The Host

Stephanie Meyers books sell so many copies, you would think teenagers would get enough of these deeply romantic stories. Just look at Twilight, not only does these books sell more copies than Inner Circle´s Greatest Hits, the movie adaptions have made a hell of a lot of profit. So you have to ask yourself, why ? I wish i could answer that, but it is impossible. I have never been a Twilight fan and never will be. I have tried to understand why people love Twilight, and i still can´t find one good reason why you should like these movie adaptions from the novels. So what if Stephanie Meyers writes another novel, with a completely different story, and this novel also becomes a movie ? Yes it is true, The Host is a new launch in the world of Stephanie Myers, and this time around there are no vampires or werewolves. How about a sci fi movie ? Ok so we get laser guns and flesh eating aliens ? Not really, this looks more like a serious sci fi movie. Is The Host a much better story than Twilight, or is it back to the usual boring standards we are used to fall asleep from ?

The human race is in danger, only a few have survived in the future, since extraterrestrial psychic parasites known as " Souls " take over human bodies, controlling their minds. Melanie Stryder ( Saoirse Ronan ) is on the run with her brother Jamie Stryder ( Chandler Canterbury ). Melanie is captured by the Seeker ( Diane Kruger ). The Seeker let a parasite take over Melanie´s body, so she becomes one of the "Souls ". She is named Wanderer, and is asked to help Seeker, to locate humans who are still hiding. Wanderer tries to remember where these humans are located, but the mind of Melanie is still strong enough to control Wanderer´s choices. Melanie manage to pursuade Wanderer to escape the complex, to find her little brother Jamie. As she head out into a desert, with almost no water, she is found hydrated by Melanie´s uncle Jeb Stryder ( William Hurt ). Since Melanie is now infected by a parasite, the remaining humans in a secret location feel they should kill Wanderer, because she can lead other " Souls " to their secret hideout. Melanie´s brother Jamie is also located here, he realise that Melanie is not here anymore in her body. But Melanie´s mind is trying to convince the group members she is fighting back to become who she really is. The Seeker is now searching for Wanderer, and she will not give up.

The positive surprise is that this is not like Twilight, with a much more deeper story than before. Unfortunately, The Host still have a lot of ingredients that we recognize, those romantic moments, slow talking scenes, that Twilight hopelessly continued during the film series. This is such a shame, with better scene details, and better acting, The Host could have been something to look forward to. Now we are left with a motion picture with way too many slow scenes. The story is not that bad, i like the idea of human bodies being taken over, but director Andrew Niccol does not take this subject very high, he only touch the subject very easily and leave so many important details. One of the biggest problems is the acting, why let so many young actors perform so dull, that you can barely stay awake at some moments ? William Hurt is here thankfully. Even if he does not do one of his better roles, he can still make a character fel interesting. Too bad, The Host could have been the step outside that Stephanie Meyers movie adaptions needed. Now we just get a glimpse of something positive, and left with too many mistakes.

Rating: DD