The Host
Directed by: Andrew Niccol Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Max Irons, Diane Kruger Rating: PG-13 Release Date: March 29, 2013
Trailer Score: 7/10
Thoughts by TSR: I harbor no ill will toward Twilight. Truth be told, I found quite a bit to enjoy in the final two or three films. I'm not going to go out of my way to defend them, but you won't hear me hating on them too much. That's part of the reason I'm willing to go into The Host with an open mind. There's more to it than that, though. I've liked almost everything Andrew Niccol has been part of – Gattaca and The Truman Show especially – so he has me hopeful. Then there's Saoirse Ronan, one of my favorite young actresses. The earlier teaser that utilized Ronan's Susie Salmon-esque voiceover and focused on the creepy eyes of the people who've been snatched was really effective as well. The final piece of the puzzle is this trailer. While it doesn't make The Host look like anything outstanding, it could be solidly entertaining.
The first half won me over. There is more action than I was anticipating, and it all looks pretty good. Ronan is no stranger to handling action, what with Hanna on her filmography, and the brief flashes we get are very believable. As for Diane Kruger, I hadn't realized she was involved, but I totally buy her as an alien ice queen. After Ronan rolls the station wagon, the second half of the trailer falls a bit more into the Stephanie Meyer traps one has come to expect (fittingly, the second half is kicked off by saying it's "From Stephanie Meyer"). Here we get a bit more of the romance between Ronan and not Robert Pattinson. It's all accompanied by "Radioactive" from Imagine Dragons, and the song feels right at home in this type of film. There's still enough good that I'm pretty interested in giving this a shot once it hits Blu-ray. We'll see whether I feel the same once The Host 3 comes out.