The Host

I was invited to "The Host" premiere last night and was very impressed by the film. I'm not a Twilight fan and have not read the book; If anything I was very suspect of this film and for whatever reason even felt negatively towards it (in an eye-rolling manner).

That said, I found myself walking out of the theater quite surprised. And yes, I still have my manhood and haven't transformed into "A Hoster" or a "Hostling" or whatever they may call the new breed. Honestly, I thought it had a wonderfully intriguing plot, good acting, and I was completely engaged. Yes, there was a bit of "romantic cheesiness" but it seemed to handle itself well and even poked fun of itself at times for this fact. I think if it wasn't for the excellent work of Niccol and Saoirse it might have easily slipped into laughable cheese, but amicably doesn't. Plenty of sophisticated action as well as thought-provoking concepts of love, loyalty, perseverance. A well rounded film overall. I especially enjoyed William Hurt but all the acting was on par.

Perhaps the Twilights were focused on teenagers but as a 30something guy I really liked it. I would definitely recommend giving this movie a chance to all. I'm just in the market now for a shiny silver Lotus.

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.

This movie you will either enjoy or hate to be honest. If you want something that is action-packed and filled with cool sci-fi moments do not see this movie. Yes the movie is sci-fi but it's more about romance. It also is a tad slower.

However, the cast was fantastic and the script was beautiful. There were cheesy moments but it was still really sweet and well done. Basically what I am saying, is if you like romance with a twist go and see it! If you are expecting something like Gattaca, you will be disappointed.

I really loved the movie and felt it held up to the book. I usually hate movie versions of books but this was really good! If you like the book chances are you are going to like the movie. There are tweaks of course, but I thought they were mainly well done and helped get the same message across.

This is a smart movie and I really loved every second of it, I should admit that first 15 minutes of the movie is slow and you should wait...you will see how it gets you!! Trust me and watch this movie with all your sole, you have to listen and understand what is happening. This movie has beautiful scenes and amazing music, OMG the music just melts in you and you lives in there. Finally Saoirse Ronan just killed it, specially the way she tells the story, you are connected to the movie soon and enjoy watching it, I remember her play in "the lovely bones" she is more mature now and always she's been consistent and so talented actress. This is one of my favorite movies ever. 8/10

Based on "The Host" a novel by Stephenie Meyer released on May 6, 2008.

This presentation is a standard invasion scenario. It was our world until they took it over. It was my body until they took it over. But wait there are some hold outs. They do not have a chance. On top of that Melanie Stryder (Saoirse Ronan) becomes the hostess with the mostess by resisting her alien occupier; this will through a wrench in everyone's plans.

It took some time to figure out why the alien good guys were so aggressive when it came to Melanie Stryder who changed her name to Wanda.

So we could tell the hosted from the unhosted we the hosted have strange eyes. So, you can tell them at a distance the good people (depending on your perspective) wore white and drove silver; the rogues wore muted colors and drove more militant vehicles. Sort of like the old westerns with black or white hats.

The whole story is easy to second guess as it is all standard clichés. I have not read the book yet but something tells me it has more facets to it.

In any event, it is fun to watch the interactions between the characters and even the few chase scenes. You may even want to watch this again.