invasion of the body snatchers

With Benicio Del Toro ready to debut as Lawrence Talbot in Joe Johnston's The Wolfman tomorrow, it's time to pay tribute to transformations. When Lon Chaney Jr. played The Wolf Man in 1941, the physical transformation was effected through make-up and dissolves. But the idea wasn't just that Lawrence Talbot was changed physically, but that his interior life changed as well. All the make-up and special effects in the world can't hide a character who doesn't grow (or devolve) from the experience.

Science fiction opens up the possibilities considerably, expanding the idea of cross-species commingling. Here are my top ten sci-fi transformations, listed (almost) in alphabetical order.

1. Sam Worthington in Avatar
Jake Sully is a broken man in more ways than one, rendered paraplegic during his military service and broken of spirit as a result. He doesn't take much convincing to accept a mission that may earn him an operation to regain the use of his limbs. Little does he know that it's his increasingly intimate dealings with the Na'vi that will transform him body and soul. He may appear to be nine feet tall and blue, he may wag a new tail, but deep inside, it is his very essence that is changing.

2. William Hurt in Altered States
Eddie Jessup is a brilliant scientist, far more interested in expanding his mind and consciousness than worrying about his physical being. Yet the hours he spends floating in a sensory-deprivation tank -- not to mention the drugs -- begin to have an effect upon his body as well, drilling down far deeper than even the brilliant Jessup could ever have anticipated. The result is one of the more bizarre apparitions to appear on screen.

The immiment release of the intense modern-day family drama Brothers may not make you think instantly of science fiction, but Jim Sheridan's film, starring Jake Gyllenhall, Tobey Maguire, and Natalie Portman, is a remake of Susanne Bier's original from just five years ago, and that got me to thinking about sci-fi remakes, which have mostly had the good sense to wait a longer period of time before cashing in on the original visions.

With all due respect to my friend and colleague Eugene Novikov, who compiled a list of his favorite sci-fi remakes for Cinematical last year, around the time that the cringe-inducing remake The Day the Earth Stood Still came out, my Top Ten is much better (or, at least, different, though we overlap on a couple of picks). To make things more interesting, I've included a few unofficial remakes to round out the list.

1. The Thing (1982)

John Carpenter's remake, still based on a novella by John W. Campbell Jr., cuts to the bone. The 1951 original, credited to Christian Nyby but popularly understood to be under the control of producer Howard Hawks, is visually striking and narratively propulsive, but Carpenter's version, with a precisely-written script by Bill Lancaster and featuring a superb musical score by Ennio Morricone, creates a moody, nerve-jangling atmosphere from the outset, and slowly sets out to dismantle the very idea of uber-macho men crumbling -- and occasionally persevering -- under the crushing weight of fear. Kurt Russell, Keith David, Richard Dysart, Wilford Brumley, and Donald Moffat stand out among the uniformly strong cast. With each viewing, Carpenter's remake reveals more layers, while the original remains firmly lodged in its time and place.

We've seen the ads, we've seen a trailer, but we really have no idea what to expect from this week's release of Gamer. Except that it's directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, the madmen of action cinema, and it's set in the near future, and it concerns an online game that involves mind control. Cool! If we're lucky, maybe we can figure out what's happening before a migraine sets in from all the on-screen insanity sure to be unleashed from the people behind Crank and Crank High Voltage.

Focusing on the mind control angle for a moment led me to think about all the great sci-fi movies that have played around with the idea of remote control mental gymnastics. The adolescent brain immediately seizes on the possibilities inherent in stripping unsuspecting young ladies down to the buff (thanks a lot, Zapped!), yet the more mature thinker wonders about deeper issues, like what to do with a woman who will only go out with you because you gave her no choice.

1. X-Men
Bryan Singer wove the mind control battle between Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Ian McKellan) into the fabric of the story. You could enjoy Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) discovering a fuller range of his powers, sympathize with the desperate plight of Rogue (Anna Paquin), admire Jean Grey (Famke Janssen), or simply try and stare through the body paint covering Mystique (Rebecca Romijn). Lurking in the background, though, was a duel between good and evil, with Professor Xavier favoring gentle nudges in the right direction and Magneto ready to wage an all-out war.