The Host is one of Stephenie
Meyer’s better written novels. Not only is the 600+ page novel better written,
but the story itself gives a more thorough and in depth look at this fictional
world. I personally think it is better written and a better story than the Twilight series. Unlike Twilight, this is not a saga. The Host is a one novel story. It takes
place in a futuristic world where an alien race called “Souls” has invaded
earth. They survive by inserting themselves into the bodies of humans, taking
over control of the body. However, the humans are able to survive within their
own bodies and resist the Souls due to the human’s powerful will and memories.
In the past, the Souls has coexisted with the beings of the other worlds they
have invaded, but the humans are more violent than those other beings and
therefore the Souls have decided to completely take over. The Souls are taking
over the earth to restore peace and balance to it. They believe that their
actions are not wrong or murderous, because their intentions are about helping
make the world a better place. The humans view this as a form of genocide. A
small group of humans have been able to survive being possessed by these aliens
and are hiding out and fighting back. The story follows human Melanie and the
soul possessing her named Wanderer as the two fall in love, Melanie with Jared
and Wanderer with Ian.
The books were
rather successful and the movie has had an okay reception grossing about $20
million domestically, but they are not as popular as the Twilight Saga. I went to see the movie on Friday, April 5, 2013. I
thought the movie was well cast with capable actors. Unlike the Twilight cast, the cast of The Host were very capable actors and
were not as cold as some of the actors in Twilight
were. Although this story gets compared to Twilight,
there is not much that is similar. The only similarities are that both are fantasy
stories, both are written by the same author and both have very good looking
young actors. Other than that the quality of the stories as well as the plots,
are not similar at all. I think The Host
was much better written, and the story was much more interesting because it had
more depth to it. However there were some differences in the book and the
movie.
I do agree though with most fans, that the
concept of the book works better in novel format than in movie format. The
first major difference is the explanation of what has happened to the human
race. Meyer did a good job of giving a thorough explanation of what has
happened and who the “Souls” are but the movie flies by that and gives a very
surface explanation of it. The other difference is that the love story between
Melanie and Jared is told through flashback as Wanderer is accessing Melanie’s
memories. Wanderer is given an option about how to deal with Melanie’s resistance
in the movie, but she is not given any options in the book. In the movie, the
character development in the story is rushed, as is the progression of the
story. However, we do get to see movie action of what the male characters are
doing, instead of just getting this information from Wanderer or Melanie, we
see it happening. Also, the relationship between Wanderer and Melanie is
rushed. They very quickly turn from being enemies to becoming best friends. Overall
there are many differences between the movies and the books, which is normal
for many books-to-movie adaptations. Since I do not want to give any of the story
away; anyone looking for more information about the differences can visit: http://thatwasnotinthebook.com/diff/the-host/0#diffPage.
I have not used any of the information provided from their website since I did
not want to spoil the movie or the book for you.
Overall,
I was pleasantly surprised by the movie. There are many things I missed about
the books, such as how in depth the books were, but I love being able to visual
stories I have read. I think the movie was well cast and the main actors in the
movie are all capable actors and actresses. I think anyone looking for a good
love story with a side of action should go see this movie. Saoirse Ronan is
reason enough to go see it. Overall, I think the movie was great and did a
pretty good job of portraying such a complex concept as having two people in
one body. However, there could have been improvements to the movie. There was a
lot of time spent on just visual aspects of the movie, and there were many
explanations, character developments and relationships left out of the movie,
which gave substance to the book. Although the movie was well made and well
cast, I do not think it was that good. Therefore I generously give this movie a
3.5/5 for the cast alone. However, I do recommend people go see it. It is
entertaining after all.
~ Sarina T
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