“The
Host” is an American science fiction film, adapted from the Stephenie Meyer novel of the same name. Meyer is also the author of the well-known
series, “The Twilight Saga”. I’ve read
all of the “Twilight” books, and like many others, I have to say that the
novels were IMMENSLY better than the movies.
I can’t stand Kristen Stewart, and of course she was cast as the main
female protagonist. But aside from that,
I really feel like they didn’t capture the whole story properly in the films,
and the acting was subpar.
Moving on
from the vampire films… “The Host” was directed by Andrew Niccol, and it stars Saoirse
Ronan, Diane Kruger, Max Irons and Jake Abel.
Saoirse is a very promising young actress, most commonly known for the
roles she played in “The Lovely Bones” and “Hanna”. She is what made the movie for me. I think she is a better actress then what the
movie deserved, but they did right by casting her.
Saoirse plays Melanie Stryder, who is one of the few humans
left on the planet that hasn’t been inhabited
by an intelligent alien species known as "Souls”. Although an incredibly peaceful race, Souls
can only survive by being inserted into a host body, taking control of their
minds. Melanie is captured by this race,
and a Soul named Wanderer is placed inside Melanie’s mind, in an effort to
discover the secret whereabouts of some of the last remaining human
colonies. Wanderer soon realizes that Melanie
has not faded away in consciousness, and she is putting up a grand fight in
order to prevent her family from being found.
As time
passes and Wanderer tries to break Melanie's walls, she begins to feel
sympathetic toward the humans Melanie loves so dearly- her brother Jamie and
her boyfriend, Jared Howe. As Wanderer
and Melanie’s trust builds, they embark on a journey through the desert to find
the resistance, nearly dying in the process.
They are found by Melanie’s uncle, who brings her back to the human
resistance— only to discover that Melanie is now a Soul and everyone, including
Jared, wants her dead.
Wanderer
chooses to help the humans hide from The Seeker (Diane Kruger), who is one of
the main leaders of the Souls. She is
very vindictive towards the human race, and is determined to find and seize the
remaining human survivors. “The Host”
tells an inspiring story of friendship, love, loyalty, and the strength of the
human spirit.
I have never
read “The Host”, so I only hope that the story line was a little fuller. I understand that the movie was just over two
hours long, but I still think that is enough time to develop strong character
relationships. I felt that there wasn’t
enough character development, and the movie jumped into the story too fast
without giving the audience enough time to understand who these people were.
I enjoyed the
movie enough, but I wouldn’t give it a standing ovation. You be the judge for yourself. Check out the trailer, along with an interview with the cast from the movie. Tell me what you think!
imdb.com
