***
Having avoided all of the ‘Twilight’
films after enduring the first, I wasn’t keen to sit through another cinematic
translation of Stephanie Meyer’s work. However, ‘The Host’ has a far better
overall premise than all of the vampire books combined. In the near future,
Earth has been invaded by an alien species who enter into the human body and take
over their lives. The ‘host’ bodies look no different apart from having a
bright blue ring around the pupil, but this means that the remaining humans are
easily identified. The film starts with Melanie (Saoirse Ronan) falling to her
death to escape the clutches of the possessed humans, only to have an alien
implanted in her body, who calls herself Wanderer. Melanie refuses to be
obliterated, however, and so begins to the relationship between human and
alien, inside one body.
Stephanie Meyers has made her
millions from writing unconventional love triangles, with one angsty teen being
fought over by two hunky males, and essentially ‘The Host’ is no different. Wanderer
is interrogated by Seeker (Diane Kruger, with distracting collar-bones) in
order to find the human resistance, but Melanie’s lover, Jared, remains human,
so they (Melanie and Wanderer, in the same body) go on the run to try and find
said beloved and her younger brother. So enters Jared (Max Irons, son of Jeremy, minus the acting capability) who can’t accept that Melanie is locked
inside her own body, and Ian, who has the hots for Wanderer, now called Wanda.
Kisses, lingering looks and hunky men running to the rescue follows – it truly is
a teenage girl’s fantasy.
However, the film shouldn’t be
dismissed on the grounds that it has a very specific target audience. Ronan is
perfect at Melanie/Wanderer/Wanda, managing to juggle two accents to portray
the difference between the characters in one body. It cannot be denied that she
has a very engaging face, as a well as a vulnerability which suits the
little-alien-lost role well. There is a good supporting cast featuring William
Hurt as Jeb, the elderly, gun-wielding ‘Uncle’, and Jake Abel is perfectly fine
as loved-up but ultimately second-best Ian. The tension is well sustained and
the film doesn’t feel overly long, although the final five minutes could well
have been cut.
There are some issues, however.
We are never told where the aliens come from, why they invade the human bodies,
or where they originate from. There is also a surprising amount of violence
towards a teenage girl, which can make uncomfortable viewing. Similarly, Ronan
feels too young to make the love scenes comfortable, and there is a ridiculous
scene in which both Jared and Ian have a passionate snog with Wanda to try and
bring Melanie back. Despite this, it is light-hearted entertainment with a
supernatural twist that makes for entertaining viewing, with added eye-candy.
And now a few points from a guest
reviewer, Alex, who has read the novel:
·
The casting is all wrong – Ian is meant to have
black hair and be quite broad. The doctor is also meant to be creepy instead of
a kind-hearted black man
·
Max Irons cannot act
·
Key points of the novel are missed out, such as
where Wanderer has come from and the planets she has visited before
·
We should learn more about the relationship between
Wanderer and Melanie before they meet up with the humans living in the desert, something which is covered in the book
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