Invasion (2021)

:

Season 1
  • Network: Apple TV+
  • Series Premiere Date: Oct 22, 2021
Season #: 3, 2, 1
User Score
3.8

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 45 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 45
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 45
  3. Negative: 24 out of 45
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User Reviews

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  1. Ominous_Hashtag
    Oct 29, 2021
    4
    Agonisingly slow narrative with way too much fixation on every minute of the characters’ emotional state. I have a lot of patience for sensible slow burn buildup but this is ridiculous. Nothing really happens, boring AF.
  2. Ruabadfsh2
    Jan 4, 2022
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Invasion is a sci-fi show with very little sci-fi. This would be ok with better writing, less perplexing systems, and more interesting story beats, which this show doesn’t have. There are many plot pieces left unexplained and they do not do a good job of making the viewer want to hang around for answers if this gets a second season. Acting was decent, especially from several of the younger stars but the writing did them little justice. Overall I wish I would have given this show a pass and can’t recommend it to others.… Expand
  3. HaloFever
    Jul 26, 2023
    3
    This show is a huge waste of money and talent. The cinematography and effects are great. No problem there. But why waste it on such a badly written show?

    The worst sin of this show’s writing is that it is boring. The pacing is too slow. The scenes and characters are too familiar. The “Lord of the Flies” bit is the most egregious misuse of familiar themes. Maybe 20 percent of this show is    This show is a huge waste of money and talent. The cinematography and effects are great. No problem there. But why waste it on such a badly written show?

    The worst sin of this show’s writing is that it is boring. The pacing is too slow. The scenes and characters are too familiar. The “Lord of the Flies” bit is the most egregious misuse of familiar themes. Maybe 20 percent of this show is interesting. I found myself hitting fast forward most of the time.

    The second worst sin is having no likeable characters. The least likeable is the soldier who likes to shove his gun into everyone’s face. From there it is a 3 way tie between the insufferable tweens, the exasperated mom, and the stuck up communications engineer. Unimportant characters will often tell the audience how great the 4 main characters are. They say things like “Only you could have saved him!”, just in case you the dummy in the audience failed to recognize the main character’s importance. The themes of the show are all over the place. Sometimes the populace is just too ignorant and should listen to the smart, thinking main character. Other times the scientific community is at fault, and the dumb, shouting protagonist is right. Never do we see the characters rally together to fight the common enemy. What is the point of this show? Maybe the point is that streaming services are willing to shovel money into a show regardless of its quality.

