Usually when aliens invade our planet, we manage to pull off the upset and survive after sustaining some serious damage, because we have resilient MOVIE STARS leading the charge and they don’t, e.g., “War of the Worlds,” “Independence Day,” “Signs,” various MCU and DC movies, etc., etc. Our record is definitely over .500.
Occasionally, though, the invaders succeed and take over the planet, which is the case in writer-director Cory Finley’s ambitious and admirably bold but ultimately repetitive and underwhelming “Landscape with Invisible Hand.” Based on the novel of the same name by M.T. Anderson, the third effort from the talented Finley (“Thoroughbreds,” “Bad Education”) features some impressively staged sequences and terrific performances, but awkwardly straddles the fence between biting social commentary and dark humor, never quite finding its footing and ending on a curiously flat note.
