Review of The Host (2015) by Sharon L — 03 Feb 2014

Why did I like it? Well, because I can. :).

Look, I didn't read the book and didn't even think about watching the movie before because the concept didn't seem appealing to me at first. Aaand when the book came out I was looking forward to the next book in the Twilight series, I admit.

But ya know what? It turns out this story was pretty interesting to me. The romance part wasn't really appealing or interesting (oddly enough, considering I think it was intended to be a romance story). In fact, I barely remember the male characters names... without reading the names on the info page, one was Jared, right? But the idea of alien parasites in people's bodies?! Animorphs shit right there. One complaint: It was really creepy to me how there was optimistic, "wondrous" music playing when Melanie was being taken over as opposed to something... I dunno, foreboding? It was as if the movie already assumed the viewer knew that Wanderer was gonna be good.

Also, I know. The movie dragged on in some places, but c'mon, the execution of this movie was a heckuva lot better than Twilight. And, honestly, with this imagination of mine, it's pretty easy for me to forgive some execution and logical faults and be immersed in the story. I was honestly curious about the characters, especially Wanderer and the people's reaction to her. And I was glad that the antagonist wasn't as flat as she originally appeared to be. For me, the story was less about romance and action and more of a character study.

Now, I'll also admit that when I watched this, I was kiiinda drawing at the same time for a homework assignment, so the fact that some scenes might have been long did not bother me one bit. In fact, I didn't want the movie to end so I would still have something to keep be from getting bored from just drawing. XD But anyway...

[Spoiler alert] And I absolutely love good endings. And, unlike with the Twilight saga, the ending didn't feel dragged out, overly perfect, and boring. Sure, it was too much of a coincidence to be that realistic, but... it worked. :).

Anyway, as long as you don't expect to be on the edge of your seat the entire time (though there are a couple moments you might be) and as long as you don't hold a negative bias against anything Stephanie Mayer writes, I recommend this movie.