The Host (2013) – Movie Review

20130422_0648The Host is an adventure, romance and action film having a run time of 125 minutes and is rated PG 13. It is for people who love sci-fi movies.

An adaptation from the novel “The Host” by Stephenie Meyer, The Host is directed by Andrew Nicol and played by major character lead stars Saoirse Ronan as Melanie Stryder, Max Irons as Jared Howe, Chandler Canterbury as Jamie Stryder, Diane Kruger as The Seeker and William Hurt as Jeb Stryder.

Melanie and her family are being hunted by the Souls – an alien race whose ultimate goal of coming to earth is to preserve their dying race. In order for this to happen, they need to find host bodies to house their entities. Once inside the host, they take possession of them including their minds. Almost all people on earth have succumbed to their invasion except for a few  people who resist. Melanie, as one of these resistors, is willing  to fight  to the end of her life in the name of love and for the preservation of  freedom for her and her family.

Although she, too, was penetrated by the Soul Wanderer, Melanie, being a strong-willed person, struggles to regain her identity and memory by  fighting the alien inside of her. As time passes, Wanderer develops an affinity  with Melanie. Wanderer comes to a point of being torn between the earth people and her own race.

As Wanda understands what is inside the heart and mind of Melanie, she agrees to help locate Melanie’s family.  Knowing her alien personality might betray her, Wanderer is constantly in danger of earth people discovering who she is, and almost all of them want her dead. Wanda begins also to develop an interest in Jared, the love interest of Melanie. This makes Wanderer even more  confused as to where to pledge her loyalty. In her association with the humans, Wanda learns a lot of things, such as love, friendship, trust and the importance of not stealing other people’s free will.

In an encounter with the aliens, Jeb shoots the Seeker and captures her. The Seeker departs from her host and is put on a pod and sent to a distant planet, never again to harm the humans.

Wanderer is a good soul and she teaches Doc, the community medic to remove the souls from the human bodies they occupy without producing any harm. In order to give Melanie a normal life, she also asks Doc to remove her from Melanie. Melanie refuses for not wanting Wanderer to die, nevertheless, Doc helps Wanderer to live by inserting her in the body of  a brain dead person named Pet.

Although The Host is about an alien invasion of mankind, which of course is a horrible thought!, I found that there is also a touching romance within the story. Although the plot is interesting (but not totally original, remember “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”) and the characters well seasoned actors, I would suggest in order for you to better understand the film, that it is beneficial to read the book first before watching the movie.

In the book it talks about the preservation of the alien race – but  it should not be done at the expense of  the earthlings.  Eventually the good triumphs with the help of Wanda who somehow imbibes the beauty of being  a human being – of our capacity to love, support and sacrifice for the people we love despite the challenges and risks, just as what Melanie does in the story.

The acting of Melanie (Saoirse Ronan in her dual personality as human and alien) is convincing. Sometimes Melanie and Wanda talking to each other is ridiculous and weird, but that is where the struggle of the actress, Saoirse Ronan in real life, lies. Melanie, the human, needs to be stronger than Wanda, the alien inside of her, or at least make Wanda an ally in order to save herself and her family from the invasion.

Although a love triangle develops between Melanie/Wanda and Jared, it is patched up in the end as Wanda releases Melanie, and Melanie is freed to love Jared as Melanie – and not as split-personality Melanie/Wanda. Wanda in turn finds her love in the person of Ian, and that’s kind of a nice afterthought that made me feel good.

The background music of The Host is great and adapts very well to different scenes. The special effects and cinematography are all well crafted. Although The Host lacks the dramatic actions of war or being invaded by an alien world, neither of which are similar to say, Tom Cruise’s wonderful remake of War of Worlds a few years back, still, The Host offers timeless lessons on love, perseverance and loyalty. And these lessons are eternal, never grow old or stale, and for these reasons I highly recommend The Host for your viewing pleasure.

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For More Information Visit:
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http://www.movieweb.com/movie/the-host-2013
http://www.thehostthefilm.com
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1517260/combined

Author: Irene Taniegra

A casual writer and a virtual assistant