The Host (2013)
Director: Andrew Niccol
Genre: Sci-fi/Action/Romance
Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Diane Kruger, Max Irons, Jake Abel
Certificate Rating: 12
Certificate Rating: 12
My Rating: 4/5
Choose to believe. Choose to fight. Choose to love.
*******************
Ok so previously I did a quick review of the film, when I saw it at cinema. At this time I had not heard much about the story line or read the book. So this review is a bit more detailed than the other. However the link is down below if you wish to read that review along with the novel review.
One thing I will mention about this film is that you can have the book and the movie as two separate entities or you can compare them together. For which I did both. I compared the book to the movie (obviously the books are always better as they include much more information about the narrative) and realised that you can take them as two things. I mean imagine trying to condense The Host, which is a huge book, into a two hour film. I think they did pretty well considering Harry Potter had to condense it into two movies! However because it is a movie adaptation a lot of scenes have had to have been cut out for it to be just the right length feature. I think they did a brilliant job with it, although some things I didn't necessarily accept about the changes from book to movie adaptations.
First things first: the effects. As this is a sic-fi novel I absolutely loved the sic-fi effects included in the movie to make the world of The Host futuristic. Although there are no mention of super futuristic cars in the novel I did enjoy looking at the vehicles the seekers drove as well as the trucks and V.W Beetles and Fiat 500's that all the other Souls drove round on a day to day basis. I like how the film industry gave the souls super shiny slim line cars and we see the humans with an old truck type car suggesting they are the past. Very clever.
Another brilliant sic-fi effect transformation that I loved was seeing what the medicine looked like. In little silver shiny rectangular containers were the medicines the souls used for everything. Along with the souls transportation vessels which were also silvery, and super shiny, the element of sci-fi is highly distinguishable in this movie. However I liked the uses of special effects and I thought the best special effect was the eyes, I was really intrigued as to how they would do this and their eyes are pretty awesome. I loved the beginning scene with Jeb or Doc (?) narrating and describing the Souls takeover of mankind with everyone's eyes.
I have to say the movie was pretty true to Stephenie Meyer's novel and some scenes really shocked me. The suicide scene was executed (pardon the pun) brilliantly. It shows the audience how much these humans are willing to sacrifice their life than become possessed by a soul. When Aaron and Brandt just look at each other then in the next clip the wall is shown, you just know what they're going to do. Then you see them driving full speed towards the wall, it gives a great emotion about the reality of it their world. One of my favourite scenes.
I thought the mutilated souls scene - the scene where Jamie is sent to his room and Wanda is curious as to why no one is around and stumbles into the hospital to find loads of mutilated souls and dead bodies - was a shocking scene which was very similarly portrayed to the scene in the novel. It gives the audience, again, a sense that these souls are not too similar in societies to us. Wanda screams monsters and it's true how would they feel if it were the other way round, if the humans walked in to a hospital of mutilated bodies?
One thing I though was brilliant was the use of the mirrors and crops. In the novel Jeb and the community of humans use crops to live on; however in the novel they rely on the sunlight from the mouth of the volcano where cleverly in the movie they use mirrors to intensify the sunlight and encourage the crops to grow. I thought this was a fantastic idea and the film worked it brilliantly into the plot line. This is where I noticed the differences beginning to come out as when the Seekers are looking for the humans they close the mirrors so no outer reflections signal their whereabouts. This is when Jamie injures himself (instead of on a raid like the novel).
Another difference from the novel was the seekers desperation to find Wanda; in the novel we don't hear much about the Seeker searching for her until the end. In the movie we see Wanda's Seeker shoot another Seeker to prevent the humans from escaping. We also begin to get a feel of the Seeker experiencing the same as Wanda - that the human soul is still present.
Now for the most annoying part about the movie...WHY did they not include WALTER!!!!!
Walter was one of my favourite humans to read about in the book and when Wanda is aiding Walter when he falls ill, us as the readers as well as the humans get a better sense that Wanda is here to be peaceful and not harm humankind. I would have loved to see that scene in the movie. (tears)
Now comparing the movie to the book I noticed a few things. In the novel Melanie has less control over her body unlike in the film, it's not a major issue I just think in the novel when Melanie acts out that it becomes more shocking unlike in the movie where when Melanie did acts out you just knew she was upset or angered by something. Also Jamie is perceived as a little kid in the movie whereas in the novel he takes on more of a mature role (apart from attending school) by helping out in the caves and going out on raids etc.
Another thing that disappointed me was that it would have been good to hear the stories of the other worlds in the movie - they could have included a flashback or animation of Wanda's stories into the other worlds. I think that would have made Wanda's life a lot more interesting and we understand her decision when she asks Doc to kill her when he extracts her from Melanie's body.
