The Host 2013- In a desperate attempt to reproduce the success of the Twilight movie franchise, Hollywood studio honchos greenlighted Twilight author Stephanie Meyer next novel into a movie hoping it will replace Twilight in the hearts of female audiences. Thus 'The Host' came to be, but this time there are no glowing vampires, werewolves nor desperate to have a boyfriend teen plot. Instead this is a science fiction story that, okay, has a little romance, but not in the Twilight levels. What to do? unleash a misguided publicity campaign to make it look this is all about teenage romance between two cute boys and a semi-alien girl. The result? Box office disaster. Twilight fans were disappointed about the minimal doses of romance and the guys were not relevant enough to create the sort of team Jacob, team Edward like fandom. Regular moviegoers fed up with Twilight stupidity stay away from this one also thanks to the misguided publicity. Which leaves us to the movie itself. Not as bad as many think it is. In fact is quite entertaining. A little science fiction film that works. The main plot: earth has been invaded by non-corporeal beings who use the human bodies as hosts. most of the human race has been taken over by these pacifists aliens, except for a handful of human struggling to survive hiding wherever they can. Melanie (Saoirse Ronan) is young girl who was captured and have a being implanted in her neck. To her surprise Melanie and her host called 'The Wanderer' can co-exist in the same body even though the conflicting thoughts and emotions sometimes is too much to handle. Melanie persuades Wanderer to escape and try to locate her brother and her boyfriend. She is eventually found by the group of humans who of course doesn't trust her and some want to kill her thinking correctly that the alien Seekers are using her to find the human refuge cave. The conversations between 'Melanie' and 'Wanda' (Wanderer) can be extremely silly at times, but Saoirse Ronan is such a great actress that she can pull this difficult task without being laughed at. Even though there is a romantic trio (Jared loves Melanie but hates the alien 'Wanderer' while Ian falls in love with the alien 'Wanda'), the main theme here is the lost of ones humanity, trust and sacrifice. William Hurt is good as uncle Jeb and Diane Kruger is good villain as The Seeker. It ends leaving the door open for a sequel (again franchise mentality by the studio and novelist), but as a stand alone film it is okay to leave it there. 7/10
