Critical Capsule: The Host (2013)

I know I shouldn't have bothered. I had a strong suspicion it would not be a good movie. I would have been better off going to see The Call or Meet the Croods. Still, I somehow managed to find myself sitting in a theater watching The Host. If you know me, there is a good chance that you are wondering why I went, certainly there must have been something better I could have gone to see. You would probably be right. I am sure there was. Unfortunately, there is no going back in time like Christopher Reeve in Superman II.



The Host is the latest adaptation of a Stephanie Meyer (Twilight series) novel and it is just as excruciating as that vampire/werewolf junk. The main reason I went to see it was because I like Andrew Niccol, who adapted the novel and directed. He has made some really good films in the past like writing The Truman Show and writing/directing Gattaca. I briefly considered the possibility that he purposefully tanked this adaptation, but I suspect he is above that and just took this as a paycheck and there was nothing he could do to make the material any better.

The movie is set In some indeterminate time in the future, aliens have invaded, taken over most of the people on Earth, and the remaining unaltered humans are struggling to survive in the shadows. At the center of our story is Melanie (Saorise Ronan), she is on the run, meets a guy, falls in love, gets caught by the aliens, implanted with an alien, escapes, talks to herself, is chased by aliens, meets other humans, the alien falls in love with another guy, they find a resolution to the alien problem and the movie ends. Blah, blah, blah.

Sorry, I just don't feel like reviewing this thing, it is such a bad movie. No, it's no Movie 43 bad, but it is still pretty terrible. The pacing is weird, the writing is awkward, and there is very little context for anything. For example, we never learn how the aloes initially get here or how hey get implanted, or how long it has taken to get to the point our story begins. Beyond that, they say the aliens want to coexist and perfect society, well, to what end? What is the endgame?

Beyond that, when Melanie gets her alien implant we learn that we learn that the consciousnesses can coexist. It would seem to make sense to explain this when meeting the other humans, but suddenly no can do. Doesn't seem to make sense.

I don't know, this movie was just so frustrating. The execution is all over the place, there is a distinct lack of focus, no attempt to explain this world to any satisfactory level. The elements they spend time on versus what they choose to downplay is maddening.

I'd rather just forget this ever happened. I mean, there is over stuff I could go into, but I just haven't the strength of will.

Not recommended.