Director: Andrew Niccol
Cast: Saorise Ronan, Max Irons, Jake Abel, Diane Kruger
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Length: 125 Minutes
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Invasion of the Boring
The Host is a painfully slow, witless excuse for a bunch of attractive people to make out with one another. The movie is burdened by terribly flat acting and even worse writing. Fans of Stephenie Meyers’ other series, Twilight, might find something to enjoy here, but honestly I can’t imagine what that could be.
One of my favorite science fiction films is the 1978 remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The film was a tense, wonderfully acted descent into madness and ultimately, conformity. The way the film handled the assimilation of humans into the pod people society was pitch perfect. Flash forward to 2013 and the author of the insanely popular Twilight series decides that she wants to tackle the same basic plot. The problem is, nothing about the film version of her story is remotely interesting.
The film follows Melanie Stryder (Saoirse Ronan), a young woman who happens to be among the last humans on the planet. A race of sentient parasites known as “Souls” has invaded the planet and resides within the bodies of humans that have been captured by their glorified Gestapo, the “Seekers”. Melanie, accompanied by her younger brother, Plot Device #2 (Chandler Canterbury), meet another human, Jared Howe (Max Irons), and literally immediately the kisses begin. As the trio journeys to find Melanie’s uncle and the leader of the human resistance, Jeb (William Hurt), Melanie and Jared fall in love.
Soon though, Melanie is found by a Seeker (Diane Kruger) and attempts to kill herself to evade capture. She fails and is implanted with a Soul that identifies itself as Wanderer. Wanderer however finds that Melanie still resides within the body and the two begin to battle for control. Melanie wants to find her lover, where Wanderer wants to fit in with the rest of the Souls.
The premise, while cliche, had some potential. With the popularity of apocalyptic scenarios in film and television, this probably seemed a surefire hit. However, all the drama and excitement that could unfold from an alien invasion is tossed carelessly aside and replaced with a very weak love story. Even the primary antagonist takes a backseat to kissing scenes. The whole movie seems like an older woman reminiscing about her adolescent fantasies (which is never more painfully evident than when Melanie and Jared share intimate moments before her capture). The chemistry between the actors is non-existent, which makes each heart pouring session, and make out scene, a tedious bore. The film exacerbates things with the addition of another human love interest who instead of falling for Melanie, falls for Wanderer (who by that point in the film is referred to as Wanda). This effectively doubles the amount of lame soap opera moments, as well as the make out scenes.
The real crime of this film though is the way it misuses some truly fine performers. Ronan, who was absolutely phenomenal in 2007’s Atonement, is given lame, thoughtless one liners as Melanie (who spends most of the movie as a disembodied voice that blatantly blurts out whatever Melanie is feeling), and little to no real character in the mostly one dimensional Wanderer/Wanda. This is truly a shame, as Ronan shows great potential.
Diane Kruger (who many will remember as Bridget Von Hammersmark in Quentin Tarantino’s epic WWII film, Inglourious Basterds) is also handed a cardboard cutout of a character. She brings as much as she can to the role, but the horrific writing kills her performance. Even William Hurt seems bored with the proceedings, and looks tired and uninterested in every scene he’s in. The rest of the cast is entirely forgettable, as the love interests spend their time trying to look tough and the rest of the surviving humans barely see the screen. In one moment, the film tries to evoke sadness when it kills off two human characters, but as it happens you realize that you don’t care because the two character were literally on screen for less than a minute before they died. Every single character feels like a MacGuffin.
Ultimately, what could have been a new and interesting direction for Stephenie Meyers, turns into more of the same boring love story that her career has been characterized by. Even several excellent actors and actresses cannot save the bare bones characters and shoddy, uninteresting plot from the depths of Film Hell. If you really want a powerful love story that is emotionally resonant, well acted, and well directed, watch Atonement and pray that Saoirse Ronan can find better work in the years to come.
Score: 5.0
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