    Like almost all failed shows, the fault is in the writing. Apple TV shouldn’t have let this gestate beyond the initial scripts. The writing is just so bad in so many obvious ways. Has no one at Apple TV been to Oklahoma? Did no one ever try to book at hotel room during a mass evacuation? It’s not like we have no way to ground this story in reality. The gulf states have mass evacuations every hurricane season. Did no one think that audiences would tire of 5 episodes about grief? Do better, Apple.    … Expand
  4. aitkenjw
    Oct 23, 2021
    1
    I wanted to like it but it is so bad I gave up. It’s like a really bad TV movie extended into a series to add to the pain
  5. norbertosica
    Oct 24, 2021
    3
    First 10 minutes are just ok. Then... it's a drama tv show without any science or fiction. It's boring and slow. It's like Apple just saying "We are rich. We have plenty of money filming non sense TV shows just for a few critics".
  6. Kdk2626
    Nov 19, 2021
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I wanted to like this, but it’s cliched, irritatingly slow and has huge plot holes. Unfriendly aliens are coming (there’s a spoiler in the title), they just don’t come fast enough and we’re left watching the plodding storylines of a host of stereotypical characters. A bunch of brattish English kids, a troubled US soldier with anger issues in Afghanistan, a family with an adulterous father and a mother who is quite happy to steal cars and strand other kids ( she then disappears off to help in a field hospital until she suddenly remembers she has her own family hiding in an attic) and a brilliant - the smartest - technician from the Japanese space program. She’s a bit rebellious, she knows better than all her bosses and she’s always right. If this is a representative sample of humanity, then long live the aliens. Episode 6 is filmed almost entirely in the dark - but the plot is so hackneyed that you don’t need to see what’s going on, as it’s been done far better in countless other movies and tv shows.… Expand
  7. Mken43
    Dec 5, 2021
    2
    The story could be interesting but my god the writing is terrible. I'm a mother, not a doctor....are we still sticking to these 50s stereotypes of women. I couldn't care less what happens to any of these characters.
  8. Glagaire
    Oct 24, 2021
    0
    Have you ever watched an exciting sci-fi invasion film and thought "I wonder whats happening in the background while this is going on? I guess people are going about their everyday, boring lives not even knowing that Will Smith or Dwayne Johnson are getting into all sorts of hair-raising adventures." If so, someone made a show just for you. Perhaps somewhere in the 'Invasion' universeHave you ever watched an exciting sci-fi invasion film and thought "I wonder whats happening in the background while this is going on? I guess people are going about their everyday, boring lives not even knowing that Will Smith or Dwayne Johnson are getting into all sorts of hair-raising adventures." If so, someone made a show just for you. Perhaps somewhere in the 'Invasion' universe there are exciting things happening but its not with any of the main characters. Snapshots of mild drama from a half-dozen different locations none of which have any clear or interesting plot-line and around which we only have the vaguest hints that 'something unusual' is happening. How can so much money be thrown into a project that so clearly doesn't have an audience looking for what it's selling?… Expand
  9. Simon_Says
    Oct 23, 2021
    0
    I have a hard time explaining how bad it is. I tried binge watching the first 3 episodes, couldn't do it without constantly fast-forwarding the boring parts AND THERE ARE A LOT. In the first 3 epîsodes, there are maybe 5, 10 minutes tops of ok'ish TV. Just forget it. It's horrible.
  10. swiftouch
    Nov 4, 2021
    0
    Off the rails bad. Slow speed train wreck. Emphasis on slow. Glacial ice age speed drama where nothing happens. I'm hoping the aliens win and the show comes to a swift end. Not one single character is likable. Bad screenwriting. Can't believe apple actually went to production with a script and story line this bad.
  11. calebiam
    Oct 24, 2021
    0
    This show is super cringe. If this gets renewed for another season, I’m going to be shocked. It’s boring. The writing is super cringe.
  12. MovieTurtle
    Nov 22, 2021
    2
    A show without substance and ultimately without Apple's money would have already been cut.
    Every single character in the show is huge caricature or stereotype who's purpose appears to be to hype up the story and show how inclusive the show writers are but ultimately does the opposite. The CGI jumps from amazing to 3rd grade level for no reason. Story is bland and boring with a lack of good    A show without substance and ultimately without Apple's money would have already been cut.
    Every single character in the show is huge caricature or stereotype who's purpose appears to be to hype up the story and show how inclusive the show writers are but ultimately does the opposite. The CGI jumps from amazing to 3rd grade level for no reason. Story is bland and boring with a lack of good pacing to make it seem intentional. Constant bait and switch to make you think something is happening, but it's not. The one good thing it has going for it is the sound design.    … Expand
  13. Xy3la2
    Nov 12, 2021
    0
    I was pushing myself to continue the show very hard till i saw episode six it is so stupid and over reacting that made me anger +how by the name of allah "Ahmed" have a son called "luke" we don't do that that show how the writers haven't do their job to even know what they're writing about.....!
  14. LunaticInk
    Oct 22, 2021
    0
    This show is so poorly thought out its comical. It's like a Dollar Store "Signs" mixed with Independence day with some Twitter-level political commentary thrown on for extra fun. You will find yourself asking if it's someone's high school project.
  15. UncleWillard
    Oct 22, 2021
    0
    Damn you trailer makers! This looked promising, but reading these reviews, I'm afraid to even turn it on for fear of losing IQ points. Surely it can't be as bad as Y Last Man?
  16. aantik4444
    Oct 23, 2021
    0
    Yet another one with a budget the size of a small country's GDP while seemingly written by a 15-year-old. Despite what some reviews I read have lead me to believe, it's not the supposed complexity of the story that's the problem, it's the writing that's derivative and, well, bad. If you think the whiny mother storyline in the first episode is awful, wait until you get to Harry Porter andYet another one with a budget the size of a small country's GDP while seemingly written by a 15-year-old. Despite what some reviews I read have lead me to believe, it's not the supposed complexity of the story that's the problem, it's the writing that's derivative and, well, bad. If you think the whiny mother storyline in the first episode is awful, wait until you get to Harry Porter and GI Joe in the second one. Horrendous acting across the board too. This is, sadly, unwatchable.… Expand
  17. Meta-Criticus
    Oct 25, 2021
    1
    Hey Apple. why is this so boring? Great trailers but you allow the showrunners to make something so twee and dull. Its about alien and an invasion but you waste episodes on Nothing. Dull. Even worse than most of the dreck on Netflix.
  18. Laugh002
    Jul 27, 2023
    0
    Slow so idiotically slow and every forking moment is just an excuse for more drama but you won't see anything about aliens or scifi even, ultra low budget.
  19. ARSM
    Nov 18, 2021
    6
    There is something completely wrong with this series.
    It tries to be Pearl-Harbor, telling the story of a great tragedy from a simple man perspective.
    But also keeps it too slow and too minimalistic most of the time. The tragedy advances, the fear growth, but the real story stutters. So, it becomes hard to enjoy tiny-tragedies, where big things are somewhere behind the horizon. And    There is something completely wrong with this series.
    It tries to be Pearl-Harbor, telling the story of a great tragedy from a simple man perspective.

