The Host

The Host is a science fiction romance adventure based on the bestselling novel of the same title written by Stephenie Meyer, author of the ¨Twilight¨ saga. The majority of the human race have been possessed by unseen invaders, leaving only small pockets of "wild" humans like Melanie Stryder (Saoirse Ronan) scattered throughout the world. Upon being captured by the invaders, Melanie finds her body claimed by Wanderer, a spirit that has been warned of the difficulties that come with claiming a human host. In the process of inhabiting Melanie, Wanderer is deeply affected by her vivid dreams and memories. And when Melanie fights to maintain control of her mind even as Wanderer possesses her body, the sympathetic entity joins her on a journey that will reveal the unfathomable depths of human love and compassion. Melanie is chased by the Seeker (Diane Kruger) in order to discover the location of a pocket of non-assimilated humans. Wanderer does share with the Seeker that Melanie was traveling with her younger brother, Jamie (Chandler Canterbury) and her boyfriend, Jared Howe (Max Irons), to find Melanie's uncle Jeb (William Hurt) in the desert. You will be one of us !. Love never dies !. Choose to believe !. Choose to fight !. Choose to love !. Choose to listen !. Choose your destiny !.

The film is intensely romantic , but Wanderer and Melanie's twisted love stories with his young lovers turn out to be ridiculous and bewildering at times. Concerning a body-snatching alien takes possession of a young woman who refuses to surrender her mind, and together they seek out the man they both love . Here writer and director Andrew Niccol : Gattaca (1997), In Time (2011) adapts Twilight author Stephenie Meyer's New York Times best-seller giving a passable and acceptable rendition but average . Thinking woman's sci-fi (read : no spaceships or explosions) along the lines of love stories like ¨Twilight¨. This infamous The Host version displays a great main and support cast providing nice interpretations , stars the usually serious Saoirse Ronan along with Diane Kruger , William Hurt , Frances Fisher , Chandler Canterbury , Max Irons , Scott Lawrence , Emily Browning , Bokeem Woodbine, among others .

It contains glamorous and colorful cinematograpy by cameraman Roberto Schaefer. As well as New Age and metaphysical score by Antonio Pinto . The motion picture was original but heavily directed Andrew Niccol . He directed television commercials for over 10 years prior to his directing debut Gattaca (1997) . This great director , expert on Sci-Fi and fantasy movies started as a prestigious writer in Truman Show . But Niccol actually made his screenwriting and directing debut with Gattaca (1997) , a superb, well-acted sci-fi movie that raised issues of genetic engineering in a totalitarian environment. The plot of his films often revolve around artificial reality, such as gene manipulation in Gattaca (1997), the life of "Truman" in Truman Show (1998), the computer-generated actress in Simone (2002), the nature of aging in "In Time" and the fantastic extraterrestrial romance of "The Host". Rating : 5.5/10 . Passable and decent , but overlong and a bit boring .

This is very soft science fiction storyline meant for a teen audience including a silly love triangle.

This thing is so full of tropes and shallow characters there is nothing unique that can be said about it.

Its ok in that it's not particular boring and I'm sure if your a young female teenager it will resonate more strongly but for the general populace, there are far more entertaining movies available.

The ending really ruins this. It's stretches the imagination that humans are the most special species the aliens have ever encounter and that they change everything. We are the only ones who fight back within the mind. It's self indulgent nonsense.

Let us establish some facts here 1)The host is not twilight 2) Saoirse Ronan is not Kristen Stewart and 3) (Melanie / Wanda), well we can argue that point, is Bella 3.0t. If I had seen this movie first i would have definitely liked it more than twilight. I love the psychological play in the movie, i liked the story, but I really really really loved Saoirse Ronan in that role. She played it marvelously well, and the director did a great job portraying her two personalities. I can't tell you what it was missing yet; I am not getting payed for this so i am allowed to not know. I encourage you to see it, I was pleasantly surprised. It is a solid 7/10 for me.

In the future, Earth has been invaded by aliens that take over the human bodies with their souls to live a perfect life in a world without crime, violence or war and with the environment restored. However, a few humans still resist to the invaders and they are chased by The Seekers.

When the teenager Melanie Stryder (Saoirse Ronan) that belongs to the resistance is captured by the leader of The Seekers (Diane Kruger), the alien Wanderer takes over her body expecting to find where the humans are hidden. But Melanie is still in her body and resists to the Wanderer and asks her to not tell to The Seeker what she has learned to protect her brother Jamie (Chandler Canterbury), her boyfriend Jared Howe (Max Irons) and her friends. Wanderer feels empathy for her and keeps the secret but The Seeker decides to put Wanderer in another body and take her body. Melanie asks Wanderer to flee to meet her friends in the middle of the desert.

When Melanie's uncle Jeb (William Hurt) finds her dehydrated in the desert, he brings Melanie to his hideout and calls her Wanda. He also protects her from a group led by Ian O'Shea (Jake Abel) but along the days, Ian falls in love with Wanda. Meanwhile The Seeker is obsessed hunting Wanda down in the desert.

"The Host" is a movie with wrong marketing that misguide the viewers that expect to see a tense or full of action sci-fi in the style of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" and find a pleasant romance. The plot is developed in low pace disappointing a great number of viewers. But the story is actually beautiful despite the flaws.

The beginning is too rushed and there is a poor development of Melanie. It does not make sense why Jeb's group wants to kill Melanie when they find her in the desert if Doc is trying to save the humans removing the alien "souls" from them. If the aliens are so peaceful, why is The Seeker so evil? My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Hospedeira" ("The Host")

Note: On 12 March 2023, I saw this film again.

I have read the book before the movie came out, but ill give a movie review separate from my book ideals of what it should have been.

As a movie on its own, its good. Not great. They have a little bit of action, and when i say little, i do mean little (under 5 minutes). There are some chrome vehicles, modern looking bland clothing etc. This movie is really about what makes us human. With a love triangle. Not nearly as dominant as it was in twilight. A very interesting premise for a movie. The acting was great, I really loved Jake Abel as Ian O'Shea. Dian kruger added some depth to her seeker attitude. Max Irons I found to be the weakest actor of the bunch, some of his lines were delivered poorly ("so help me"), but what really ties the cast in is William Hurt.He ties them all together, and ads some charm to his cliché lines that makes him very likable. Other noticeable actors were Scot Lawrence (Doc) and Francis Fisher (Maggie), but neither were given the screen time needed to develop any sort of charter, although it would have been ve3ry interesting to see. Nice scenery, and nice shots. The music (and some scene lacking) was great and added a indie touch to it.

Now, based off the book this movie kinda blew it. it was extremely different, cutting out characters and adding things that never were. I personally felt that by making all the Aliens dress the same, drive the same vehicles took away from the depth of the battle between the resistance and aliens. They were supposed to be creative, and find individualism in human hosts, which was very lacking. Instead the movie went in the direction of aliens turning humans into one mass of boring un unique sheep. I also wish they had kept a few of Wanda's experiences from other worlds in the movie, even as flash backs etc. This movie lacked as a sci-fi, as all we see are humans with contacts. It lacked as a romance as her love interest was gone for most of it.

If anything its a good movie about : "what is considered human? a and how shall we react that makes us human".

Not bad, i enjoyed it anyways, and my husband actually stuck around to watch it too lol./