world - but that son is only used to link some fragments together by being the person on site. Except for the father, the other actors have no role at all, especially the women are not existent.
The movie depicts women as stupid, fun-oriented and at best just looking for the love of their life, which is I find offending. Gone is the pointing out of the discrimination of women, even in the supposedly most progressed parts of the society.
My suggestion, get "The Decline of the American Empire" and enjoy it, and be glad that many people won't notice that there may be a link between those completely different movies.
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