The Host (2013)

So, Stephanie Meyer decided to write another book. And seeing the success and ignoring the hatred of 'The Twilight Saga', they decided to adapt her 2008 novel 'The Host' into a film as well.

So what does 'The Host' involve? Well, Earth has been invaded. Again.This time by a bunch of lights, oh wait, anyway, called Souls, which can possess and take over a life form's body. Their mission? To make world's 'perfect'. However they deem humanity too violent to live...which is weird seeing as how Wanderer says her kind aren't violent and yet Seeker (Diane Kruger) now wants to commit genocide. Anyway in order to find the last few pockets of human resistance, they grab Melanie and put a Soul named Wanderer in her (Both, obviously, played by Saoirse Ronan). Wanderer is tasked to look through Melanie's memories to find the other humans. The thing is, Melanie isn't gone. I guess Melanie also has the power of 'shielding'.

I have to admit, I liked the plot. The idea of two personalities clashing and learning to live together, learning to care for one another, the way they interact with others. The problem is that it doesn't fully explore that concept, it always feels that the story is being held back. The ethics are normally ignored and any problems are quite often pushed aside or easily solved. Even action scenes are underwhelming. Not much difference from 'The Twilight Saga' then.

The acting, again it's being held back. Ronan, I will say, I thought was good, the way she manages to portray two very different personalities in the story. Kruger tries to bring something to the role, but in the end doesn't reach the mark. Then there's Max Irons, who plays Melanie's love interest Jared, and Jake Abel, who plays Wanderer's love interest Ian. Yep, that's right, the same being has two different love interests. I'll come back to this. The concern here is that Abel and Irons aren't that much different from one another. They give the same bland performance so much you find it hard to tell which one's which. Meanwhile William Hurt, playing Melanie's uncle Jeb, despite having a fair amount of screen time feels like he's being underused.

So, main character has two love interests. Does the film explore this? NO! It focuses more on Wanderer's interest in Ian, while Jared does virtually nothing. Jared and Ian are basically only in this film to kiss Wanderer/Melanie, no literally, in 90% of their scenes they kiss Wanderer/Melanie. We learn virtually nothing about them nor why they are in love, they just are. It feels like the love...square is being forced. Seeker meanwhile has somewhat of an interesting situation but, again, the film rarely picks up on this.

Really the only character worth watching is Wanderer, her development, her progress, what she learns from Melanie and the other humans. And no, I will not call her Wanda, again I feel it's something that was forced. But then again, that's part of Wanderer's personality, she wants to make everyone happy and is therefore willing to do anything to accomplish that. Except violence of course. I have to say, she's a much better character than Bella, who thinks she is an alien.

The aliens themselves, the 'actual body', look stunning, and I'm pretty sure that's the aim. To obscure the line between good and evil when we look at the Souls. Even if they are hypocritical. They're not violent, and yet they impose their will forcibly on every living thing they come across. They conquer planets to "make them perfect" but don't care about the life forms already occupying the planet. Hey, do you want to know who also conquers planets with little to no regard of the life already on those planets?

This guy.

So, is it any good? Kind of. If you hate Meyer's work, than I doubt this will change your mind, and vice versa. From a...relatively neutral perspective, it's kind of like 'Twilight' where it could have been a great film, but it is being held back from its full potential. The majority of the characters are bland, most of the acting is wooden, the dialogue is mundane, the romance is cheesy, the story can be confusing, strained, and lacking at times, and some effects could have also been better. But, Ronan is exceptional, the Souls look great, and......the film is held back.

Well, after going through all the Twilight's and now 'The Host', I need to get away from Meyer's romance stuff. I need something Evil. I need something Dead. Or girls in bikinis.