The Host
Rated: R  Monster movies can be a lot of fun and sadly there just aren’t enough of them in modern cinema. But the nation of South Korea offers a film that at first seems as classic and fun as the king of monsters, Godzilla. Unfortunately, what begins as an old-fashioned creature feature soon becomes undone by an honorable but misguided attempt to inject realism into the proceedings. Rather than tell the story of saving the world or trying to kill the big bad monster, The Host focuses on one family’s attempt to rescue their youngest member, Hyun-Seo, from the lair of the beast. Despite an opening where we learn that the creature was created by man’s carelessness (in this case, it’s pouring old formaldehyde into the Han River) and a great set piece of mayhem where the creature runs amok; from the moment the creature abducts Hyun-Seo, the film decides to go for realism and show her family struggling to come together in grief and in their efforts to rescue her. I appreciate what the film is trying to do. However, there is a reason that most of the great monster movies stop at subtext rather than try and introduce gravitas to the proceedings. A serious bent in a monster movie is almost impossible because it’s a monster movie. Grotesque as the creature’s rampage may be, it is still fanciful and the realm of the real just cannot exist without being colored by the ridiculous proceedings. So when the family grieves over Hyun-Seo’s supposed death or when it tries to subvert your expectations, the result is an odd mix of hilarity and confusion. I respect what co-writer/director Bong Joon-ho was trying to do with this film. It a unique approach and there is potential for a film like this to succeed. Unfortunately, his skills just aren’t up to the task and the fun monster movie competing with the realism of family-drama leads to a muddled tonality and a film that’s constantly undercutting itself. Words by |