Stephenie Meyer is once again being praised with the film adaption of her novel, “The Host.” If you think “The Host” is simply another “Twilight” but with aliens instead of vampires, you would be dead wrong. Director Andrew Niccol, known for his previous sci-fi movies, brings a new human survival story with a little bit of romance to the big screen.
Unlike most alien movies, the invasion is already over, and humans have lost to the souls. These souls are not like most other aliens that have been portrayed in movies; instead they have come to spread peace and perfect the now-broken world. They accomplish this by erasing our minds and inserting themselves inside us to take our bodies, but their eyes are the sign that a human has been taken by a soul. The only hope to regain our planet lies in the hands of a few pockets of human resistance that are in hiding.
The story begins in the middle of the action with Melanie Stryder (Saoirse Ronan) trying to escape some Seekers, souls that are looking for the last of the humans. To prevent being taken over by a soul, Melanie throws herself out of a four-story building and survives the fall. However, the Seekers end up catching her and taking her to their Healers, which are able to mend her body. The Healer then inserts the soul called Wanderer into her body, and she tries to recover Melanie’s memories so she can find the resistance, but Melanie’s will power has survived. She is trapped inside her own body with Wanderer, attempting to stop the Seekers from finding the other humans while one particular Seeker (Diane Kruger) demands answers.
Melanie and Wanderer find common ground and team up to escape The Seeker. They go into the desert to find the human resistance and Melanie’s lover Jared (Max Irons) and her little brother Jamie (Chandler Canterbury). However, a warm welcome does not await them. With her eyes as a tell tale sign that she has been taken by the souls, the humans are very wary about her. Melanie’s
Uncle Jeb (William Hurt) makes the decision to take her prisoner until they can decide what to do with her.
Everyone in the cave, except Jamie and Jeb, wants to kill Wanderer, while Jared is conflicted on the matter. Wanderer eventually earns Jeb’s trust, and he lets her become a part of the community, despite most people being unhappy about it. Ian (Jake Abel) is one of the few who are curious about Wanderer and can see the compassion in her. Meanwhile, The Seeker still hunts for Wanderer and makes it even more dangerous for the humans to leave the cave. They must find a way to escape her while Wanderer tries to find a way to make everything right again.
Saoirse Ronan does a phenomenal job playing both Melanie and Wanderer as separate characters. It is almost as if the characters are played by different actresses. Out of everyone, she has the toughest job by portraying two very different characters, and she does it beautifully. Max Irons captures the essence of Jared and how conflicted he is. He lost the woman he loves to the Seekers, but here is her body with a soul inside her.
This movie gets five out of five stars from me, and readers of the book will not be disappointed because this movie is true to the novel and really brings it to life. It makes you ponder a lot of questions. Are the souls really evil? They have taken over our world and our bodies, but they have made Earth a better place with no wars or hunger. It is a peaceful beautiful place. The real question this movie asks is what makes us human?
