The Host

LOVEFiLM Review The Host

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  By Tom Charity from LOVEFiLM

  Bong Joon-ho's horror is an Asian take on Jaws, and recieved enormous acclaim in its native South Korea...

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Most helpful review The Host

• The Host

   

  By SAI81 (360 reviews) from Tonbridge , 02 Dec 2006

  [Highly rated reviewer]

  A small riverside village in South Korea is attacked by a monster. Among the dead is 13 year old Park Hyun-seo (Ko). Her distraught Father (Song), Grandfather (Byeon) Uncle (Park) and Aunt (Bae) are taken into custody by the American millitary, seeking to cover up the monster and contain the threat of a possible contagion. However when Hyun-seo phones her father, very much alive, the family break out to try and save her.
  
  The Host broke all South Korean box office records when it opened early this year and it isn't hard to see why. Bong Joo-ho's follow up to Memories of Murder may seem at first glance a 180 degree shift but it actually sticks quite close to the serio-comic tone laid out in that film.
  
  The Host is many things; monster movie, chase thriller, political commentary and slapstick comedy all rear their head and all are executed with panache.
  
  Aiding Bong immesurably is an excellent cast. Bong recasts his Memories star Song Kang-ho, a fine and versatile dramatic actor, as the layabout father at the centre of the story. Seeming half stoned much of the time he pushes the boat out pretty far into broad comedy, but it works because Song is also able to give the character heart. If there's a criticism to be made here it's that the rest of the family have too little to do, particularly in the fractious last third of the film but they are certainly played by a capable set of performers. Bae Doo-na will be the most familliar face to Westerners, having starred in Sympathy For Mr Vengeance (with Song) and she's great here too, given the thin material. Byeon Hie-bong is a delight as the patriarch of the family who still treats his children as if they were children. Mention should also be made of the exceellent performance that Bong elicits from young Ko Ah-sung, whose strength will lead you to question whther she needs saving at all.
  
  Working with an American digital effects house Bong has got, on a relative shoestring, some excellent effects. His budget forces him to be choosy about when he wishes to show his (pretty damn scary) monster and means that the film, unlike so many American production, isn't a mere exercise in effects.
  
  That's, at the end of the day, what's so good about The Host; it may be a big silly monster movie at first glance but at its heart beats a strong human story.

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