Plot
Earth has been invaded. An alien species has, over several years, systematically colonized almost every living person, turning them into avatars so that they may mend the mistakes of humanity. The planet has never known such prosperity, but packs of surviving humans threaten the invader’s peace. Hardy survivor Melanie (Saoirse Ronan) is trying to find her way to one such clan, kid brother Jamie (Chandler Canterbury) and love-interest Jared (Max Irons) in tow, when she is accosted and eventually captured by a group of human hunters known as Seekers. After she has been colonized by a Soul called Wanderer (and later Wanda) head honcho The Seeker (Diane Kruger) plans to ultilise the memories of Melanie to find and capture the remaining humans. The plan doesn’t go smoothly however; with Melanie staying very much alive within Wanda’s consciousness their internal collision may very well trigger a real-life battle.
Review
 |
| In size order of how likely you are to remember their name. |
The phenomenon of Young Adult fiction – first in literature and then in film – is showing no sign of slowing down. Stephenie Meyer’s Twlight series not only typified the genre, it veritably constructed it, mixing fantasy, romance (normally in triangles) and moody teenagers into a potent money making behemoth. Vampires, werewolves and now zombies (with Warm Bodies) have already been accounted for, but aliens are a fantasy trope as yet untested in YA waters. Fittingly then, Queen Meyer changed that with her Twilight follow up The Host.
Almost inevitably then, The Host has been flung on to the big screen, but does it belong there?
…no.
If there’s one thing to praise with The Host – and there is, sadly, just the one thing – it’s the concept. YA schmoozy adventures are fast becoming stale so the film’s split focus on both romance and sci-fi veneered discussions on consciousness, body and soul is refreshing. William Hurt as human leader Jeb is the one acting highlight too, possibly because his grouchy sweetheart routine is the only likeable character to be found…so yeah, that’s a thing.
Having said that however, it addresses each issue with all the delicateness of a train crash, immediately and clinically culling any and all nuance; despite the potential for a legitimately fascinating investigation on what it means to be human, it would much rather just abuse it’s protagonist.
 |
| You see what they did there? It's like there's two of her or something. |
The Host went all kinds of wrong somewhere. It’s broken from top to toe – from writing to directing – to the extent that the production team didn’t seem to realise that shot after shot after shot of barren empty desert wasteland does not an engaging film make. The music is alright though, heaps and dollops of sappy strings. So maybe that’s two things to praise.
Andrew Niccol, the man of previous highlights such as The Truman Show, both wrote and directed this sham, so the buck plainly starts and finishes with him.
The Host also perpetuates Stephenie Meyer's apparent dislike of all things women. Wanda is beaten – and not just pushed or slapped but full on thumped in the face and strangled – by a conveyor belt of sweaty indistinguishable men who introduce themselves with a dose of physical violence. It’s unsettling but in the wrong way, making the film look gleefully misogynistic rather than a commentator on prejudice. Though the film clearly wants you to think of Melanie/Wanda as a ball-breaking survivor heroine, the fact remains that she is almost entirely helpless, often not even allowed to move unless led by the hand while blind-folded. Or she’s driven. Or she’s carried. In fact, one of the few instances of her trying to do something by herself results in her near death following a moronic trek into the desert.
 |
| Slamming car doors! HOO-HA EXCITEMENT! |
Not only is she a helpless punching bag however, Melanie/Wanda also has the prestigious honour of being a passive sex object. Her supposed love interest introduces himself with a forced aggressive kiss and she spends the rest of the time being kissed by the male protagonists in a tennis match of tongues. She rarely has a say and, in a particularly egregious instance, stands by while hunk number 2 orders hunk number 1 to kiss her shortly after he’s taken one for himself. Again, the film tries to explain this away, this time with a playful love triangle motif (though it may be better described as ‘love square’) but it just doesn’t work. It’s mismanaged and awfully presented, as developed as Meyer is poor, and reeks of laziness.
Mismanagement is the word of the day with The Host. The ‘romance’ is laughable, a juvenile conflation of appalling writing, senseless pacing and a general impression of apathy from acting to directing. The character’s flippant declarations of love for one another are inadvertently hilarious, feeling hackneyed and forced in a film that spends more time cycling around and around nonexistent narrative issues rather than developing its characters beyond caricatures of YA tropes.
The Host is a cataclysm of unforgiveable, primitive errors. The aforementioned writing is comically, childishly bad. The directing is hopeless, aimless from start to finish, and seems to forget to include an actual story to tie proceedings together.
 |
| If you ever smile at someone in the rain, you are definitely in love with them. |
The fact of the matter remains that the aliens seem like far more pleasant company than the humans and not once are they explicitly proven to be bad. The senselessness of the human’s dogged aversion to alien occupation is matched only by the idiocy of the alien’s pursuit of the humans. At least the human lot arguably want to keep control of their bodies – fair enough – but the aliens pursuit of their remaining adversaries is bewildering. The film itself states that they are outnumbered by ‘a million to one’ but, once again, feels as though that is enough. It’s addressed the issue – as in pointed at it – and that’s good enough, time to move on, forgetting that it still needs to work as a movie; to make sense.
Ultimately, the major narrative crux – a supposed war between the aliens and the humans – never once threatens to actually formulate; if this is a war then so is trying to untie your shoe-laces. And if the film itself never bothers to take itself, or its audience, any kind of seriously then there is no onus for a viewer to do so either.
Bottom line, The Host is insulting. It patronises it’s own target audience and lies to everyone else. Clinging desperately to the romantic coattails of Twilight, it assumes that just arbitrarily forcing characters to kiss and confess completely unfounded love for each other is enough to keep the fans happy. As for the lie: the trailer promises ‘war’ and vehicular action (got to give those boyfriends something right?) but is actually an amalgamation of the film’s two full minutes of visceral interest. Action amounts to a needless suicide, an incredibly OTT car-crash and few gun shots here and there to stop you from dozing off. Now this isn’t to say that a film needsaction to be good – nothing could be further from the truth – but The Host’s pure disingenuity, from it’s trailer to the credit roll, deserves nothing less than utter abasement.
At least the cars get objectified with lingering camara pans every now and then to give the women a break.
 |
| After knocking her out, he didn't really have a choice. |
Verdict
The Host is a film that even manages to make the immensely talented Soairse Ronan look bad. That’s all that really needs to be said. A woefully incompetent, juvenile cash-in.
1/5
Witness the liiieessss:
For updates, new posts and generally failed attempts at being funny, follow @smariman.
0 comments:
Post a Comment