Rating of
2/4
The Host Just Scratches the Surface
Chris Kavan - wrote on 06/27/13
Even though I knew this movie was based off the book by Stephanie Meyer, I was hoping it would avoid the pitfalls that made me avoid the Twilight franchise. For one thing, Saoirse Ronan is a terrific actress and I was hoping that she would be able to elevate the story beyond the mere tween romance angle. But despite the efforts all around, I just couldn't shake the feeling that, in the end, this was essentially Twilight with parasitic aliens instead of vampires and werewolves.
The concept behind the film is interesting - a group of planet-hopping parasitic beings take over the host body. In the case of humans, it makes their eyes shiny and their demeanor much better (the aliens never lie and are much more grounded). The bad thing is the human consciousness is still trapped inside and, barring rare cases, cannot be freed. But, like any hostile takeover, there is resistance. Ronan's character, Melanie Stryder is part of a small group of humans hiding from these seemingly benevolent creatures. But in the opening, she is taken and has a new personality - The Wanderer - invading her.
But she is that rare human who fights back - and while the other aliens attempt to get information out of her - she resists. The calm, cool Diane Kruger leads the charge as The Seeker - her only goal is to weed out the last of the humans at pretty much any cost. But as Melanie and The Wanderer form a grudging bond - they escape, but the homecoming isn't exactly welcoming as fear, mistrust and outright hostility face this transformed girl. But even though emotions run high - the film gets bogged down in the typically mopey teen romance.
It's lucky they had Ronan or I feel the film wouldn't have worked for me at all. Playing two roles, she manages to pull both of them off fairly well. Though her teen angst feels a bit strained, for the most part she is the saving grace (William Hurt is also pretty good as the grizzled leader of the human refugees). I just wish the two young men vying for her love had been as effective - but they just didn't give off enough energy to make much of an impression with me. When your film focuses on the romance angle more than anything, you better hope there is a spark there - but I wasn't feeling much heat at all.
That's the main problem is that you have this story that really is compelling but then it's squandered on a half-baked romance. Granted, I know that's Meyer's main draw and the audience is squarely females - but I was hoping for a bit more redeeming moments. This is the kind of film you sit through with a date or wife and nod along and agree while secretly wishing it was over already.
