Story: After romancing vampires and werewolves in the ‘Twilight Saga’, Stephenie Meyer brings ‘aliens’ to the forefront. However, everything else stays constant…love triangle, white makeup, coloured contact lenses, fast cars and most importantly, humans who fall for non-human species!
Movie Review: Earth has been invaded by these unknown peace-loving, alien souls. While they mean no harm, they can only survive by taking over the human bodies as their ‘hosts’. A few humans manage to resist the alien ‘seekers’. Melanie (Saoirse Ronan) is one of them. However, she gets captured and eventually taken over by a soul called ‘wanderer’. Unlike the rest, Melanie’s mind stays active even after being possessed. Can the girl with an active human mind and an alien soul save her loved ones from the alien invasion?
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From folkloric romance to science-fiction fantasy, Stephenie Meyer sticks to her typical imagination to give us ‘The Host’, which is a soppier, mushier, disengaging version of the ‘Twilight saga’.
If Twilight was made for teens, The Host may appeal to the sensibilities of the tweens. Wonder why it’s ‘A’ rated! The dialogues are annoyingly mushy and romance terribly random.
Melanie and her boyfriend Jared (Max Irons) have absolutely no chemistry, in spite of them being made to kiss endlessly! No intense romance, just ‘wanabe intense’ smooches, which look forced and unnecessary! Unfortunately, their ineffective, bland love-story is the crux of the film.
Andrew Niccol’s story-telling is equally disappointing. The film lacks proper structure, making it look like a never-ending episode of a television series! There is no humour in the film either, unlike Twilight.
In spite of the multiple drawbacks, fans of the book might enjoy the beautiful cinematography; good imagery and Saoirse Ronan’s flawless performance. Diane Kruger is decent too.
Though one can draw parallels between The Host and Twilight, the ‘kind’ aliens lack the charisma of the good-looking vampires!