"The Host is okayish, it won’t blow your underpants off and at over 2 hours with a few random bits rushed, you wonder just how well the book has been adapted."
In short, galaxy colonising aliens, that require a symbiotic host to survive, have finally made their way to Earth and have ‘peacefully’ taken over human bodies. Bringing a boring kind of silver and whitely order to the planet (you’ll understand when you watch the film) the total domination of the planet has been achieved without the consent of any human being. But for some reason, in the case of Melanie, played by Saoirse Ronan (Hanna, Atonement, Byzantium) her human consciousness has remained firmly intact along side the alien's and thus begins a battle of wills against her new owner. The conflict is not long lived and the 2 minds quickly fall into mutual co-operation. The alien, called Wanderer/Wanda and our Melanie find ‘their’ way to agreeing to find Mel’s family and in having to deal with the constant symbiosis, they also have to deal with one particular pursuing alien, who has a real hard-on for restoring order to Mel's body. Suffice to say the situation gets complicated when Mel is pursued, but makes it back to her people. As now her family, ex-lover and new lover and the host inside, are serving to create a new, tense dynamic that leaves everybody at odds with each other.
The Host is okayish, it won’t blow your underpants off and at over 2 hours with a few random bits rushed, you wonder just how well the book has been adapted. In comparison to Beautiful Creatures and Mortal Instruments, the latter of which I haven’t seen yet. I think The Host will probably stand out as being the most down to Earth and least melodramatic, but my truth be told Beautiful Creatures is far more entertaining, though more juvenile.
Rating 6/10