For die-hard Stephenie Meyer fans, The Host has been a long-awaited movie adaptation. It premiered on March 29 and, while some aspects of the movie were really good, others fell flat.
The Host is a movie about an alien invasion. The aliens, also known as souls, invade the human body through incisions made on the back of the neck, and gain control over all the body’s functions. But there are some humans who resist and are able to stay alive internally. For instance, the main character in the movie is named Melanie Stryder and, when her body gets invaded, she resists and is able to communicate with the alien that invaded her body through thoughts. Melanie is also a very strong resister and is able to gain control of parts of her body when the alien, known as Wanderer or Wanda for short, is distracted or Melanie is emotionally driven to take control. The movie doesn’t focus on all the science-fiction elements, but rather the human and alien relationships and the emotions of both sides.
The human race is close to extinction and Melanie, her brother Jamie, and her significant other Jared, were planning on joining Melanie’s Uncle Jeb in a hidden and safe place, which is later revealed to be a series of connected underground caves. They were on route to the safe place when a group of Seekers (police officers) captured Melanie and inserted the soul Wanderer into her body. Wanderer was given the task of searching through Melanie’s memories in order to find the caves that one of the last groups of humans was located. Wanda winds up having the same feelings for the people Melanie felt strongly for, so Wanda feels love for both Jared and Jamie, and she feels bad for the human race. Wanda runs away from a particular Seeker and finds the group of humans. The humans slowly learn to trust Wanda, but that particular Seeker refuses to stop searching for Wanda and the group of humans. The Seeker brings trouble and sacrifice along with her.
The Host has an amazing cast, including Golden Globe and Oscar nominated Saoirse Ronan (Hanna, The Lovely Bones), Screen Actors Guild Award winner Diane Kruger (National Treasure, Inglourious Basterds), Chandler Canterbury (Knowing), British actor Max Irons (Red Riding Hood), and Jake Abel (Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, I Am Number Four). The Host was also directed by Oscar nominated Andrew Niccol (Gattaca, In Time). The Host had all the ingredients for a great movie—good actors, a well-known sci-fi director and a great story—but something was off.
The fight scene between Kyle and Wanda was weak and quick. There wasn’t really any build-up to it, and it was hard to figure out what was happening while they were fighting. There were also some issues with characters’ relationship development. There’s a romance between Ian and Wanda that seemed too sudden and too forced. One second, Ian is saying he likes Wanda, and the next he’s proclaiming his love for her. It was all just too rushed. It was also hard to tell how much time was passing throughout the movie. Saoirse’s character wore similar outfits throughout the film, which added to the atmosphere of the caves, but was also confusing because it wasn’t clear if it was a new day or just a mistake made by the filmmaker.
Despite all of my nit-picky complaints, I would definitely go see it again. I was a fan of the book, so that may have clouded my judgment a bit, but I think overall the movie was ok
