The Host (2006) Review
W
hile this South Korean monster movie may share the same name as 2013 movie adapted from a Stephenie Meyer book, I can assure you that there is difference in quality. Thankfully i'm gonna talk about the first one, which is the far superior (If you add up their respective Rotten Tomatoes review they add up to 100, 92% and 8%)
The Host is directed by Bong Joon-Ho whose name you might recognise for 2014's Snowpiercerand rightfully so. This is the third Joon-Ho movie i've seen and he's probably my favorite asian director working at the moment. He packs his movies with so much and still not overload them. Each one of his movies cover a wide range of genres and topics.
In The Host we get a mixture of several genres like monster horror, political commentary, a bit of humor and satire. The monster movie genre may be stereotyped from films (and their franchises) as cheap entertainment. Examples of the genre include Frankenstein, Dracula, Godzilla, King Kong, Sharknados and every other crossover you can fathom. But here Joon-Ho brings sides to this movie that all the others lack.
Every movie needs a cast of characters and here the main cast members are a family who own a food stand next to a river. The main member is played by Song Kang-Ho who starred in Joon-Ho's previous film (Memories of Murder). He plays a dad who doesn't really care about the people around him or his customers too much. He has a daughter played by Ko An-Sung. He has a Dad who keeps him on his toes (Byeon Hie-Bong), a sister who is an national archer (Bae Doona) and his alcoholic brother (Park Hae-il).
Joon-Ho makes this family, which would at other times seem a nightmare to be with, a likable one, one that you would root for. Each character has their own arc as well adding more to the movie. The performances too bring something great to this film.
What we all expect from a monster movie is the cheap scares but here we get well earned jumps. There are points when you don't expect them and they get you good. The other thing we expect is a monster. For a lot of the movie we never get a really good look at the monster. The monster is CGI and you can tell when up close but the way it movies is really natural and the VFX team definitely gets points for that.
Bong Joon-Ho is a very efficient storyteller here, only showing us what we need to know and when to know it. You can see some of his techniques he used in Memories of Murder, shown here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4seDVfgwOg). He manages to create several moments in the movie that will make you grab a hold of something, especiallyas the tension builds.
My only complaint (is also a spoiler) is that when it seems when some characters are dead, they aren't and it happens too many times in the movie, also the movie can at times seem slow but it's worth it in the end.
While this may not be my favorite Joon-Ho film it's still a very strong film and a must watch. Apart from my minor complaints this is a monster movie that we will be watched for a long time and one that you should check out.
Overall Score: 9/10
What did you think of this movie if you have seen? Did it prevent you from catching a fish?
The movie can be found on Netflix in Australia or on DVD/Blu-Ray
Dir. Bong Joon-Ho
Written by - Bong Joon-Ho, Jun-won Ha and Baek Chul-hyun
Starring - Song Kang-Ho, Byeon Hie-Bong, Bae Doona, Park Hae-il and Ko An-Sung
Cinematography - Kim Hyung-ku
Editor - Kim Sun-min
Music/Score - Lee Byung-Woo
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