The Host lives up to the author's glory name in making a goofy, ridiculous and tasteless romantic silver screen adaptation for all the teenage girls around the world. It is an insult to this group of people because I believe they deserved better than this. After five torturing Twilight-saga experiences, I always assumed that I would be in the state of highly immune against this kind of poptart. Perhaps, I was wrong after all! The trailer for The Host sells the different perspective of the movie - car chase, gun fight and science experiments. But the truth is that for those who are familiar with this best selling novel - it is romantic first, sci-fi second and actions last. So, if The Twilight Saga did the job by representing the works of Stephenie Meyer in such a torturous way, then what does this movie represent after all? The Host cements that fact. Any movie adaptation of this author's works are not workable.
Genre: Romance/Science Fiction/Drama
Classification: 18
Release Date: 4 April 2013
Running Time: 125 minutes
Distributor: Nusantara Edaran Filem (from Open Road Films)
Director: Andrew Niccol
Screenplay: Andrew Niccol
Starring: Saoirse Ronan , Jake Abel, Max Iron, William Hurt, Diane Kruger, Chandler Canterbury
Plot: What if everything you love was taken from you in the blink of an eye? "The Host" is the next epic love story from the creator of the "Twilight Saga," worldwide bestselling author, Stephenie Meyer. When an unseen enemy threatens mankind by taking over their bodies and erasing their memories, Melanie Stryder (Saoirse Ronan) will risk everything to protect the people she cares most about - Jared (Max Irons), Ian (Jake Abel), her brother Jamie (Chandler Canterbury) and her Uncle Jeb (William Hurt) , proving that love can conquer all in a dangerous new world.
Story wise, in a post-invasion world, the earth is healing but the mankind is fading away. An unseen extraterrestrial force is taking over the human body and erasing their memories, commenting that the human does not deserve to simply to live on this planet. When an alien soul, called "Wanderer" is implanted inside Melanie Stryder (Saoirse Ronan) to locate the last of the remaining humans, something unexpected happens. Melanie survives the body invasion and attempted to gain a control of her own body. A conflict of trust occurs but Wanderer and Melanie must work together to protect the peoples they cared for. They reach out to the desert, determine to find the surviving human leader Jeb (William Hurt), little brother Jamie (Chandler Canterbury) and lover Jared (Max Irons).
With Andrew Niccol is the man behind the storyboard and the camera, I do not believe that this movie will get any worst. Practically, the New Zealander's work in Gattaca is highly regarded with a self-described science fiction with objectivity and visionary that was mesmerizing. But coming off from the same man who brought in some of the great idea in our time, for example in In Time where he introduced the concept of time as the universal currency and life, Niccol is also a bad executionist. In The Host, he committed the same mistakes again. The Host has the concept in place but the terrible plot and direction are the deterrents here. I am not sure if the female counterparts would enjoy this or not.
The Host is easily recognized for having one of the worst plot of the year. While the movie follows the exact niche of story and characters that are presented in the novel, the movie is dreary, slow and aggrieving. The fact that it hinges so much of the elements from Jack Finney's 1954 hit "The Body Snatcher" is not helping the cause, not even a bit to try to improve the atmosphere. The plot spends most of the time going the unnecessary drama, leaving the back stories or at least the important one, vacant! But the biggest sin in this overlong 124 minutes tales of "yet another confused girl trapped in a triangle love" is the over-dramatization of the plots. The whole time when Wanda and Melanie are having conversation, it gets awkwardly stupid. Bad acting is prominently making the whole romantic tale between the three characters; inept, dull and of course, over-dramatic.
In the end, The Host is over-dramatic romance thriller that fires empty rounds of ineffective love story, non-engaging science fiction element and characters we do not care for. As if Twilight is bad, this is worse. I feel that Stephenie Meyer regrets that she cannot divide Bella equally for Edward and Jacob, leaving Jacob the real loser - and she is making an amend here!
Classification: 18
Release Date: 4 April 2013
Running Time: 125 minutes
Distributor: Nusantara Edaran Filem (from Open Road Films)
Director: Andrew Niccol
Screenplay: Andrew Niccol
Starring: Saoirse Ronan , Jake Abel, Max Iron, William Hurt, Diane Kruger, Chandler Canterbury
Plot: What if everything you love was taken from you in the blink of an eye? "The Host" is the next epic love story from the creator of the "Twilight Saga," worldwide bestselling author, Stephenie Meyer. When an unseen enemy threatens mankind by taking over their bodies and erasing their memories, Melanie Stryder (Saoirse Ronan) will risk everything to protect the people she cares most about - Jared (Max Irons), Ian (Jake Abel), her brother Jamie (Chandler Canterbury) and her Uncle Jeb (William Hurt) , proving that love can conquer all in a dangerous new world.
Story wise, in a post-invasion world, the earth is healing but the mankind is fading away. An unseen extraterrestrial force is taking over the human body and erasing their memories, commenting that the human does not deserve to simply to live on this planet. When an alien soul, called "Wanderer" is implanted inside Melanie Stryder (Saoirse Ronan) to locate the last of the remaining humans, something unexpected happens. Melanie survives the body invasion and attempted to gain a control of her own body. A conflict of trust occurs but Wanderer and Melanie must work together to protect the peoples they cared for. They reach out to the desert, determine to find the surviving human leader Jeb (William Hurt), little brother Jamie (Chandler Canterbury) and lover Jared (Max Irons).
With Andrew Niccol is the man behind the storyboard and the camera, I do not believe that this movie will get any worst. Practically, the New Zealander's work in Gattaca is highly regarded with a self-described science fiction with objectivity and visionary that was mesmerizing. But coming off from the same man who brought in some of the great idea in our time, for example in In Time where he introduced the concept of time as the universal currency and life, Niccol is also a bad executionist. In The Host, he committed the same mistakes again. The Host has the concept in place but the terrible plot and direction are the deterrents here. I am not sure if the female counterparts would enjoy this or not.
The Host is easily recognized for having one of the worst plot of the year. While the movie follows the exact niche of story and characters that are presented in the novel, the movie is dreary, slow and aggrieving. The fact that it hinges so much of the elements from Jack Finney's 1954 hit "The Body Snatcher" is not helping the cause, not even a bit to try to improve the atmosphere. The plot spends most of the time going the unnecessary drama, leaving the back stories or at least the important one, vacant! But the biggest sin in this overlong 124 minutes tales of "yet another confused girl trapped in a triangle love" is the over-dramatization of the plots. The whole time when Wanda and Melanie are having conversation, it gets awkwardly stupid. Bad acting is prominently making the whole romantic tale between the three characters; inept, dull and of course, over-dramatic.
In the end, The Host is over-dramatic romance thriller that fires empty rounds of ineffective love story, non-engaging science fiction element and characters we do not care for. As if Twilight is bad, this is worse. I feel that Stephenie Meyer regrets that she cannot divide Bella equally for Edward and Jacob, leaving Jacob the real loser - and she is making an amend here!
MY RATING:
Story: 0.5
Casts: 2.0
Cinematography: 4.5
Effects: 3.5
GREEN-TEA-O-METER: 5.5/20.0