Overall a brilliant film, but of course as always I prefer the book. I thought the casting was spot on, Saoirse Ronan was fantastic along with Jake Abel and Max Irons and the special effects were pretty awesome too. For previous reviews click the links below.
Enjoy x
My Book Review:
The Host
My Previous Film Review:
The Host
One thing I will mention about this film is that you can have the book and the movie as two separate entities or you can compare them together. For which I did both. I compared the book to the movie (obviously the books are always better as they include much more information about the narrative) and realised that you can take them as two things. I mean imagine trying to condense The Host, which is a huge book, into a two hour film. I think they did pretty well considering Harry Potter had to condense it into two movies! However because it is a movie adaptation a lot of scenes have had to have been cut out for it to be just the right length feature. I think they did a brilliant job with it, although some things I didn't necessarily accept about the changes from book to movie adaptations.
First things first: the effects. As this is a sic-fi novel I absolutely loved the sic-fi effects included in the movie to make the world of The Host futuristic. Although there are no mention of super futuristic cars in the novel I did enjoy looking at the vehicles the seekers drove as well as the trucks and V.W Beetles and Fiat 500's that all the other Souls drove round on a day to day basis. I like how the film industry gave the souls super shiny slim line cars and we see the humans with an old truck type car suggesting they are the past. Very clever.
Another brilliant sic-fi effect transformation that I loved was seeing what the medicine looked like. In little silver shiny rectangular containers were the medicines the souls used for everything. Along with the souls transportation vessels which were also silvery, and super shiny, the element of sci-fi is highly distinguishable in this movie. However I liked the uses of special effects and I thought the best special effect was the eyes, I was really intrigued as to how they would do this and their eyes are pretty awesome. I loved the beginning scene with Jeb or Doc (?) narrating and describing the Souls takeover of mankind with everyone's eyes.
I have to say the movie was pretty true to Stephenie Meyer's novel and some scenes really shocked me. The suicide scene was executed (pardon the pun) brilliantly. It shows the audience how much these humans are willing to sacrifice their life than become possessed by a soul. When Aaron and Brandt just look at each other then in the next clip the wall is shown, you just know what they're going to do. Then you see them driving full speed towards the wall, it gives a great emotion about the reality of it their world. One of my favourite scenes.
I thought the mutilated souls scene - the scene where Jamie is sent to his room and Wanda is curious as to why no one is around and stumbles into the hospital to find loads of mutilated souls and dead bodies - was a shocking scene which was very similarly portrayed to the scene in the novel. It gives the audience, again, a sense that these souls are not too similar in societies to us. Wanda screams monsters and it's true how would they feel if it were the other way round, if the humans walked in to a hospital of mutilated bodies?
One thing I though was brilliant was the use of the mirrors and crops. In the novel Jeb and the community of humans use crops to live on; however in the novel they rely on the sunlight from the mouth of the volcano where cleverly in the movie they use mirrors to intensify the sunlight and encourage the crops to grow. I thought this was a fantastic idea and the film worked it brilliantly into the plot line. This is where I noticed the differences beginning to come out as when the Seekers are looking for the humans they close the mirrors so no outer reflections signal their whereabouts. This is when Jamie injures himself (instead of on a raid like the novel).
Another difference from the novel was the seekers desperation to find Wanda; in the novel we don't hear much about the Seeker searching for her until the end. In the movie we see Wanda's Seeker shoot another Seeker to prevent the humans from escaping. We also begin to get a feel of the Seeker experiencing the same as Wanda - that the human soul is still present.
Now for the most annoying part about the movie...WHY did they not include WALTER!!!!!
Walter was one of my favourite humans to read about in the book and when Wanda is aiding Walter when he falls ill, us as the readers as well as the humans get a better sense that Wanda is here to be peaceful and not harm humankind. I would have loved to see that scene in the movie. (tears)
Now comparing the movie to the book I noticed a few things. In the novel Melanie has less control over her body unlike in the film, it's not a major issue I just think in the novel when Melanie acts out that it becomes more shocking unlike in the movie where when Melanie did acts out you just knew she was upset or angered by something. Also Jamie is perceived as a little kid in the movie whereas in the novel he takes on more of a mature role (apart from attending school) by helping out in the caves and going out on raids etc.
Another thing that disappointed me was that it would have been good to hear the stories of the other worlds in the movie - they could have included a flashback or animation of Wanda's stories into the other worlds. I think that would have made Wanda's life a lot more interesting and we understand her decision when she asks Doc to kill her when he extracts her from Melanie's body.
Overall a brilliant film, but of course as always I prefer the book. I thought the casting was spot on, Saoirse Ronan was fantastic along with Jake Abel and Max Irons and the special effects were pretty awesome too. For previous reviews click the links below.
Enjoy x
My Book Review:
The Host
My Previous Film Review:
The Host
IMDb: The Host
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