The Host

Outside of The Twilight Saga, The Host is Stephanie Meyer's biggest novel and since the success of her supernatural series, her sci-fi novel has been adapted. There is a stronger cast and director for The Host, than the Twilight Saga, but how does it fare on its own terms? In the near future, Earth has been conquered by a parasitic alien race known as The Souls, who implant themselves into human bodies. Melanie Stryder (Saoirse Ronan) is a member of the human resistance who gets captured when she tries to protect her younger brother, Jamie (Chandler Canterbury). Melanie gets implanted with a Soul, called Wanderer, with the aliens planning to use Melanie's memories in order to find the human resistance. As Wanderer explores Melanie's memories, she finds out about Melanie's lover, Jared (Max Irons) and the pair plan an escape to the desert to find the resistance camp. Within the camp, Wanderer falls for another human, Ian (Jake Abel), causing problems for all of them.

Let's get the comparisons with Twilight out the way; yes there is a is love triangle (or should that be a love square?), The Host has a much better lead actress with Ronan then Kirsten Stewart and has a stronger supporting cast, with the likes of William Hurt and Diane Kruger. Andrew Niccol also gives the film more creditability behind the camera, acting as both the writer and director. The Host has interesting ideas that had many potential avenues to explore: but unfortunately it focuses more on the love story instead of all of the other aspects that could have lead to a much more meaningful film.

Ronan does rise above the material and gives very strong performance, as you would expect from her. This is even more remarkable that she has to argue and talk with herself, like Homer Simpson arguing with his own brain. Whilst there was the potential for themes of locked in syndrome as Melanie is trapped inside her own head, fighting to control her own body or going through a more literal, internal conflict. But it turns really silly when she argues with herself over two men, as opposed of having a much more difficult time of having a stronger conflict within her character. Ronan gets battered and beaten throughout the film as she gets hit, verbally abused and discriminated against and yet, still persevere through everything she's up against.

Whilst Ronan does a good job, the two men she is meant to be conflicted about are blank stales. Neither actor has much of a personality or character and they are very indistinguishable from each other. Ronan has no choice but to carry the film, considering that there was nothing going for the main love interests. At least Hurt and Kruger looked like they were having fun with their roles and were highly professional with their performances.

The idea of some sort of insider for an oppressive regime having an awakening, usually because a love interest and ends up turning against their own side has been used before. We have seen it in novels like Nineteen-Eighty Four, Fahrenheit 451 and We and films such as Metropolis and THX-1138. The Host does twist this age old idea in sci-fi, even if the execution was lacking.

The Host had a really strong premise with opportunities to explore multiple themes. They could have been themes about identity, the battle within the mind, split personalities, trust and how humans would survive after this invasion. But like Twilight, the film only touches on these concepts and puts all of its focus in the wrong places.

Much like Twilight, The Host has been criticised for its dialogue and being unintentionally funny. It is true that the film has some bad dialogue, but with some of the moments that were comical that had be intentional, with some of its moments of cultural clash and the bickering between Wanderer and Melanie. There are also some dark moments and there were really refreshing when they do come around.

Niccol is known for being an excellent writer director, making Gattaca and Lord of War and was nominated for an Academy Awards for his screenplay for The Truman Show. The Host is his first adaptation and it felt very rigidly close to the source material. What it results to is a bland experience that has episodic nature, having mini-plots with some developments, instead of a larger overarching story. Looks wise, the film is pretty flat and dull, using nothing but silver chrome for the alien technology, concrete and glass for the buildings and the humans are based in an empty desert environment. The cinematography and the special effects were solid but, Niccol was coasting and he is much more capable then this.

Currently on Rotten Tomatoes, The Host has an 12% rating and seemingly on course to be considered one of the worst films of 2013. Whilst it is hard to argue that The Host is a good movie, it is certainly not terrible: its crime is merely being mediocre, dull and forgettable.

