There are some brilliant moments in The Host, but when it all adds up, it isn't a brilliant film. To sum up, a family bonds together to save its youngest member, but encounters ridiculous obstacles on the way.
The Host aims to be an action/horror film sprinkled with biting comedy and hits the mark for the most part in the first 30 minutes, but the formula falls apart in the later half. The pacing becomes uneven and very slow and could benefit from tight editing. There's some clever storytelling going on, but it gets bogged down when the film takes a heavy-handed approach to political messages. The messages aren't the problem, but the style chosen for the storytelling later in the film is completely different from the beginning.
The tone of the story is completely erratic. I didn't know what I was watching. I don't want to spoil the story, so all I will say is the movie didn't leave me satisfied. I felt like the old bait and switch, very lured in at the start, but ultimately not an enjoyable experience towards the end.
The only reason that I'm rating the film as high as a 7 is because of the acting. The quirky characters kept my attention (I wouldn't go so far as to call them dysfunctional like in Little Miss Sunshine but they do have problems).
Also, the movement of the monster is quite good. I liked that The Host wasn't a gore fest either. It has disturbing imagery, but it's not as intense as something like Saw or Slither.
The Host aims to be an action/horror film sprinkled with biting comedy and hits the mark for the most part in the first 30 minutes, but the formula falls apart in the later half. The pacing becomes uneven and very slow and could benefit from tight editing. There's some clever storytelling going on, but it gets bogged down when the film takes a heavy-handed approach to political messages. The messages aren't the problem, but the style chosen for the storytelling later in the film is completely different from the beginning.
The tone of the story is completely erratic. I didn't know what I was watching. I don't want to spoil the story, so all I will say is the movie didn't leave me satisfied. I felt like the old bait and switch, very lured in at the start, but ultimately not an enjoyable experience towards the end.
The only reason that I'm rating the film as high as a 7 is because of the acting. The quirky characters kept my attention (I wouldn't go so far as to call them dysfunctional like in Little Miss Sunshine but they do have problems).
Also, the movement of the monster is quite good. I liked that The Host wasn't a gore fest either. It has disturbing imagery, but it's not as intense as something like Saw or Slither.