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The Host might have been a good film if it were not tethered to the tropes of boyfriend romance and love’s sacrifice. Of -course, it also suffers, as many of these films do, from cramming as many themes inside its two-hour time frame as it can. Saoirse Ronan (Atonement) plays Melanie, a girl we only see embodied for a few minutes until an alien-life form is implanted into her neck. These arachnid-shaped silver creatures have taken over the earth. Their apparent job is to purify; they wear white, drive the speed limit and always tell the truth. A silver circle emblazoned over their iris distinguishes the life forms from the remaining humans.
Melanie’s body is subverted by her alien invader, named Wanderer, but unlike regularly submissive human souls, Melanie still exists in the alien body. She is a rare fighter and initiates internal dialogue with Wanderer, who becomes an emotional prisoner to Melanie’s memories and sensibilities. Instead of following commands and giving away information to her “seeker” (Diane Kruger, National Treasure) Wanderer escapes to find Melanie’s friends and family hiding away in the desert.
Influenced by memories of Melanie’s boyfriend Jared (Max Irons, Red Riding Hood) and little brother, she finds them sheltering other remaining humans in a hollowed-out cave. Her uncle Jeb (William Hurt, The Incredible Hulk) sees her eyes and knows Melanie has been turned, but she is not like the other aliens. This is also the debate between Jared and his friends, who, in the course of about 10 minutes, want to kill her and then defend her. If the eyes are the windows to the soul, then Melanie’s window is gone, but maybe Wanda (Jeb shortened her name) has one.
It is not as confusing as it all sounds, but it is preposterous, especially during a scene in which Wanda must make out with her own love interest Ian (Jake Abel, I Am Number Four) and then Melanie’s boyfriend back to back in order to get Melanie’s inner dialogue back in her head. It’s an amusing back and forth they share. (“You can’t kiss him, he’s my boyfriend!”) Team Jacob and Edward are replaced with Team Jared and Ian, technically this is not a love triangle but more of a love square.
Semantics aside, Ronan does double duty, acting as a mild schizophrenic and verbalizing Wanda’s thoughts to Melanie’s conscience. For a story like this to make sense on screen, some logistics must undergo tepid examination.
Wanda’s presence is a burden and blessing, a threat and a possible way out. Sorting out her romances, however, appears to be the more pressing issue at hand.
