Review of The Host (2006) by Ulinsky S — 19 Jul 2011

Joon-ho Bong is exactly the kind of director we need more of. Here's a director with a keen, distinctive visual style who cares about plot and characters. Most directors who display a similar mastery of the medium make slow paced, heavy films that are more about how things happen and the attitudes of the people that experience them than what actually happens. While these films often present a welcome alternative to brain dead action films it seems that there are too few films which try to find a middle ground between those two extremes. Bong has found that middle ground and the result represents the best of both worlds. With his 2003 film Memories of Murder Bong reinvigorated the police procedural and breathed new life into one of the most hackneyed of genres. In 2006 he turned his attention to the monster movie and The Host became the biggest box office hit of all time in his native South Korea.

Unlike many blockbusters, The Host is a film which deserves its success. Although Bong shows his creature frequently and in detail he always manages to keep the focus on the human characters. The main character of the film is a slacker doofus who is unlucky enough to be in the path of the rampaging creature the first time it emerges from the sea and this event ends up shaping his destiny as he fights back against the creature and gets its viral blood on him and a few minutes later it attacks his daughter. Along with his sister, brother, and father he is then drawn into the government's rather ineffectual efforts to quarantine everyone who has had contact with the creature as they are sure it's the host of some terrible new disease.

Like Godzilla before it The Host creature exists at least in part due to mankind's influence on the environment. Just as the former creature was enhanced by nuclear radiation the latter has his origins in river pollution. The Host is more obviously critical of mankind's carelessness, however, as we are shown a gutless Korean scientist agreeing to pour dangerous chemicals into a drain in order to please his American boss. This act of pollution is based on a real life incident which shows that the problems faced by developing countries like South Korea are often caused by both domestic and international elements. The continued meddling of foreign powers and the mindblowing incompetence of South Korean government agencies puts the individuals caught in the middle into an increasingly dire situation.

The Host isn't quite as well made as Memories of Murder but like that film it takes an approach that makes it feel fresh even if it is undoubtedly a genre work. It also has a bit more of a "B Movie" tone albeit not nearly as much as one might expect based on the trailer and other publicity. If these two films are any indication Bong should be a major talent for many years to come.