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A Reel Life film section

Issue: 2011

The Host (2013) movie review

A World of Aliens and Beautiful People

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In the world of The Host there is no crime, no starvation, just subjugation. The aliens have taken over.

Writer/director Andrew Niccol (Gattaca, The Truman Show, S1mone) has provided us with some excellent science fiction, but one can't expect hard, thoughtful science fiction when it's based on a novel by Twilight's creator Stephenie Meyer.

The Host follows a group of humans on the run from white-clad alien entities. The major characters are young and beautiful with the exception of a grizzled William Hurt (Body Heat, The Big Chill)

Movie Poster, The Host, Festivale film review; 220x326

Movie poster, The Host
Choose to believe. Choose to fight. Choose to love.

The special effects device for the aliens was, yes, a little creepy, but on the whole this film offers nothing new. There's a love triangle amongst the pretties. There's the wise, dried-up oldies. There's the relentlessly pursuing alien.

For those who haven't read much science fiction, or watched much, it probably has interest and surprises and a 'wow' factor, but for those who've some experience of the genre this is a revisiting of familiar themes and plots.

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by Ali Kayn
Australian release 28 March 2013
For credits and official site details, see below
Search Festivale for more work by the film-makers below.

See also: Gattaca, The Truman Show, S1mone

Just the facts:

Title: The Host (2013)
Written by: Andrew Niccol (story Stephanie Meyer)
Directed by: Andrew Niccol
Running time: 125 mins
Rating: M

The Players: William Hurt, Rachel Roberts, Saoirse Ronan, Diane Kruger, Frances Fisher

Official website:
IMDb entry

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