The Host Reviews
Top CriticThis is pretty silly stuff, Twi-lite if you will, but played with maximum solemnity, no discernible humor and minimal excitement.
[A] bizarre Saturday Night Live sketch about a girl with a bratty alien inside her.
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| Original Score: F
The Host isn't very good as a romance. There's not very much passion on screen, which makes the film a poor cousin to Twilight.
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| Original Score: 2.5/4
The movie's structure is awkward. There's no real narrative thrust.
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| Original Score: 1.5/4
The Host's infelicities-drab dialogue, ridiculous plotting, more emotional crises than there is story-are enlivened by its thematic eccentricities.
Fear and dread of "the other" have long ruled American science fiction, fantasy, suspense thrillers and politics... How jarring then, and refreshing, to see The Host... take the invaders' point of view.
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| Original Score: B+
Neither romantic nor fake romantic, and not at all ridiculous, The Host has an atmosphere that is cold, austere and sardonic.
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| Original Score: 3/4
Ronan, youthfully elegant as always, tries hard, but the material defeats her.
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| Original Score: 1/4
A goofball teenage sci-fi romance, "The Host" is an End of Days parable that seems like it was written at a slumber party.
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| Original Score: C
The Host raises many questions, among them, how has it taken this long for Diane Kruger to play an alien?
It's a mushy and unsuspenseful melodrama.
Pick up the book. It does a far better job of breathing life into this monochromatic new world than the film.
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| Original Score: 1.5/5
Dopey, derivative and dull, "The Host" is a brazen combination of unoriginal science-fiction themes, young-adult pandering and bottom-line calculation.
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| Original Score: 1/5
There's only so much value that Niccol's slick presentation can add to Meyer's shallow material.
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| Original Score: 2/4
Ronan is better than the material she's given as Melanie/Wanda. The star of Atonement and Hanna conveys more intelligence than her foolish dual roles call for.
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| Original Score: 2/4
A sci-fi writer like Philip K. Dick ("Blade Runner") might have used this premise to explore notions of memory and identity. Meyer uses it to create a teen soap opera.
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| Original Score: 1/4
During the dull stretches of The Host -- and, sadly, there are many of them -- you may find yourself rewriting the movie as a French farce.
An invasion of the body snatchers is preferable to realizing that the true horror perpetrated here is not on the characters but on the audience.
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| Original Score: 1/4
We're treated to the bizarre spectacle of Ronan arguing with herself repeatedly over which guy to kiss. But since both are similarly bland, it barely matters.
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| Original Score: 2/5
Meyer is undeniably canny at using genre to address the age-old struggles of adolescence, but at just over two hours, even "The Host's" air of guilty pleasure eventually subsides.
The Host is born from the mother of all things Twilight, Stephenie Meyer, which is the next best - or worst - thing, depending on your point of view.
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| Original Score: 1.5/4
There's something about novelist Stephenie Meyer that induces formerly interesting directors to suddenly make films that are slow, silly and soporific.
"The Host" is like a confused guest who stays too long - but at least it's good for a few laughs.
Full Review
| Original Score: 1.5/4
Sci-fi hits the skids as bad melodrama rules, and we get such risible dialogue as, "It's not really me you like, it's this body" and "I'm still of two minds." And how about this groaner: "Kiss me like you want to get slapped."
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| Original Score: 2/4
The film may as well be titled "Stephenie Meyer's Waiting Around."
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| Original Score: 1/4
"The Host" is top-heavy with profound, sonorous conversations, all tending to sound like farewells.
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| Original Score: 2.5/4
If nothing else, the movie serves as an excellent substitute for the book: better art direction and a quarter of the adjectives.
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| Original Score: 2.5/4
Niccol helps The Host survive as a sci-fi movie even as he's saddled with the Twilight author's source material.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
