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Movie Review: The Host

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Hoping to build off the success of the Twilight Saga, Stephanie Meyer’s New York Times Bestseller The Host hit theatres on Mar. 29.

The Host is a sci-fi thriller focusing on Melanie Stryder, played by actress Saoirse Ronan. Melanie lives in a futuristic world where aliens, called Souls, have taken over the majority of earth’s human population. The overall story is interesting and is filled with unexpected events. Director Andrew Niccol makes this a must see by combining great acting and reflective music together with another of Meyer’s interesting fiction stories.

Physically the Souls themselves are small and do not have a human form. They take over a humans body to get the human form.  Some Souls have the task of hunting down and bringing together all the human bodies for other Souls to take over, and they are called Seekers.  A particular Seeker who everyone calls The Seeker, played by Diane Kruger, hunts down many humans that are important and wants all of the human race to be taken over.  In one important scene Kruger has to completely change the mindset and actions of her character.  A way she showed this was changing her voice and her facial expressions when she looked at people.  At one point her face was no longer hard and focused, and she became softer and happy. This cued the audience into who she was portraying at any given time.  When her character was confused, her voice sounded shakier and less confident.

Melanie, as well as her brother Jamie, played by Chandler Canterbury, and lover Jared, played by Max Irons, manage to stay safely hidden for awhile. Then they, were found by the Seekers and Melanie was taken from her family while Jamie and Jared were left behind unfound.  Canterbury and Irons display all emotions excellently from scene to scene without hesitation. They both have the perfect facial expression for whatever emotion they are supposed to feel at whatever time.  When his character Jamie is showing Wanderer one of his favorite places where there are glow worms, his face lights up when he sees the room.  He sits and stares at them with complete ease, like this place shields him from the real world.

After she got taken, the Seekers take Melanie and given her a new Soul called Wanderer through most of the movie is played also by  Ronan. Even though Wanderer takes over Melanie’s body, they are still two separate beings. Unlike the other humans, Melanie refuses to be completely taken over by the Soul, so throughout most of the movie she is trying to make Wanderer get out of her body.

All throughout, Ronan truly looks as though she is a confused alien in someone else’s body along with another mind. Unlike her 2009 character in The Lovely Bones, Ronan has to show many different emotions throughout this film. In The Host, she powerfully executes the fear, anger, confusion, happiness and love that someone really would if they were in the exact situation she is. She talks to herself many times (because that is how Wanderer talks to Melanie), so she finds a way to make talking with herself interesting and heartbreaking.

Another great aspect this movie has in it is music.  The soundtrack genuinely reflects almost every emotion throughout the story. From the band Imagine Dragons building intensity during the thrillings parts to the singer Ellie Goulding adding a touch of compassion during sentimental parts, all of the music applies to what is happening in the scene, helping the viewer connect with it.

One of the most fitting songs is Skylar Grey’s “Slowly Freaking Out”, particularly the line “and I’m fighting the stranger in my eyes”. It portrays the emotions that Wanderer and Melanie are feeling because throughout the story. Neither Melanie nor Wanderer want to be stuck together, so there are many times when they argue and fight with each other.

Although The Host did not get nearly as much success opening night as any of The Twilight Saga’s movies, it reached #6 at the box office on opening weekend.  Being by the author of Twilight, many people may be brought in because of that association alone. However, those folks will still enjoy it for what it is a thrilling, sci-fi-romance story that will leave the audience wanting more.

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