Movie Review: The Host
Stephanie Meyer’s alien invasion fails to match Twilight sparkle
The film adaptation of Stephanie Meyer’s The Host hit theaters March 29. The question of whether or not The Host would live up to the Twilight Saga stardom was answered during its opening weekend when The Host only made $11 million across 3,202 theaters. The first Twilight film based on Meyer’s Twilight novels grossed $69.6 million on its opening weekend.
In spite of being a hardcore Twilight fan, I had not read The Host and was skeptical about the movie living up to Twilight. My friend, UCC transfer student Marika Stanko, who had read the book, also wasn’t sure about the movie. She texted me one day after previously refusing to see it and said she would go. She thinks it did an ok job of following the book, but the movie didn’t include some of the parts that made the book wonderful to her. “You could feel the love even though the people were a dying race,” said Stanko.
The story follows a girl, Melanie Stryder, whose body has been taken over by an alien soul named Wanderer, aka Wanda. Stryder refuses to let her body be totally taken over, so she still exists consciously even after Wanda possesses her body. At first Wanda is reluctant to listen to Melanie, but after experiencing Melanie’s thoughts and her memories of Jared, whom Melanie loves, Wanda decides to go to Jared. Wanda even wants to protect Jared from The Seeker.
The cast includes Saoirse Ronan (Atonement, The Lovely Bones) who plays the parts of both Melanie and Wanda, Max Irons (Red Riding Hood, Dorian Gray) as Jared, Jake Abel (The Lightning Thief, I Am Number Four, The Lovely Bones) as Ian, and Diane Kruger (Inglorious Bastards, National Treasure) as The Seeker. “I think Saoirse Ronan depicted Wanderer well. Wanderer was quiet and cautious, but so passionate,” said Stanko.
This movie has very few comedic moments. It combines drama, romance, and action in a Sci-Fi orientation. This movie could be enjoyable for more than just Twilight fans. In spite of the Sci-Fi emphasis, The Host does seem geared toward female viewers. I personally really enjoyed this movie. The story line was not like any movie I had seen before and I loved the characters.
I must warn you though…this movie does not contain any sparkly aliens.