Les âmes vagabondes

In the future, Earth has been invaded by aliens that take over the human bodies with their souls to live a perfect life in a world without crime, violence or war and with the environment restored. However, a few humans still resist to the invaders and they are chased by The Seekers.

When the teenager Melanie Stryder (Saoirse Ronan) that belongs to the resistance is captured by the leader of The Seekers (Diane Kruger), the alien Wanderer takes over her body expecting to find where the humans are hidden. But Melanie is still in her body and resists to the Wanderer and asks her to not tell to The Seeker what she has learned to protect her brother Jamie (Chandler Canterbury), her boyfriend Jared Howe (Max Irons) and her friends. Wanderer feels empathy for her and keeps the secret but The Seeker decides to put Wanderer in another body and take her body. Melanie asks Wanderer to flee to meet her friends in the middle of the desert.

When Melanie's uncle Jeb (William Hurt) finds her dehydrated in the desert, he brings Melanie to his hideout and calls her Wanda. He also protects her from a group led by Ian O'Shea (Jake Abel) but along the days, Ian falls in love with Wanda. Meanwhile The Seeker is obsessed hunting Wanda down in the desert.

"The Host" is a movie with wrong marketing that misguide the viewers that expect to see a tense or full of action sci-fi in the style of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" and find a pleasant romance. The plot is developed in low pace disappointing a great number of viewers. But the story is actually beautiful despite the flaws.

The beginning is too rushed and there is a poor development of Melanie. It does not make sense why Jeb's group wants to kill Melanie when they find her in the desert if Doc is trying to save the humans removing the alien "souls" from them. If the aliens are so peaceful, why is The Seeker so evil? My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Hospedeira" ("The Host")

Note: On 12 March 2023, I saw this film again.

The Host has an intriguing conceit. It is about a post-apocalypse where aliens take control on every human body then the remaining unpossessed humans fear them despite that these aliens only want peace. The story might have an idea that the humans could be the real enemy here or it's just both of them. The Sci-Fi bits are pretty interesting but it doesn't end there. It's based on a young adult novel so definitely there will be teenage hormones scattered around the context. It has romance that is suppose to save their world and change their lives, but once again just like any other young adult film, the romance is nothing more than a bunch of good looking people falling in love and doing romantic cliché stuff. Love may not be a problem to these stories but this romance is terribly empty. They're just making out and saying ridiculously cheesy lines. It would have been a fascinating idea but it just can't get away from its typical teen angst.

It is kind of similar to the recent young adult novel based film, Warm Bodies, except the antagonists in The Host are virtuous beings instead of ravenous monsters. It seems that both stories have the same morality. Humans are not the most peaceful beings either and maybe the order and mentality of both sides are the reason why they couldn't get along. When it goes to the romance, it says that Melanie and Wanda's love between the boys might revolt their world's condition. But it strays from its plot giving us a lousily told story and romance. Mostly the romance. It is noticeable that most of their "love" only rely on their lips. Which means they kiss a lot. We do not get to know much about why they care for each other, other than being one of the last normal human beings of their age. It is also filled with plot holes because of course it wants to appeal teens for the endless love that didn't even work. It is directed by Andrew Niccol who is somewhat a Sci-Fi expert but it looks like he's afraid that too much Sci-Fi than romance might disappoint these children. He could have been more indulgent.

The film has a solid cast but not all of them standout. Saoirse Ronan plays two roles here and she fills enough heart on both characters. Diane Kruger looks like she is enjoying playing the film's villain. The roles of Max Irons and Jake Abel seems to be only designed for kissing, slapping, and sometimes strangling, leaving William Hurt being the only likable gentleman of the picture.

The script explains some points of the concept which is fine in that way in spite of the plot holes but it gets terrible on the romance. There are dialogues that may get way out of hand, ends up being laughable. Even more laughable is one scene when the protagonist tries to wake up her subconscious by kissing her boyfriend. I don't know if I should blame anyone about it. I mean what choice does she have? Still, it's ridiculous. The film is at least stunning. It gets to explore something magnificent around. The exteriors serves a lot of intrigue to its world. It features shiny cars and choppers. Most of the action are well shot even though the action itself isn't really that interesting but everything in the film looks good.

