Vieras

I would like to know a lot more about the laws of this world. To look beyond the boundaries of the designated area instead of wasting unnecessary contemplative moments in a cave. But despite the generally cautious pace, Andrew Niccol hit the right note with me. This time he didn't even need his usual visual and narrative tricks, Antonio Pinto's excellent soundtrack was enough for him, along with the fact that he has some pretty original subject matter in front of him, which comes to life in his hands as a carefully hypnotic romance. Stories by Stephenie Meyer always deviate from their genre anchoring, so just from reading the premise, it is clear that it will focus more on interpersonal relationships rather than the sci-fi aspect of the invasion. And there is no need to hide the fact that Melanie and company won me over in that regard. Unusual multidimensional characters, led by surprises and occasional Meyer-style exaggerated confessions, usually suit my taste, and with such a likeable cast (first and foremost among them future star Max Irons), it couldn't have been any different. When I then watched the sarcastic dialogue between Mel and Wanda with increasing pleasure, I realized that The Host had simply won me over. With reservations, some small missteps? Maybe. But thanks to its heartfelt nature, it was also guaranteed to win. (17.04.2013)

What a mess, and I have no prejudice whatsoever about the author of the novel, as I have read nothing by her and have not seen a single Twilight. On the other hand, I thought that The Host might surprise me. But man, that hurt. I like Saoirse Ronan (those unlit eyes!), Diane Kruger and William Hurt, and I know that Andrew Niccol can make (very) good films... But what the hell was all this? Nothing is properly explained, why this and that happened, how it was possible to do that, and the tortured love (double) affair bothered me like nothing I've seen in a long time. I didn't see any (let's say gimmicky) scenes that would have diverted my attention elsewhere, and I had to do a lot to make it to the end. That hasn't happened to me in a long time. Yuck. (12.05.2014)

If you don’t switch your brain off, you’re going to suffer. I’d like to have seen Andrew Niccol’s face when he was reading Stephenie Meyer’s opus and I want to know what pills he was on when he adapted it into a screenplay. In terms of content, The Host is perfectly flat and has the production values of an average TV pilot (cardboard cave interiors, “futuristic” cars painted silver). In terms of logic and message, it involves the completely botched up sci-fi subject matter of “body snatchers”, unnecessarily diluted with a Twilight-esque motif of deciding between two boys. The audience laughed at scenes that were meant to be serious or deep (e.g. the ending). William Hurt reprised the mentor/father role he played in The Village. Diane Kruger looks good in white and was the only thing in the movie that I more or less enjoyed (but only visually). The second star in my rating is just for her. I understand the success of Twilight, I even liked the first instalment, but this is really dumb. You’ll do better to watch Michael Bay’s The Island – it has a message, it is likeable and has good actors, it’s fast-paced, visually polished and offers top-notch action. The Host has NOTHING. (26.03.2013)

A star for “Radioactive” in the end credits. But other than that, I want to ask the cunt that wrote this to next time rape a different genre than one I like. To make sci-fi for people who don’t like sci-fi makes no sense. Let the intellectually tween audience and readers have their tween romances, as long as they remain in the field of tween romance. To see in horror, or science fiction, a story driven mainly by the heroine’s decision between two hunks is very annoying. But the saddest thing is that here and there you can see glimpses of a sci-fi motif that deserves to be properly developed. Alas, the mind of Stephenie Meyer is not enough for it. And Andrew Niccol is longer a filmmaker I want to follow. To lend himself for this crap, ew! (29.04.2013)

The idea of two women in one body could surely be used for a heart-rending (without irony) narrative about how difficult it is for a teenage girl to be herself, trust her feelings and not cling to the surface. But that didn’t happened. What did happen is a kitschy, embarrassingly literal knock off of the New Hollywood drama Wanda and, at the same time, an apt product of the society of spectacle in which even one’s soul has to be visualised to please the eye. After most of this remarkably undramatic film, the protagonist of The Host (shouldn’t it rather be The Hostess?) journeys through her own inner world, while the “rational” male characters have to help her find her bearings because of her emotional instability. It wouldn’t matter how little happens over the course of two hours in this film (the “feminine” failure to take action could serve as evidence of ideological subversiveness) if the ideas on which it is based weren’t so extremely stupid. Not only are the anxieties of post-modern society (xenophobia, the need to return to the simplicity of western myths, the emotional aloofness of world inundated with technology, the escape from the global to the local) presented in a midcult wrapper without anything disturbing (when blood appears, it’s a minor holiday), but the filmmakers immediately offer us banal solutions that only support the false illusion that there really is no cause for concern and it suffices if we all love each other and multiply. For each of the few positives (a couple of impressive shots, a hint of a visual concept, the doctor that looks like Obama), there are at least five times as many reasons why it would be better to avoid this offensively flat story about the emotional disjointedness of teenagers (the robotic acting not only by the aliens but also by the Earthlings, no progressive build-up, no suspense, several endings and, mainly, the persistent feeling that someone is trying to make a big damned mountain out of a molehill). Appendix: Fans of Twilight can feel free to ignore my review and rating. 30% (25.03.2013)