The entertainment world is certainly cashing in on children from the late end of Generation Y. First it was “Harry Potter,” then “Twilight,” and when the audience demanded something more brutal and radical, “The Hunger Games” made its way to the silver screen, with its sequel, “Catching Fire” scheduled for release in November. And if that wasn’t enough, this summer will see yet another teen film franchise in the form of “City of Bones.”
In all honesty, there is only one compelling aspect of “The Host,” this spring’s Hollywood cash cow, which is that it is a stand-alone film, with no sequels or prequels or follow-ups films in the work. But apart from that, the movie adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s brick of a teenage romance novel has absolutely nothing going for it. I myself went to see “The Host” solely for one of the actors, Jake Abel, for whom I harbor a celebrity crush. By no means whatsoever was that a good enough reason to suffer through 125 minutes of nonsense, and I would advise that no one follow my footsteps.
“The Host” is set in some not too distant future where glowing space caterpillars, known as Souls, have invaded Earth. As Souls have no bodies of their own, they take over human bodies, a bit like in “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.” Once the human race has been more or less completely enslaved, the Souls create a horrifying world in which world peace has been achieved, global warming is no longer a threat, cancer can be cured by a spray of magic water and everyone remembers to say please and thank you.
Undoubtedly, this world, where the youngsters push for free will and the adults are a polite, bland enemy force is supposed to be some sort of statement on the current generation gap and on how teenagers view the tedious responsibilities of adult world.
The problem is, apart from being a little boring, there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with the new Earth. World peace and an end to global warming don’t really seem to be such bad things, even if the cost is the loss of rock music and erotica novels.
However, the insipid lead character, Melanie Stryder, played by the equally insipid Saoirse Ronan, certainly seems to think that free will is worth fighting for. In fact, her stubborn belief in free will is so strong that even after a Soul, who goes by the name Wanderer, slips inside Melanie’s body and brain, Melanie refuses to fade away. She is quite an exceptional and unusual girl, as female main characters of teen books tend to be.
Handled well, the dual personalities could have been an interesting idea. But it is quite poorly executed in the film, as all that really happens is Ronan staring off into space with a blank look on her face while a voiceover recites what Melanie is thinking.
The rest of the characters are equally dull. “The Host,” like most teen fiction, features a love triangle. There’s Jared (played by Max Irons), Melanie’s original love interest, who has all the personality of a clod of mud, and whose defining traits are his hatred of Wanderer and his love for Melanie. On the other hand, there’s Ian (played by Jake Abel), who falls in love with Wanderer a few days after he tries to strangle her.
Melanie is violently opposed to Wanderer and Ian’s relationship, but she also can’t stand having Jared kiss Wanderer (because, you know, it isn’t really her he is kissing). The whole thing is rather complicated, in an extremely boring sort of way. The love triangle is hard to care about, as none of the characters are very engaging. However, credit must be given where credit is due, so Stephenie Meyer does deserve some praise for the way she neatly resolves the love triangle at the end.
The rest of the characters include Melanie’s uncle Jeb (William Hurt), the self-appointed leader of the resistance group whose leadership can be described along the lines of “You seem to think this is a democracy. It’s not. This is a dictatorship. A benign dictatorship,” and his wife Maggie (Frances Fisher) who loathes Wanderer and refuses to believe Melanie is still alive.
The most noteworthy thing Maggie does is give Wanderer a good smack across the face when the two first meet, but after that she fades into the background by playing the role of a rural housewife.
And last but not least, there’s Jamie (Chandler Canterbury), Melanie’s sickeningly perfect younger brother who is the first person to accept Wanderer, as well as the first person to find out that Melanie hasn’t been completely erased.
Diane Kruger plays the “villain,” a Soul named Seeker who becomes obsessed with Wanderer and the possibility that Melanie might still be around. When Wanderer leads the governing body of Souls straight to the resistance group, Seeker becomes the driving force behind the sad excuse this movie tries to pass off as a plot. The finale does explain why Seeker is so determined to wipe out Melanie’s existence, but in this case, the end doesn’t really justify the means.
The characters and plot may have been completely lackluster, but the desert scenery is quite beautiful. “The Host” was filmed mainly in Louisiana and New Mexico, which provided an interesting backdrop that was usually more enjoyable than what was actually taking place on screen. Aerial shots of the desert and slow, panning shots of the night sky can’t really make up for bad dialogue and a cast that can’t act, but in movies such as this, you usually end up taking what little good there is and running with it.
And while most of the movie was laughable torture, there was one scene which was mildly enjoyable. After apologizing to Wanderer for trying to kill her, Ian confesses his attraction to her. Wanderer, who is trying to be respectful of Melanie’s relationship with Jared while also battling her own feelings for Ian, gently turns Ian down, telling him that he is only attracted to Melanie’s body and not Wanderer herself. Later on, when removing Seeker from her host body Lacey, Wanderer asks Ian to hold the Soul while she prepares the silver egg spaceship in which Seeker will be sent away from Earth.
Rather than looking repulsed or refusing, Ian, with an expression of mixed fear and amazement, willing lets the space caterpillar crawl around his hand. It is a feeble attempt to try and convince the audience that yes, Ian really is attracted to Wanderer for her personality and not just because of Saoirse Ronan’s face. But the scene does work as solid evidence of Wanderer and Ian’s future relationship, although that is possibly just because of how bad all the other scenes of the movie were.