    But also keeps it too slow and too minimalistic most of the time.
    The tragedy advances, the fear growth, but the real story stutters.

    So, it becomes hard to enjoy tiny-tragedies, where big things are somewhere behind the horizon. And what you see barely matters.    … Expand
  20. Moxiejeff
    Oct 22, 2021
    4
    First episode is great. No idea why this new show is getting low reviews. Extremely smart, beautifully filmed.
  21. Usrnam
    Jan 20, 2022
    10
    very stylish and atmospheric. sometimes moments are disbalanced but overall amazing
  22. Bardia_89
    Oct 26, 2021
    10
    Great acting. Amazing storyline superb sound and music. A tv series done to perfection.
  23. woollyshaft
    Jun 27, 2023
    8
    My favorite parts of the alien invasion stories, is when we get to know the characters before the "event", and then we get to watch as they come to understand what is happening. Invasion nails this aspect, as it develops a wide set of characters from around the globe, and follows their experience - akin to World War Z (book, not the movie). If you're into aliens with laser rifles flyingMy favorite parts of the alien invasion stories, is when we get to know the characters before the "event", and then we get to watch as they come to understand what is happening. Invasion nails this aspect, as it develops a wide set of characters from around the globe, and follows their experience - akin to World War Z (book, not the movie). If you're into aliens with laser rifles flying around in space ships blowing up the city, this probably isn't going to be for you....at least until you get through the first few episodes.… Expand
  24. S_Jonas
    Nov 6, 2021
    9
    Good science fiction about alien invasion. Engaging story and characters. Interesting perspectives from american military posted in Arabic desert, japanese space mission, teenagers in Britain and american family.
    Well made. Best in its category scince long time.
  25. RayInTheLevant
    Oct 25, 2021
    8
    I hope the administrators of this site investigate the source of these unusually low and way too blatant negative reviews/contributors of this new series here. The intent and motive (obviously!) is ulterior to an honest review or opinion of it.

    I have never seen or noticed such blatant fake information on this or other Movie/TV review platforms until now. Must be some really scared    I hope the administrators of this site investigate the source of these unusually low and way too blatant negative reviews/contributors of this new series here. The intent and motive (obviously!) is ulterior to an honest review or opinion of it.

    I have never seen or noticed such blatant fake information on this or other Movie/TV review platforms until now. Must be some really scared people out there about Apple entering the business.

    Very sad to see this form of ethics invading the industry though such platforms. Hope it backfires on whoever thought/thinks this is a good idea.    … Expand
  26. davgv
    May 26, 2023
    9
    One of the best science-fiction shows in the last decade. Very good atmosphere and acting with a slow pace story telling. Recommended 100% to "The Leftovers" fans.

Awards & Rankings

20
#20 Most Discussed TV Season of 2021

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
51

Mixed or average reviews - based on 15 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 15
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 15
  3. Negative: 2 out of 15
  1. Radio Times
    Reviewed by: David Craig
    Dec 3, 2021
    60
    While not being a particularly exciting slice of sci-fi, nor the best-written drama you’ll find on television this year – or even this month – Invasion is still an oddly watchable show. Its hodgepodge of disparate storylines work better than they have any right to.
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  2. Polygon
    Reviewed by: Joshua Rivera
    Nov 10, 2021
    60
    Like This Is Us, Invasion is mostly interested in an emotional connection with its characters, rather than in the trappings of science fiction — and it isn’t afraid of doing a little manipulation to get there.
    Read full review
  3. IndieWire
    Reviewed by: Steve Greene
    Oct 22, 2021
    42
    There are precious few pieces of “Invasion” that don’t feel like they’re already riffing on pre-established genre ideas. It’s that all of these storylines, when added together, make up a whole that’s almost completely devoid of any emotional anchor.
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