Review of The Host (2013) by Brad G — 06 Oct 2013

Certainly one of the worst films of the year, but should any of us be surprised when this manipulative teen dreck comes from the dustbin brainpan of Stephanie Meyer? No. But I do expect more from director Andrew Niccol, the man who brought us underrated gems like Gattaca and Lord of War.

I'm sure he was initially attracted to the Invasion of the Body Snatchers premise in which alien Souls (ick, really?) are transplanted into hapless human hosts, but this puppet master conceit is raped in an attempt to force passionless polygamy romance down our throats.

Saoirse Ronan is an actress I generally like (Atonement, Hana, even The Lovely Bones), but her Wanderer (ick, really? REALLY?) is an abysmal attempt at split personality and often results in cringing internal bickering.

Love interests Max Irons & Jake Abel are a couple of lunkheads not worth the time it takes to finish this sentence. I will say that adult actors William Hurt & Diane Kruger are solid even when the screenplay their trapped within attempts to strangle out their quality.

That's a win. VF.