 So what does South Korea do in the event of such a ridiculous, unjust act? Get mad? Get even? Shit no! Let's make a monster movie!
The Host brings the good old-fashioned Science Fiction monster movies full circle - if there's anything that the giant bug craze of the '50s taught us, it was not to screw around with nature. Each film crowbarred this simple, yet important message into an hour and a half worth of giant ants tearing apart a city whole, usually contained within a monologue given by the main character in the final minutes of the film's running time. With the damage already done, The Host takes a ripped-from-the-headlines event and turns it into something that's more than just a googly-eyed mutant flick.
On February 9th, 2000, an obsessive-compulsive mortician orders the pouring of formaldehyde after finding the bottles coated in a thick layer of dust. Flash forward to the Han River in 2006, where the bleach blonde Park Gang-Du spends his time napping at the riverside food stand his father owns, waiting for his daughter Hyun-seo to come home from school. The monotony of the day is broken up when tourists find a giant green lump hanging off the side of a bridge, which gracefully dives into the river before commencing with an impressive rampage. Though unable to man a cash register, Gang-Du snaps into action, which leaves him not only covered in the creature's blood, but also missing his child, as Hyun-seo is snapped up by the monster and taken into the sewers, assumed dead.
To add insult to injury, the public funeral that brings the Park family back together (including an alcoholic brother and a champion archer sister - and you can bet both come into play later in the film) is raided by government officials, who announce their presence with HAZMAT suits, quarantines and mysterious chemical fogs. Bad news, considering Gang-Du got a face full of the monster's DNA. Gang-Du's entire family is put under watch; the government convinced that the man has acquired a new virus, something that can doom us all. Not buying it for a second, the Park family decide to break out of their confines after Gang-Du receives a hazy phone call from his daughter, who has been placed, along with a few corpses, in a pit – the area used by the monster as a delicious snack tray.
Able to overcome their differences (awwwwww), Gang-Du and his dysfunctional family band together in order to find Hyun-seo, even though both the Americans and Koreans are after them. And the possible infection that might or might not be killing Gang-Du and infecting everyone he comes in contact with. Oh, and the giant monster the size of an eighteen-wheeler who can swing from steel bars like a monkey and swallow human beings in a single gulp. The only problem is deciding which of the four is the most threatening of the lot.
 While it's definitely a phrase I loathe to say, I think it just might apply here: The Host has a little something for everyone to enjoy. While it might be strictly marketed as a creepy-crawly fright flick, the film finds a soul in its characters. Willing to mix genres that are rarely associated with each other, director and co-writer Bong Joon-ho injects a healthy amount of family melodrama that at times passes into absolute lunacy, yet manages to keep these darkly comedic flourishes organic.
In addition to the monsters, melodrama and madness, The Host adds a layer of cynical political commentary in the vein of John Carpenter's early works. While a lot has been said about the supposed anti-American slant that the film contains, make no mistake; South Korea is portrayed just as harshly. If America is the villain twirling its handlebar moustache, South Korea is the sniveling hunchbacked sidekick, ready to take any order from the boss without question.
 So, Monsters, action, satire, drama, horror, sly comedy and slapstick find a home in The Host, and it works. But there are a few drawbacks to the film; mostly the fact that a two-hour running time means the movie drags in the middle. This is mostly due to a plot device that sacrifices logic for suspense - each family member is split from the group, and we follow them as they're hunted down, cornered, and sometimes literally knocked out by the monster. From there we pick up to the next character, and the next. This culminates in each family member waking up from their daze in time for the big showdown at the end of the film. The episodic nature of the middle act takes away from the pacing of the film, but as I mentioned, this device is used to build drama, and in that way, it succeeds. It's a misfire, but ultimately it works.
Running time aside, The Host is well worth checking out for those interested in the genre, and those who are being dragged to the film by geeks. It's a monster movie. It's a date movie. If you don't mind little Jimmy seeing a few drops of blood and some subtitled “naughty” language (probably the only reason The Host gained its R-rating), it's one hell of a kid's movie. It's got a little something for everyone.
…God, I hate saying that.
|
