Review of The Host (2015) by Briana H — 02 Jan 2014

Well, another Stephenie Meyer property has been translated onto the big screen once more, in the hopes that it can spark yet another series and pop-culture phenomenon, just like her "Twilight" series. What are the results? Well, let's just say that this is every bit as abysmal and lifeless as "Twilight".

Oh, no! The apocalypse had taken its toll on Earth! Again! For like the thousandth time. Guess what's happened? That's right. Aliens have taken over the world. Just like they always have. Great. This time, the aliens are parasites who come inside human bodies and end up manifesting their minds and consciousness, thus taking complete control over the humans. Yay. But there is still hope for this world. Because there is a human, in the form of our protagonist Melanie Strider, who harbors an alien from within but has still retained her sense of humanity to resist against the neurological takeover. She believes that the key to solving her dilemma lies in meeting up with the resistance, who just so happens to comprise of her family, her lover, and a few other people. The supposedly peaceful alien leaders don't like this one bit so they send out their dominant powers in an attempt to squash out the resistance for good.

But wait! This movie can't be complete without Meyer's signature trademark of complicated love! So now she is pitted in the middle of a "love square", in where she still has feelings for her alien-hating lover but then this other guy falls in love with the alien. Who will Melanie choose? How well is she going to hold up sharing her mind with the alien? Which side will win the ultimate battle over Earth? And will this be the next YA series to take the world by storm, or will it join amongst the ranks of "Eragon", "Beautiful Creatures", and "Mortal Instruments" in the YA dump?

If you don't know the answers already to these questions, then chances are you might not groan during this predictable slog of a movie. If you do, then you're s**t out of luck! It is abundant with stilted acting. Not even the likes of Saoirse Ronan, William Hurt, or Diane Kruger can emerge unscathed from the experience. Here, we see some rather disappointing direction from Andrew Niccol, the filmmaker behind the thought-provoking "Gattaca", compelling "Lord of War", and entertaining "In Time". As a screenwriter, he is even worse, lacing together wooden dialogue and an unfocused plot in adapting Meyer's work. Even then, the premise is extremely derivative of both "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" as well as "Twilight". This flick also alienates general interest in emphasizing the turgid romance above all over things, ultimately wasting the possibilities of what could've been good stuff for social allegory or conspiracy thriller or even the standard alien invasion flick. The results lead to an extremely dull effort, stemming from a lack of action (which even then was not very exciting to begin with) and compelling drama (which cannot be taken seriously). From the start, this movie just reeked of doom.

Even with such a bad flick, there manages to be redeeming qualities. As generic as the visuals may be, compared to other post-apocalyptic movies, they manage to be sleek with their silvers and earthy with their desert tones despite the cheesy CGI. Hey, at least it looks good, right? The score was interesting to hear, managing to retain the signature musical style of an Andrew Niccol picture. However, that's about as much positive quality as there is in this film.

All in all, "The Host" is a cinematic failure, unable to generate some kind of life within its thick, hollow shell. But it is better-made than Twilight... which isn't really saying anything.