'The Host' Movie Review: It's Better Than Twilight... But That's Not Saying Much [SPOILERS]

Writing a review about "The Host," based on the novel of the beloved (or reviled depending on who you ask) Stephenie Meyer, is impossible to do without bringing up the "Twilight" series, the works that launched Meyer's career to glory. The latter quartet of books (turned into five movies) were panned by the majority of critics for their thin plots, obsessions with shirtless men, poor acting, and terrible dialogue. "The Host" is Meyer's latest novel and screenwriting gig (she also penned scripts for her "Twilight" films) and there is no doubt that the plethora of Meyer supporters will flock to theaters and turn a blind eye to any criticism. But what about the rest of the viewers that have yet to join Meyer's fan club? Is "The Host" enough to change their preconceived notions of the "phenomenon" as fellow novelist Orson Scott Card called Meyer?

For the uninitiated, "The Host" introduces a species of aliens called souls that have taken over earth and turned it into an environment-friendly, peace-loving (fill in any adjective that would represent utopia for you) species. However, the aliens have yet to catch all of the humans and employ "seekers" to find the revolutionaries and then put them under the control of a soul. As the film starts, we watch as Melanie (Saoirse Ronan) throws herself out of a window in hopes of avoiding capture. Her plan fails because her fall knocks her unconscious and she is inserted with a soul called Wanderer. Wanderer's job as assigned by the main Seeker (Diane Kruger) is to tap into Melanie's memories and find the rebel base. However, as Wanderer (her name is later shortened to Wanda by Melanie's uncle) attempts to tap into her memories, Melanie's voice fights back and what commences is a "battle" between the two characters for control of the same body. This "battle" will lead Wanderer/Wanda/Melanie to the rebel hideout where Wanda discovers what it means to be human.

As in the "Twilight" series, Meyer's fetish of inter-species love triangles (this one has been referred to as a "square") is present with Wanda falling for Ian (Jake Abel) despite Melanie's love for Jared (Max Irons). Like "Twilight," the film also features a seemingly important battle between said species for control of the world. Other typical Meyer motifs present in the story are bad dialogue, one dimensional characters, and false tension and stakes. The only element missing in "The Host" that was so vital to the "Twilight" movies was the shirtless teenage boys with photo-shopped six packs. I will credit director Andrew Niccol for showing restraint in this regard.

The idea of Wanda and Melanie sharing the same body and fighting for control is an interesting concept in theory. Throw in Oscar-nominated actress Ronan in the mix and you should get a solid main character to carry the film. It almost works, mainly because Ronan is a top rate actress that emotes with her eyes and delivers the ill-conceived lines with feeling (unlike a certain protagonist of the "Twilight" series known for her monotone voice and aimless glaring). The best performances don't need dialogue to engage the audience; in fact keeping an audience guessing about what is going on in the character's mind is what makes the viewing experience so rich. Ronan is close to achieving this, but the subtext is constantly spelled out for the viewer by the obnoxious voice in her head known as Melanie. Melanie's only purpose is to eschew such brilliant dialogue as "Don't Kiss Him," "Don't do it Wanda," "You don't have to do that Wanda," etc. In essence, Melanie, the human is akin to a prepubescent teenager in her ability to express her emotions. Just when you start to wonder what Wanda might be thinking Melanie ruins the surprise with a variation of the aforementioned dialogue. Then there is the whole issue of the "battle" for the body. It lasts all of 10 minutes and then degenerates into a false battle over which guy Melanie/Wanda will pick. Will it be the blond-haired Ian who tried to kill her and then started to "like" her (as he poignantly notes in a not-so-subtle moment atop the mountains)? Or will it be Melanie's former flame Jared who tries to defend her from Ian but then mysteriously tries to ostracize Wanda from the rebels before falling back in love with her when he discovers that Melanie is in fact alive inside of the body?

This brings us to the next major issue with the film: conflict. As the film commences, the viewer is told that the souls are PEACE-lovers and their motivation for enslaving the humans is that they believe that humans will continue destroying the planet. In essence, humans are bad, aliens are good and the only way to live in peace is to ENSLAVE the bad people, even though that goes against the "morals" of the peace-loving aliens. Why not just leave the humans alone, especially considering the fact that they have "conquered" a number of other planets that have never shown resistance? Why is Earth so important to them? None of these questions are even considered. Regardless, the "main" seeker (Kruger) is after the humans for most of the movie and it seems like all the other seekers are on board as well.

However, during the second half of the film the seekers decide to call off the search after one of their kin gets killed. I'm sure that deaths have occurred before throughout the world; why do they wait until some unnamed soul in Southwestern United States dies to call off the search for humans? More importantly, this incident essentially ends the tension of the story and what follows relies heavily on the aforementioned love "triangle" that has no real stakes or conflict. Jared loves whatever is left of Melanie, while Ian is in love with the alien side. Early on this presents a major issue as Melanie hates watching her body controlled by Wanda kiss Jared (she's jealous that she can't kiss him even though it's still her lips he's kissing) and also hates watching Wanda kiss Ian. Basically, Melanie is upset with both actions, but does nothing else but whine about it. Do the two guys duke it out the way Jacob and Edward did in the venerable "Twilight" films? Fans hoping for a brilliantly scripted scene featuring Ian and Jared arguing over who is hotter (as Edward and Jacob did) won't get that satisfaction. Jared simply tells Ian to stay away from Melanie. That is the full extent of their conflict. Ian complies, but it is Melanie-controlled-by-Wanda who seeks him out. When Ian asks her if they want to go for a walk, she eschews the classic line, "Didn't Jared tell you to stay away from me?" which makes no sense considering the fact that she went looking for him in the first place.

Another classic scene that would make the "Twilight" series proud features Wanda trying to find out why her whiny alter-ego hasn't spoken to her for days. She concocts the brilliant plan of kissing Ian to see if Melanie will complain again. When she doesn't, Ian runs off and gets Jared and tells him to kiss Melanie while he runs off. Ultimately, Meyer probably could have had both guys sharing the body by the end of the film with Melanie and Wanda taking turns in control and there would have been no problem.

Then there is the issue of Melanie disappearing for days. She randomly stops talking to Wanda and even when she returns while kissing Jared, she gives no reason for her disappearance. It came off as pointless padding with the aim of having Melanie/Wanda kiss both guys in the same scene.

From a visual standpoint, this film is as bland as they come. Three-fourths of the film is spent in caves with the only variation on the theme of brown walls is a cave featuring star-like plants that glow in the absence of sound. The sense of wonder usually present in science-fiction films is deficient with the futuristic world looking identical to our present society. The aliens get beaming silver cars that are reminiscent of sports vehicles from 2010; everyone else gets cars from the 1980s.

There isn't really much acting to speak of here outside of Ronan's solid performance. As aforementioned, her talent is wasted by terrible dialogue and an annoying voiceover alter-ego. Meanwhile, Abel's hair is always well-combed despite the fact that he lives in a cave; ditto for Irons. Aside from that, both guys do a lot of staring and routine deliveries of dialogue. Fourteen-year old Chandler Canterbury delivers a genuine crying scene in the development section of the film, but also delivers the most undramatic "No" in film history (up there with Darth Vader's in "Episode III") when a group of humans are about to kill the body of his sister Melanie. He's a child and the deficiencies of the final product are not his responsibility, so we'll forgive him.

Returning to the question that started this critique; is "The Host" good enough for those who care little for Stephenie Meyer's work? The resounding answer is NO. The tremendous talent of Ronan gets wasted behind a vague premise and false stakes. For those hoping for a silver lining, here it is: "The Host" is better than the "Twilight" movies. But is that really saying much?