‘The Host’ has nothing new to offer

The Host Review

1 out of 5 stars

Disorienting, frequently annoying and home to only a few redeeming qualities, The Host obliviously commits to its walk of shame.

The Host, adapted to the big screen from Stephenie Meyer’s sci-fi romance novel, tells the story of a world where the earth has been overrun by jellyfish-like aliens that take human bodies as their hosts. The invaders crawl through the back of the neck and steal your subconscious for their own, with only the eerie light in their eyes as evidence of the ordeal.

Saoirse Ronan duels with herself as two characters, Melanie Stryder and Wanderer, the alien that has inhabited her body.

These abductors, called Souls, consider themselves peaceful and claim that humans need them to fix their unruly, dangerous ways. You can’t be a human and not get ruffled by that.

Still, it poses the interesting question – one I believe the book handled better – what does it really means to be human? Is it simply our physicality – skin, bones, heart, et cetera – or are our warring emotions part of the equation?

Unfortunately, those questions are more like thoughts in the wind. Not only does the film never bother to put forth an answer, it never gives these philosophical ideas any importance.

It can’t even be left as merely style without substance, as there are only a few points of reference that let The Host stand out visually. The sprawling desert exterior shots and the wheat fields grown from an intricate set-up of mirrors that slant sunlight into the fugitive humans’ hideout are the most noteworthy examples.

This desolate setting is certainly appropriate. The film is about humans reverting back to primitive ways and locations as a means of survival. Too bad these stakes are regularly halted by Wanderer’s maddening and nauseating inner dialogue with Melanie.

Melanie’s arbitrary one-liners should be enough to make anyone with sense just get up and leave the theater.

Do we merely chalk this lacking narrative up to Stephenie Meyers’ crappy writing once more? I’m not convinced we should. The film was put into the capable hands of Andrew Niccol, the screenwriter and director known for his work on Gattaca and The Truman Show. However, none of his usual skill seems to be on display in The Host.

Or maybe we should pass the buck on to Ronan, who gives exaggerated deliveries as both characters. I had high hopes for her after her performance in Atonement, but roles such as this squander that potential.

The crux of the film’s conflict is that Wanderer simply can’t suppress the mind of Melanie. As a result, Wanderer gets emotionally mixed up in Melanie’s relationships with her brother Jamie (Chandler Canterbury) and boyfriend Jared (Max Irons). But it wouldn’t be Stephenie Meyers without a love triangle – and so enters Ian (Jake Abel), who is about as irrelevant a character as the majority of the other by-standing humans are. 

Ironically, the best scene in the entire movie is of two of the miscellaneous humans. After making a much needed run for supplies, the two humans – who will not be named, in case you actually want to spend money on this kind of mediocrity – get caught by the alien enemy on the highway. A high-speed chase with swelling music spirals down into kamikaze “I’d-rather-die-than-be-one-of-you” heroics. More of this human psyche at the forefront would have made the film bearable.

Diane Kruger fares decently as the almost, but not quite villainess, Seeker, and when you put William Hurt’s voice in a western setting, you already know who is going to steal the show.

Still, it’s nowhere near enough to save this sorry excuse for a movie. The Host moves beyond a pathetic attempt at filmmaking into the realm of an outright disgrace.