Review of The Host (2013) by Hoops2448 — 25 Apr 2013

Stephanie Meyer is derided and praised in equal measure so with her movie follow up to the twilight saga, The Host, she had something to prove. She had to prove that her patented romance formula could translate from the supernatural to the science fiction genre.

Unfortunately for The Host hardly anyone wanted to find out despite the fact in most ways, The Host is better than any of the Twilight films if only for one reason, there is a sense of meaning to what happens in this world where as with Twilight, someone couldn't pay me to care.

The Host tells the tale of Melanie Stryder (Saoirse Ronan) one of the few surviving humans on Earth. When she is captured she is implanted with an alien life and becomes a prisoner in her own body. The alien, known as Wanderer begins to experience human emotions and Melanie's memories and she struggles to live normally and is forced to seek out those Melanie has left behind.

The film is odd because its deeply planted in the Sci-Fi genre but it feels like a deep character piece with a typically western feel. It's a cross genre story that carefully balances each genre while never forgetting the rules of this new world the characters live in.

The film doesn't really concentrate on action and feels more comfortable in the small personal moments. Sure the film has its action sequences but they are always coupled with an emotional character moment as though juxtaposing the two.

This does make the action rather drawn out and lackluster but like I said, this film really isn't about the action. The music (by Antonio Pinto) is unique and an odd amalgam of conventional western tones and electronic western notes.

It provides an interesting context to the world that has been built, the solitary nature of this new human life but also the presence of the futuristic and the good and bad that comes from this intrusion.

It has an Eric Serra (The Fifth Element) feel to it and because of it, the music proves well suited to moments of emotion but also sudden action. The film is grounded in a sense of reality, be it a slightly 12A reality where all anyone ever talks about is kissing (It's a film aimed at the young and idealistic after all) and the film relies heavily on Ronan to keep the film flowing and from becoming overly complicated.

She delivers in both roles (despite Melanie being mostly voice-over) making them both sympathetic protagonists despite the twisted nature of their joint habitation. It's a film about morality (like many westerns are) more than anything and the idea that no one is perfect is rampant in the film.

The film has the tendency to break its own established rules to serve the story so there are a fair few plot holes making segments of the film unbelievable (beyond the whole aliens from another planet thing).

It depicts a world and a girl at war with itself and it does so in a subtle way by concentrating on the small moments, the ones that depict the voice and ideals of the people and why they fight to begin with.