The Host (2006)

- Gwoemul
A rousing success and a ton of fun, 11 August 2007

An irresponsible U.S. Army doctor has his Korean aid dump a large quantity of toxic chemicals into the sink. The chemicals drain straight into the Han River with an unexpected and disastrous result. The chemicals are responsible for the creation of a giant mutant monster with a taste for human flesh. The creature goes on a rampage and takes a girl named Hyun-seo into the river. She is presumed dead until her father receives a garbled call from Hyun-seo's cell phone. Is she really alive? Hyun-seo's family takes to the sewers in search of her.

I've been a fan of Creature Features for as long as I can remember. I grew up on stuff like Godzilla, Rodan, and the other multitude of giant creatures attacking every major city on the planet. With The Host, we have a new giant creature for a new millennium. And for the most part, it's a rousing success and a ton of fun. The opening scenes are some of the best and most believable (if any of this stuff can really be called believable) giant creature on a rampage that I've ever seen. The creature design is great. It's just what I would picture from a something horribly mutated by toxic chemicals. And I can't think of many movies where CGI was used better or more appropriately. It's really quite phenomenal. Equally amazing is the mix of humor and horror present in The Host. Some scenes are creepy while others had me all but laughing out loud. And then there's the ending. I'm not going to give it away, so I'll just say that it's much more touching than I could have imagined. It all but brought a tear to my eye. Overall, The Host features quite an intelligent, well-written script and is surely one of the better movies of this type I've seen in a long time.

As much as I enjoyed The Host, it's far from perfect. To begin with, I tend to agree with some of those who found the second act disappointing. It's not that the middle portion of the movie is bad or anything, it's just not the thrill-a-minute of the opening scenes. My other problem relates to the film's anti-American stance. While I would agree that the filmmakers have every right to express whatever political opinion they may have, it's a bit overdone and too obvious in my opinion.

8/10