Please visit www.entertainmentfuse.com

Let us establish some facts here 1)The host is not twilight 2) Saoirse Ronan is not Kristen Stewart and 3) (Melanie / Wanda), well we can argue that point, is Bella 3.0t. If I had seen this movie first i would have definitely liked it more than twilight. I love the psychological play in the movie, i liked the story, but I really really really loved Saoirse Ronan in that role. She played it marvelously well, and the director did a great job portraying her two personalities. I can't tell you what it was missing yet; I am not getting payed for this so i am allowed to not know. I encourage you to see it, I was pleasantly surprised. It is a solid 7/10 for me.

I have read the book before the movie came out, but ill give a movie review separate from my book ideals of what it should have been.

As a movie on its own, its good. Not great. They have a little bit of action, and when i say little, i do mean little (under 5 minutes). There are some chrome vehicles, modern looking bland clothing etc. This movie is really about what makes us human. With a love triangle. Not nearly as dominant as it was in twilight. A very interesting premise for a movie. The acting was great, I really loved Jake Abel as Ian O'Shea. Dian kruger added some depth to her seeker attitude. Max Irons I found to be the weakest actor of the bunch, some of his lines were delivered poorly ("so help me"), but what really ties the cast in is William Hurt.He ties them all together, and ads some charm to his cliché lines that makes him very likable. Other noticeable actors were Scot Lawrence (Doc) and Francis Fisher (Maggie), but neither were given the screen time needed to develop any sort of charter, although it would have been ve3ry interesting to see. Nice scenery, and nice shots. The music (and some scene lacking) was great and added a indie touch to it.

Now, based off the book this movie kinda blew it. it was extremely different, cutting out characters and adding things that never were. I personally felt that by making all the Aliens dress the same, drive the same vehicles took away from the depth of the battle between the resistance and aliens. They were supposed to be creative, and find individualism in human hosts, which was very lacking. Instead the movie went in the direction of aliens turning humans into one mass of boring un unique sheep. I also wish they had kept a few of Wanda's experiences from other worlds in the movie, even as flash backs etc. This movie lacked as a sci-fi, as all we see are humans with contacts. It lacked as a romance as her love interest was gone for most of it.

If anything its a good movie about : "what is considered human? a and how shall we react that makes us human".

Not bad, i enjoyed it anyways, and my husband actually stuck around to watch it too lol./

I was invited to "The Host" premiere last night and was very impressed by the film. I'm not a Twilight fan and have not read the book; If anything I was very suspect of this film and for whatever reason even felt negatively towards it (in an eye-rolling manner).

That said, I found myself walking out of the theater quite surprised. And yes, I still have my manhood and haven't transformed into "A Hoster" or a "Hostling" or whatever they may call the new breed. Honestly, I thought it had a wonderfully intriguing plot, good acting, and I was completely engaged. Yes, there was a bit of "romantic cheesiness" but it seemed to handle itself well and even poked fun of itself at times for this fact. I think if it wasn't for the excellent work of Niccol and Saoirse it might have easily slipped into laughable cheese, but amicably doesn't. Plenty of sophisticated action as well as thought-provoking concepts of love, loyalty, perseverance. A well rounded film overall. I especially enjoyed William Hurt but all the acting was on par.

Perhaps the Twilights were focused on teenagers but as a 30something guy I really liked it. I would definitely recommend giving this movie a chance to all. I'm just in the market now for a shiny silver Lotus.

This is a smart movie and I really loved every second of it, I should admit that first 15 minutes of the movie is slow and you should wait...you will see how it gets you!! Trust me and watch this movie with all your sole, you have to listen and understand what is happening. This movie has beautiful scenes and amazing music, OMG the music just melts in you and you lives in there. Finally Saoirse Ronan just killed it, specially the way she tells the story, you are connected to the movie soon and enjoy watching it, I remember her play in "the lovely bones" she is more mature now and always she's been consistent and so talented actress. This is one of my favorite movies ever. 8/10