Netflix A-Z: The Host (2013)

We’re already at H on the Netflix A-Z! Seriously, its gone by really fast! Among all the crazy going on, this is still something that I enjoy and brings me back to that first year I committed to adding in movies as a focus for the blog.  I’m happy to be reconnected with that feeling.  Writing reviews is back to being all sorts of fun again. Honestly, I kind of missed that feeling. Let’s hope it sticks around.  So, H choice goes to The Host. I love Saoirse Ronan but I do not like Stephanie Meyer’s writing and storytelling style so its hard to say how this one will go.  I really don’t know much but the reviews I’ve seen aren’t exactly positive so my expectations are set rather low.

Let’s check it out! 🙂

The Host (2013)

Director: Andrew Niccol

Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Max Irons, Jake Abel, Diane Kruger, Chandler Canterbury, William Hurt, J.D. Evermore, Boyd Holbrook

An alien force has invaded the world but they do it through taking over the bodies of the current species.  On Earth, the people are different and they prove that their host is tough to take over.  This is the case with Wanda (Saoirse Ronan) taking over Melissa’s body.  Her soul stays within even though she can’t control what Wanda does.  Melissa tries her best to convince Wanda to not reveal the ones she loves such as her love Jared (Max Irons) and her little brother Jamie (Chandler Canterbury) and while slowly gaining her trust, she also tries to lead her to understand what their invasion has caused to humans. At the same time, her escape from the alien species Seeker’s investigation to find other humans remaining leads one specific Seeker (Diane Kruger) to be hot on her trail. While she gains trust in this new place with the human resistance, her and Melissa eventually bond to become allies who hope to stay alive and try to find a balance to live together physically and emotionally.

Just so you know, I had to watch The Host two times mostly because I was so drained that I fell asleep in the first viewing for a little and power napped and woke up and watched the ending and for this review to be as complete and fair as possible, I turned it on again and watched it the next night. Plus, that first night, I went into this expecting the worse and I was a little too judgmental, on the second viewing, it wasn’t unbearable.  I personally think Rotten Tomatoes 8% is a little harsh.  I mean I would swap Twilight’s New Moon with this and still it would be a little harsh.

While we are talking harsh, let me tell you where The Host fails.  For one, it has clunky and cheesy dialogue.  At times, the consistency of story falls apart and lacks the continuity it should have.  Its definitely no masterpiece.  And it has all signs of Stephanie Meyer’s conflicted love story and the whole saying I love you but really saying goodbye.  That’s all I remember of Twilight New Moon and its the only movie I intend on seeing in that franchise.  Not to be judgmental but that one had no hold on me.  But The Host is far from perfect but its really the bad dialogue that makes this not to convincing.  Plus, it might not appeal to the mass audience because it focuses more on the relationships and love story and drama than on the actual alien takeover sci-fi portion, making it geared more towards a specific group that enjoys this genre. Plus, there isn’t really a climax to The Host which is hard for it to not drag a little when it has a relatively long run time of 2 hours.

Now that we got the bad stuff out of the way, The Host isn’t all bad.  The story itself about a parasite alien race makes a good bit of sense and has its pull and creative value that works for me.  I mean if you think too deep about analyzing how it all works, maybe it falls apart a little but, it is a decent conceptual premise.  While we are talking about that, the effects are pretty good and the camera work and the shots are pretty good to look at especially in their little hideout area in the caves.  The whole surviving by your own means was a nice take. On the story front, we aren’t quite looking at love triangle but rather just two separate girls in one body but falling for two different boys but their feelings are distinct as to who each of them like, its just how to divide that love.

Since I’m at the whole love discussion, what really does lift The Host is that it has a likable cast.  Starting with our main character, Saoirse Ronan plays Wanda but also does the voice of Melanie who keeps constantly voicing in conversations with Wanda throughout the movie.  For one part, that was the issue I had with the character.  I liked Wanda a lot because she, as the alien here showed a certain human value to her while really showing the confusion of being immersed in a new world and discovering feelings and adapting with the new host.  So, for that, I give the script of having two voices a negative because I made me feel a little split personality going on there and it would get bothersome.  Melanie’s character wasn’t particularly appealing so it kind of lifted up who Wanda was and how good she is.  Maybe the contrast was done deliberately.  I have no idea since I didn’t read the source material. However, the likability of Wanda is captured by Saoirse Ronan who takes this bad dialogue and still dives in with the best acting she can do and that shows how potentially great she can be (as she has proved with other movies she’s been in).

 While we’re not talking about the normal love triangle here, there is still favorites.  In very much the same way as how I prefer Wanda’s character, I also prefer Ian’s character more.  Ian is played by Jake Abel and his character kind of just flips from love to hate in a pretty abrupt way towards Wanda but he is a kind-hearted, truthful and loyal character and that makes him very awesome.  Plus, they just make him out as super adorable and lovable when he starts having the attraction thing going on with Wanda.  On the other hand, Jared, played by Max Irons is in love with Melanie.  I think Max Irons carries his character very well but I didn’t enjoy that character quite as much.  Although, he is also a rather good looking guy.

