Trailer Tuesday: The Host

-

The Twilight Saga may be over, but that doesn't mean Hollywood won't try to replicate the success of the Young Adult fantasy franchise. In fact, next year we can watch the film adaptation of another Stephenie Meyer novel. The angsty love triangles - or is that quadrangles? - of young people receive a sci-fi, instead of supernatural, tweak in The Host.

In The Host, the human race is almost extinct, having had their bodies taken over by perfectly composed parasitic aliens known as "Souls." Human rebel Melanie (Saoirse Ronan) is one of the last to fall, but she resists the efforts of a Soul called Wanderer to possess her completely, and the two consciousnesses end up sharing Melanie's body. With access to Melanie's memories and emotions, Wanderer comes to sympathise with the young women's family, friends and boyfriend Jared (Max Irons), while developing her own unexpected affections for another human, Ian (Jake Abel). Frances Fisher, Diane Kruger and William Hurt also star.


Granted the teaser trailer for The Host is a lot more enticing than the full trailer above, but I have to admit this one seems intriguing  Apart from the dramatic potential of Melanie and Wanderer's body-sharing - I'm sure their relationship status would be set to "It's Complicated" - the cast is strong for this kind of  moderately budgeted, teen-centric fare. Ronan is an especially gifted young actress.

Anyway, The Host also has Andrew Niccol as its writer-director. Although Niccol's last film In Time (my review) was stronger in concept than execution, he is nonetheless a filmmaker known for his thought-provoking and socio/politically-conscious work - particularly in the sci-fi genre (his filmography includes Gattaca, The Truman Show and S1m0ne). In Niccol's hands, The Host has real potential.

 The Host releases in North America on 29 March 2013. The film opens in South Africa a month later, on 26 April.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is the rebooted Lara Croft gay? Evidence for and against...

-
Image
As some of you know, I’ve been fangirling hard over the new Tomb Raider , the first entry in the video game series since 2008, and ostensibly a reboot for the entire franchise . Taking the form of an origin story, Tomb Raider 2013 depicts the events that transformed a beautiful, if bookish, archaeology graduate into a pistol-packing adventurer with a devil-may-care attitude. We meet Lara Croft as a pretty, fairly ordinary 21 year old, brooding over her work notes, listening to her mp3 player and very much confined to the shadow of her male mentors. By the end of the game, however, she’s taken charge – she’s had to! – and, battered, bruised and bloody, she’s both a survivor and hero, right down to rescuing the princess and carrying her away in her arms. Yeah, this is probably the best point to mention that there will be some Tomb Raider 2013 spoilers in this post, so read ahead with caution. Anyway, I loved the game. Technically it’s near faultless, it looks beautiful, the ov
Read more

Weekend report-back: beach, board games and books

-
Image
So I'm back in the office after a 4 day weekend. And I'm trying not to remind myself that it's almost 3 months until the next public holiday. Bah! Anyway, pop culture didn't play too massive a part in my mini-break. There was braai -ing (expected on National Braai Day), the baking of pretzels in celebration of Oktoberfest ( even if we weren't in Munich this year ), working on the next Girlz 'N' Games comic , and a family lunch to celebrate my mother and cousin's birthdays. A hefty chunk of the weekend however was spent at one of my favourite holiday destinations: the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast. We were celebrating a friend's birthday at his family's holiday flat in Southbroom. So there was much chilling and eating and games playing, as well as kite flying, dolphin spotting and swallowing of saltwater as I flailed around in the choppy, chilly surf. We even managed to find Emo Shell! Anyway, film viewing was neglected this weekend, with the excepti
Read more

Movies today, SA!

-
Image
Despite the fact that 5 new films open in South Africa today, not a single one is worthy of an extended Pick of the Week description. If you haven't seen it yet (like me), go and watch Disney-Pixar's Up instead. If you can't get past a deeply ingrained "grown-up" prejudice against animated films, what about seeking out the Johnny Depp-Christian Bale gangster movie Public Enemies ? Hell, you could even go and watch District 9 again. Just stay away from the mediocrity released this weekend. Yeesh. I Hate Valentine's Day - Nia Vardalos reteams with her My Big Fat Greek Wedding love interest John Corbett for this romantic comedy in which a carefree florist lives by a "5 dates only" rule so a relationship never develops and she never gets hurt. A charming restaurateur, however, forces her to re-evaluate her unusual approach to dating. 17% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes . Karate Kallie - A South African comedy about Kallie, a fat teenager, who is mercilessly
Read more