Title: The Host
Directed by: Andrew Niccol
Distributed by: Open Road Films
Release Date: March 29, 2013
Rated: PG 13
Synopsis: When an unseen enemy threatens mankind by taking over their bodies and erasing their memories, Melanie will risk everything to protect the people she cares most about, proving that love can conquer all in a dangerous new world. (Via IMDB)
Shaunta’s Review:
I went to see The Host with my daughter, Adrienne.
I honestly went into this movie ready to love it. I wanted to. In retrospect, as a writer, I ask myself what it is about Stephanie Meyer’s stories that make me want to like them even though I know better. After what feels like a lifetime of Twilight, I know better, but I still thought that the premise was so strong, surely, surely this would be a good movie.
Instead, The Host was basically this: a relatively average teenage girl finds herself thrust into an extraordinary situation–and has beautiful boys fall instantly in love with her.
Sound familiar? Right. To me, too.
Only this time? This time the fairly average girl has two personalities housed in one body. Also she seems to be the very last woman older than twelve and younger than fifty left on Earth. So she doesn’t have to choose between her beautiful boys. No Team Edward and Team Jacob here.
This story had so much potential. It has echoes of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, of course. But instead of exploring the idea of having two very, very different beings trying to occupy one human body, we get a weak, sloppy love triangle. Instead of taking a hard look at what gives a person identity–how much of who are is physical and how much is mental?–we get a weak, sloppy love triangle. Instead of thinking about the problems of two sentient races trying to share the Earth, we get to think about the problems of kissing boys with lips that don’t belong to you.
*sigh*
Because both of the main characters lived inside one body, a good part of the movie was made up of them talking to each other like this: when the actress spoke in stage whispers, she was the alien. When she spoke in one of the worst voice overs I’ve ever heard, she was the human girl.
The Host was boring. It didn’t engage me, and it was worse because I could see how it could have engaged me if it had been done differently. Instead of a love triangle, I would have much, much rather have gotten to know both Melanie and Wanderer better. If the movie had been more about them, and less about the desperate struggle to get to the part with the boys, it would have been so much better.
That being said, The Host did have a couple of high points. Although I didn’t love the love triangle, Jake Abel was great as Ian. If there had to be a love story, this was the one that grabbed me the most. He tries to kill Wanda, who he sees as a major threat, but after getting to know her, he starts to fall for her. Unfortunately this was super rushed, and became almost a joke, because it had to share space with the other love story. Jake Abel was a bright spot in this movie.
I also loved the setting. Melanie’s uncle has built an ingenious little city in a series of ancient cave dwellings. The effect was beautiful, and by far the most successful part of the movie for me.
