You have seen our “The Host” interviews with Jake Abel and Max Irons. Now, SIDEWALKS’ Veronica Castro gives us her take on the film itself.
“The Host”
Open Road Films Presents
In Association with IAV International and Silver Reel
A Nick Wechsler / Chockstone Pictures / Fickle Fish Production
Rated: PG-13
Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Jake Abel, Max Irons, Frances Fisher, Chandler Canterbury, with Diane Kruger and William Hurt.
Based on the Novel by Stephenie Meyer
Written for the Screen and Directed by Andrew Niccol
Studio Synopsis:
What if everything you love was taken from you in the blink of an eye?
The Host is the next epic love story from the creator of the “Twilight Saga,” worldwide bestselling author Stephenie Meyer. When an unseen enemy threatens mankind by taking over their bodies and erasing their memories, Melanie Stryder (Saoirse Ronan) will risk everything to protect the people she cares most about — Jared (Max Irons), Ian (Jake Abel), her brother Jamie (Chandler Canterbury) and her Uncle Jeb (William Hurt), proving that love can conquer all in a dangerous new world.
[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x1TZLcMjgA’]
Veronica’s Take:
The phenomena of “the Twilight Saga” by best selling author Stephenie Meyer has made her mark and has more romantic sci-fi adventure up her sleeve with her new film, “The Host.” Instead of blood sucking heartthrob vampires, enter alien invaders trapped in human bodies for survival. Although, I was anticipating a bit more attacking and shooting like most sci-fi inspired films, the take-over of humans was somewhat of a more peaceful approach.
Offering a different perspective of how aliens are depicted, Meyers brings us ideas that are somewhat profound, mixing in a complicated love story with an interspecies love affair. After all when is love not complicated, and even more so for Saoirse Ronan’s double character Melanie and Wanderer, who is kissing one guy she loves (Jake Able) and is also plagued by her alien invaded body’s soul who kisses another guy (Max Irons). It’s actually entertaining to see her dual character have an inner conflict literally, as she talks to herself through the alien soul and the soul back to her. “Wait a minute”, it’s almost similar to how real women act during raging hormone induced moments. Which is comedy to watch a woman battle her inner voice when one tells you one thing, yet the other begs to differ. I wonder if Stephenie Meyer realized this? I digress.
Through out the film I found myself entertained by the irony of the dueling voices, the inevitable love affair and how the characters developed. I can’t imagine having feelings for an extraterrestrial, but playing up the romantic side in Able’s character managed to convince me otherwise of the possibility of at least falling in love with someone’s soul. Almost subtle soap opera-ish with Irons’ and Able’s roles, they delivered their performances as both fighters for the human race and hopeless romantics.
Don’t expect a typical sci-fi story compared to “Aliens” with its grotesque monster like characters attacking human lives and taking over the world. It’s an adventure nonetheless, however, it offers a new way to be open minded about not being alone here in this universe and how we as humans could take a closer look at how we treat our Earth and each other.
It’s a film worth watching, to consider where Stephenie Meyer is going with her writing sensations and how she is turning her stories into epic film sagas, tapping into her film producing side and creating up-and-coming Hollywood heartthrobs.