“The Host” is the 2013 sci-fi/romance film based on the novel written by Stephanie Meyer (who is also a producer), and directed and adapted to film by Andrew Niccol. In the film, Earth has been invaded by a parasitic race from space called Souls. These parasites quickly conquered the human race by possessing them, and are still searching for the few survivors left. However, these aren’t hostile parasites. They all trust each other and have made the areas they live in a Utopia. They don’t charge anything at their stores, their architecture is advanced, and they can cure wounds in seconds.
When one of the last survivors, a young woman named Melanie Stryder (played by Saoirse Ronan), is brought in to have her body possessed, her will still manages to survive as a voice in her brain. When the parasite enters her body to possess she is given the parasite named Wanderer, since it wandered through so many different races (clever. huh?).
The two now share the same body, with Wanderer controlling the physical body while Melanie fights for control. Melanie wants to head back to her family of survivors where her brother Jamie (played by Chandler Canterbury), and her boyfriend, Jared Howe (played by Max Irons), are. In order to do this, she needs to convince Wanderer and avoid the Seeker (played by Diane Kruger). Will Melanie get control of her own body and will Wanderer see the error of its race’s ways?
This is a tedious and long movie that was made like nobody cared whatsoever about any aspect of it. Everything from the music to the direction seems phoned in and lacking, although the writing is truly the worst part.
The actors all seem bored and say their dialogue in a dull, and sometimes awkward, way. Wanderer is supposed to be a peaceful and calm being. However, this apparently translates to delivering your lines without any conviction at all. Melanie is supposed to be trying to break free from Wanderer and not take anything from anyone, which translates to being snarky once in a while. The worst actor, however, is Chandler Canterbury. He’s incredibly boring to watch and doesn’t really seem to understand how to say his lines at all and manages to drag down an already terrible movie.
However, not all the blame can go to the actors, as any great actor would have problems reading these lines. In cases like this, you can’t tell if it’s the fault of the screenplay or the novel, but it doesn’t change the fact that these are awful lines. Instead on having characters do things to explain themselves, they have to explain themselves to each other. One can only imagine how the original novel was if you’ve never read the book.
It seems as if Stephanie Meyer put her “How to Write Romance” book to the side while she grabs her “How to Write Sci-fi”, making sure to keep the romance book on standby. Stephanie Meyer fans might be disappointed by the fact that the romance isn’t the central focus here. This is mostly a sci-fi film through in and throughout, and not even an original one since “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” does this same thing, but much better. I won’t spoil the ending, but you could pretty much guess the ending if you look at the plot synopsis and add in the fact that this is PG-13 film with romance in it.
This is a dumb and long movie, which no one in production seemed to care about. The script is a dreadful mess that needs to be reworked with another writer. The actors don’t even try to deliver their lines with conviction, and some are even unlikable. The music is also boring. It tries to pull at the heart strings, but ends up giving you a headache and making you roll your eyes. “Evil Dead” and “Jurassic Park 3D” are in theaters this weekend, and I would be scared if those aren’t better options than “The Host”.