The Host
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Max Irons, Diane Kruger, Wiliam Hurt
Directed By: Andrew Niccol
Reviewed by Brendan Dousi
[rating: 1.5/5]
Now that the ‘Twilight Saga’ is done and, hopefully, dusted the studios are free to expand the tween genre to new frontiers. What better way to start than adapting one of ‘Twilight’ author Stephenie Meyer’s other novels to the big screen, only this time instead of vampires she can brutalise the Science Fiction genre. Luckily Sci-Fi veteran Andrew Niccol (Gattaca and The Truman Show) is on the scene as Writer/Director to whip this tween romance into shape. So, has Niccol managed to salvage a passable addition to the hallowed halls of the Sci-Fi genre? Short answer…nope.
The film opens with Melanie (Saoirse Ronan), one of the last true humans in the world, fighting off a group of ‘Souls’. These appear to be regular people, but in fact are host to alien beings with tell-tale glowing eyes. When she sees that capture is imminent, Melanie flings herself out of a window hoping for death instead. Unfortunately the Souls are able to bring her back from the brink with magic healing spray and implant her with one of their own, a Soul called ‘Wanderer’. For some reason this process was depicted as a beautiful, serene experience as opposed to what it actually was; getting the back of your head cut open and being mind-raped by an Alien. While most don’t survive this process, Melanie does by finding strength in wanting to see her brother Jamie (Chandler Canterbury) and lover Jared (Max Irons) again. Assaulting Wanderer with stunted-dialogue riddled memories of her love affair with Jared, she convinces it to help her escape and find their way to her Uncle Jeb’s (William Hurt) house in the desert that houses a community of humans in nearby caves. Unfortunately for them, the extremely determined Soul ‘The Seeker’ (Diane Kruger) is hot on their heels and ready to squash the last of humanity.
A story like this poses a lot of opportunity for excitement and intrigue by exploring this future world and the mysterious alien race that has enslaved humanity. In fact, the scenes that come closest to this excitement and intrigue are the ones that focus on the Aliens. Unfortunately, this is only a small fraction of the film. The rest of The Host is bogged down by the romances it tries to explore. It actually takes the concept of two beings trapped in the one body and then runs in the ‘what if they both like different guys’ direction for 90 minutes of a 2 hour movie. For some reason the entire romance aspect feels extremely forced, almost shoe-horned in, which isn’t really a good sign when it’s the majority of your movie.
The performances come off as a little stunted, but this can be mostly blamed on the constantly atrocious dialogue. Saoirse Ronan did well for what she was given, even though her ‘inner-voice’ conversations between Melanie and Wanderer came off as extremely naff. It just feels like it’s a device that’s more suited to a book rather than a film. William Hurt plays his role as the crazy-genius southern uncle with surprising grace and Diane Kruger manages to pull off ‘bad-ass’ despite the script and her character’s motivations being as murky as tar.
This movie could have worked better if they were brave enough to take it down a less pristine and glossy route. Unfortunately that seems to be what the ‘tween’ audience is calling for these days. So, if you liked the ‘Twilight Saga’ and other stunted supernatural romance films, The Host is probably for you. At least Ronan’s Melanie is a stronger character than the soulless blank slate that was Bella Swan.