The Host is not interesting enough. It thematically talks about peace and stuff. Well, you can make peace out of love but the film only shows kissing and I think there is more in love than just making out. Hormonally, this could be a perfect escapism for teens. An apocalyptic world about relationships of these good looking couples with fast awesome cars crashing on the road. But the story seems to offer more. Again, they are unable to show it because the only fan service for adaptations of teen books is to follow every single sequence from the book because they love comparing. Too bad, they could have also shown what's behind the words as well. The Host is another victim of a generic young adult film adaptation that doesn't understand much of the meaning of the story, and throw away the most bland of all romances.

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

This is very soft science fiction storyline meant for a teen audience including a silly love triangle.

This thing is so full of tropes and shallow characters there is nothing unique that can be said about it.

Its ok in that it's not particular boring and I'm sure if your a young female teenager it will resonate more strongly but for the general populace, there are far more entertaining movies available.

The ending really ruins this. It's stretches the imagination that humans are the most special species the aliens have ever encounter and that they change everything. We are the only ones who fight back within the mind. It's self indulgent nonsense.

The Host is a science fiction romance adventure based on the bestselling novel of the same title written by Stephenie Meyer, author of the ¨Twilight¨ saga. The majority of the human race have been possessed by unseen invaders, leaving only small pockets of "wild" humans like Melanie Stryder (Saoirse Ronan) scattered throughout the world. Upon being captured by the invaders, Melanie finds her body claimed by Wanderer, a spirit that has been warned of the difficulties that come with claiming a human host. In the process of inhabiting Melanie, Wanderer is deeply affected by her vivid dreams and memories. And when Melanie fights to maintain control of her mind even as Wanderer possesses her body, the sympathetic entity joins her on a journey that will reveal the unfathomable depths of human love and compassion. Melanie is chased by the Seeker (Diane Kruger) in order to discover the location of a pocket of non-assimilated humans. Wanderer does share with the Seeker that Melanie was traveling with her younger brother, Jamie (Chandler Canterbury) and her boyfriend, Jared Howe (Max Irons), to find Melanie's uncle Jeb (William Hurt) in the desert. You will be one of us !. Love never dies !. Choose to believe !. Choose to fight !. Choose to love !. Choose to listen !. Choose your destiny !.

The film is intensely romantic , but Wanderer and Melanie's twisted love stories with his young lovers turn out to be ridiculous and bewildering at times. Concerning a body-snatching alien takes possession of a young woman who refuses to surrender her mind, and together they seek out the man they both love . Here writer and director Andrew Niccol : Gattaca (1997), In Time (2011) adapts Twilight author Stephenie Meyer's New York Times best-seller giving a passable and acceptable rendition but average . Thinking woman's sci-fi (read : no spaceships or explosions) along the lines of love stories like ¨Twilight¨. This infamous The Host version displays a great main and support cast providing nice interpretations , stars the usually serious Saoirse Ronan along with Diane Kruger , William Hurt , Frances Fisher , Chandler Canterbury , Max Irons , Scott Lawrence , Emily Browning , Bokeem Woodbine, among others .

It contains glamorous and colorful cinematograpy by cameraman Roberto Schaefer. As well as New Age and metaphysical score by Antonio Pinto . The motion picture was original but heavily directed Andrew Niccol . He directed television commercials for over 10 years prior to his directing debut Gattaca (1997) . This great director , expert on Sci-Fi and fantasy movies started as a prestigious writer in Truman Show . But Niccol actually made his screenwriting and directing debut with Gattaca (1997) , a superb, well-acted sci-fi movie that raised issues of genetic engineering in a totalitarian environment. The plot of his films often revolve around artificial reality, such as gene manipulation in Gattaca (1997), the life of "Truman" in Truman Show (1998), the computer-generated actress in Simone (2002), the nature of aging in "In Time" and the fantastic extraterrestrial romance of "The Host". Rating : 5.5/10 . Passable and decent , but overlong and a bit boring .