There are only a few movies that have made me want to walk out of the theatre half way through the film. The Host was one of those movies.
I read the book version of the movie last year and it was interesting, but unnecessarily long. The movie had a lot of gaps and seemed rushed because the 125 minute movie could not include all of the details mentioned in the 619-page novel.
The book-turned-movie was supposed to be written for adults; the main characters were supposed to be in their twenties, but both the book and the movie seemed very tween-oriented.
The Host is about a few humans trying to survive after Earth has been invaded by an alien species. Not only do the aliens take over the planet, but they also take over human bodies.
In most cases the human dies after the alien occupies the body, but the main character, Melanie, does not. The alien, named Wanderer, and Melanie share the same body.
The story begins when Melanie convinces Wanderer to go to the secret place in a desert where she thinks that her love, Jared, and brother, Jamie, are hiding.
The movie is of the science fiction genre, but that theme was overshadowed by the obnoxious love triangle, or in the case of The Host, love square.
There was a whole lot of teenage angst within the movie. I’m all for a great love story, but this story was ridiculous.
Saoirse Ronan played the main character, Melanie/Wanderer. I’ve always thought that she was a talented actress, but this was not her greatest role. The character of Melanie sounded like a robot even though she was supposed to be the human.
The other acting was extremely painful to watch. The two leading males, Jared (Max Irons) and Ian (Jake Abel) were awkward characters with no depth.
The blame falls partly on the screenwriter and director, Andrew Niccol, who did not give enough time to fully establish the relationships between Melanie/Wanderer and Jared and Ian.
Ian and Wanderer took one walk together and then all of the sudden they were in love with each other.
The movie was anti-climatic and I could not wait for it to be over. I would say that the plot seemed cheesy but a plot was never clearly identified throughout the entire movie.
I guess there were supposed to be two main plots (the love square and the alien seeker who searches for Melanie/Wanderer and the hidden human civilization) but they just were not clear enough for me.
A real problem finally showed up during the last five minutes of the movie.
Even though the first 120 minutes of the movie were terrible, the ending was pretty creative. The movie tried to portray a theme about humanity: we are souls and not just bodies.