I guess, I can’t leave this review without at least touching on the villain here which is The Seeker played by Diane Kruger.  I like Diane Kruger as an actress.  She is competent and above average in what I’ve seen her in before.  However, her role falls into the same trap of just the script failing.  It never adds any intensity even in the moments where there should be danger.  Maybe its the predictability of the script or just how there was no build.

Overall, The Host is harshly judged.  I’m a little half and half on it.  Its definitely more of a guilty pleasure if I wanted to watch this again because I really enjoyed the chemistry unfold between Ian and Wanda’s character and I thought the movie looked really pretty.  Plus, some of the cheesy dialogue was really laugh out loud moments, just like that “Kiss her” scene up there.  I guess in a way, I can feel the chemistry in certain ways because I’m just a super sappy person.  But, this is a perfect proof of how a good conceptual premise without taking the right steps can drag a story down.  It could’ve been better with the cast it had if it chose to follow more on the sci-fi Seeker against Human resistance path but it turned into a teen romance cheesy dialogue script and that killed it in many ways causing it to not have a climactic moment, no danger, no worries and the run time was just too long for its own good without enough plot direction. Still, despite my criticism, I wouldn’t oppose watching this again.

You can judge me but hey, agree to disagree, k? 😉

Have you seen The Host? Are you a fan of Saoirse Ronan?

Next week, we are stepping into the I selection! Any guesses? Hint: Comedy

In Time (2011)

On the weekend, my boyfriend’s coworker lent him this flick In Time.  I’m personally not a huge fan of Justin Timberlake.  I’ve had that discussion back when I reviewed Bad Teacher .  Not impressed by him much.  However, I’m okay with Amanda Seyfried.  Plus, I’ve been intrigued by the concept of this movie.

Director: Andrew Niccol

Cast: Justin Timberlake, Amanada Seyfried, Cillian Murphy, Olivia Wilde, Matt Bomer, Alex Pettyfer

In the future, the population has been imprinted with a digital timer on their arms which activates the moment they turn 25.  They are destined to have eternal youth but when this clock starts, it is set to only countdown for 1 more year.  Everything will be paid and earned by the minutes and hours and rarely years in their life.  Your wealth is equivalent to the amount of time you own remaining in your life.  Will Salas (Justin Timberlake) is a normal guy who works in a low job and lives literally by the day with his mom who is in the same situation. When he saves a fed up rich guy called Henry Hamilton (Matt Bomer) with over a century on his clock who comes into this local bar, Will spots trouble.  He saves Henry from the bad guys in the area led by Fortis (Alex Pettyfer) who spends his life taking time from other people.  When he wakes up, he realizes that not only did Henry give him all his time but that Henry had timed out himself which causes Will to be tracked down by the Timekeeper Raymond Leon (Cillian Murphy) who accuses him of murder.  In the course of events, he meets a rich man who owns the time lending in all the area Weisz and his beautiful daughter Sylvia and eventually takes her as hostage as they run away.

I hold true that the concept of this movie was pretty cool.  Using time as the center of replacing wealth because most of us know the saying time equals money, right? To apply that as the tool for how people survive seems to make sense and to use it in a world that is divided into time zones and in the most richest time zone called New Greenwich, we know that the standards of living are higher as crossing into that zone would be many times higher than the previous one. I bought the premise of the setting that this story was set in.

However, this movie was quite average.  It was enjoyable in the beginning when trying to understand what was going on and in the last bit leading to the ending. The middle gets a bit slow for my taste.  How do I know? Because when a movie doesn’t captivate me, I start walking around the kitchen and opening the cupboards and fridge trying to find something to eat.  Its just a habit I have.  Eventually, it just felt like the movie wasn’t going to end.  I think what happened  is that it became (too) predictable. BUT…let me just add I really enjoyed how it ended.

Our main actor Justin Timberlake really didn’t do too much for me. He definitely was better than in Bad Teacher. At least in this one he has a respectable character. One that wants to change the world he is in so that no one is immortal but to achieve some sort of equality and take down the walls separating everyone from the differences of time in the time zones.  Amanda Seyfried was a bit more interesting because she learned and changed as the situation progresses.  But something didn`t make me connect too much with her. Don’t get me wrong…she has been in many movies that I enjoy and she was alright in this one.  Was it my favorite role from her…probably not though.

As much as the main characters didn’t really connect with the movie itself much, I found that the supporting cast was quite good.  For one, I really liked Olivia Wilde.  She was very beautiful and pretty cool for the time that she had in the movie.  Another actor I’d like to mention is Cillian Murphy.  This guy is a pretty kick ass actor in my book.  He’s done some pretty awesome movies like 28 Days Later and Nolan`s Batman.  In this one, I actually thought he made this movie a lot better.  His character was interesting in its own (and frustrating at times) but then he really brought more action and spark to the flick.  He was probably the favorite part of this for me.

Overall, this is an average movie.  I would actually recommend it based on the interesting premise that it chooses.  Its a pretty good flick to just sit back and watch when there isn’t anything else on or whatnot.  It has some good performances and between some slower parts in the middle, it does also have some fun parts here and there.

Have you seen this? What do you think of the premise of this movie using Time is Money as the concept? How about the actors and actresses here? Anyone of them have any particular roles you enjoy?