Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Jake Abel, Max Irons, Chandler Canterbury, Frances Fisher, Diane Kruger, William Hurt; Direction: Andrew Noccol; Story: based from Stephanie Meyer’s novel The Host; Screenplay: Andrew Niccol; Cinematography: Robert Schaefer; Editing: Thomas J. Nordberg; Music: Antonio Pinto; Producers: Stephanie Meyer, Nick Wechsler, Steve Schwartz, Paula Mae Schwartz; Genre: Sci-Fi Drama; Location: Future time; Distributor: Open Road Films Entertainment Films Distributors / Viva Films; Running Time:125 minutes.
Technical
Assessment:
2
Moral Assessment:
3
CINEMA Rating:
V14
In the future,
humanity is taken over by extra-terrestials called the Souls. Although they are
peaceful and caring, the Souls need to enter into a human body and take over
its mind and life. Melanie Stryder (Ronan), one of the remaining uninhabited
humans, is captured by the Seeker (Kruger) and infused with the soul named
Wanderer in the effort to discover the whereabouts of the last groups of
insurgent humans. However, Melanie fights back and struggles to control her
mind and body. Wanderer, in the meantime, discovers Melanie’s past, grows
sympathetic towards her plight and slowly forms an alliance with her. Together,
they escape the attepmt of the Seeker to transfer Wanderer into another body
and enter Melanie herself so she can get the information she needs. Melanie and
Wanderer flee into the desert and is soon found by her Uncle Jeb (Hurt). They
are taken into the insurgent’s hideaway where Melanie is reunited with her
boyfriend Jared (Irons) and little brother Jamie (Canterbury). However, the
group, save for Uncle Jed, do not
realize Melanie is still alive and almost has her killed believing she is an
evil parasite. Slowly, the humans
and Wanderer begin to understand and appreciate each other and stand side by side for the survival
of their own race.
The host’s storyline shows potential with its unique take on alien
invasion and Meyer’s subtle spirituality. As an author, she is consistent in
her respect for life and dignity of humanity. But the film translation suffers
irrevocably either from poor script or from the source material itself. The
film falls flat with an unimaginative screenplay, painfully dragging direction
and overall monotonous performances from the cast. The love triangle is just
dreary. The romantic build, just like the plot development, takes up so much
time and patience. But the worse part is how the writer/director chose to show
Melanie and Wanderer living together in the same body. The production design is laughable in
its simplistic assumption that aliens and advance technology should only be
pristine white or mirror-plated. These scenes hurt the eyes as much as they
hurt one’s sanity. The host is easily one of the worst movies adapated into
screen.
The film makes one notable
premise—peaceful co-existence. Be it outer space creatures and human beings,
the normal and the supernatural, or primitive and advance technology,
co-existence, according to the film, is possible provided there is respect and
love. Meyer presents alien invaders as the SOUL—peaceful, kind, trusting, and
overall good natured except that they need a body to live in, while humans are
violent, aggressive and selfish. Her premise may lack theological or literary
depth but it leads us to ask what it means to be human. Does possessing free
will and a body suffice or is humanity something at the core of life where love,
respect and sacrifice exist. There is a sense of spirituality in the film as it
echoes how we understand lour body and soul. It
parallels the struggle most people encounter as they resolve the conflict
between human and divine will. More than trying to save humanity from invaders, the film is a story
about the nature of love—for family, friends and life.
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