'The Host' Movie Review ? Stephenie Meyer's New Film Is A Must ...

Courtesy of Open Road Films

Vampires are taking a backseat and giving aliens a turn in the spotlight with Stephenie Meyer?s new flick that will catch the hearts of all who watch it. ?Twilight? fans and haters alike will be glad to have seen this movie.

In a crazy, messed-up world, humans are being taken over by alien souls. That is the setting of the new movie The Host, based on a novel by Stephenie Meyer. Humans are seen as destructive and mean, so the aliens think it?s their right to save the planet by taking over the bodies of those who inhabit it.

Melanie (Saoirse Ronan) is human and tries to hide from alien ?seekers,? alien souls that look for humans in order to get rid of them, with her brother, Jamie (Chandler Canterbury), and her lover, Jared (Max Irons). Melanie is captured while protecting her brother and a soul named Wanderer (Saoirse) is put in her body. However, Melanie is too strong and begins to mentally resist Wanderer. This is where the love and chaos really begins. (You know, because alien souls chasing humans isn?t enough chaos.)

In case you weren?t a fan of the Twilight franchise, it must be said that this movie is completely different. There is still love, friendship and fighting all in a sci-fi setting, but Saoirse plays the female lead and she is perfection.

Saoirse Plays The Life Of Two

It is tough enough for an actress to play one character, but Saoirse plays two characters in one body. ?Plus, she manages to do so without looking too much like a crazy person! It takes a bit of time to get used to hearing Saoirse?s character Wanda, short for Wanderer, speak out loud to a voice that is speaking within her own mind. This would be the voice of Melanie, the human that Wanda has taken over. The first scene, where they talk to each other, I literally laughed out loud. They spoke like two-year-olds fighting over a toy ? not pretty.

?Mine!? yelled Melanie as the voice inside her head.

?No, mine,? Wanda flatly said out loud in front of a mirror.

Okay, we get it. One?s a ?soul? and one is what?s left of a human, and they are stuck in the same body. Good, let?s move on. And the movie quickly does?move on, when Wanda sees all of Melanie?s memories and realizes that Melanie is just a strong, caring person who loves her brother, Jamie, and her lover, Jared, so much. Wanda learns that Melanie put herself in harm?s way in order to keep her brother safe and that proves how good she truly is.

Wanda Proves Herself

Being inside Melanie?s body and seeing all of her memories causes Wanda to start to feel what Melanie feels and she begins to realize that the way the ?souls? are taking over the humans might not be the path that she wants to follow. So she escapes from the other aliens, including Top B***h aka The Seeker (Diane Kruger), who will stop at nothing to find all humans and take them over. Wanda gives The Seeker the slip, which doesn?t really sit well. Thrust into a new world, Wanda learns to love the humans, including Melanie. A group of humans (Melanie?s group), which Wanda encounters and stays with, starts to love Wanda as well, even though she is part of the alien group that is trying to take over all humans.?Aw, so much love. The problem?

The Lovely Triangle Of Love

A love triangle, of course. Well, a triangle that kind of overlaps. I know, I know. Twilight had a triangle, but this is different. I promise. Jared loves Melanie and Melanie loves Jared. A human named Ian (Jake Abel) starts to fall for Wanda and she with him. What makes this ?triangle? difficult is that Melanie and Wanda are in the same body, which makes for some awkward scenes.

First, no boy ever really knows who he is kissing. Second, Jared gets hit a couple of times. Plus, there is some strange back-and-forth and taking turns going on between who gets to kiss the girl at the end that is just kind of hard to watch without laughing, but it all makes sense.

?The Host? Is A Must See

Everything in this movie makes sense even though it is some crazy, sci-fi world with teenagers as the lead characters. The actors are really good in the roles that they were cast to play. Max and Jake both convincingly play characters that care about Melanie?s body and the souls that are in it. Saoirse is phenomenal and should get all the awards in the world for playing this role and playing it extremely well. Since Kristen Stewart won all the awards that she did for Twilight, Saoirse should win at least double that.

Go see The Host!?Enjoy the good acting, laugh at the completely comical situations that sometimes occur, and cry at the scenes between Wanda/Melanie and her brother. Most importantly, enjoy the total b***h that is Diane Kruger as The Seeker.

Is The Host on YOUR must-watch list,?HollywoodLifers? Check out the trailer below and leave a comment, letting us know if you plan on checking out the flick!

??Rachael Ellenbogen

Source: http://hollywoodlife.com/2013/03/29/the-host-movie-review-stephenie-meyer/

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