tbickle

I read Adam Tyner's DVD review of The Host at http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=29477 and...films are subjective so a tip of the all-due-respect hat to Adam but I disagree on almost every major derogatory issue he pointed out, particularly that "The movie doesn't handle the disparate tones particularly well". I thought the film was the perfect amalgam of slapstick humor, domestic squabbles, old-fashioned monster mayhem, political subtext and not a little heart to top it off. One of my favorite genre films of the past couple years and one of the easiest HD-DVD purchases I'll have made since buying a A2. He says 'rent it', I would suggest 'pushing small kids and old people out of the way (and a puppy kick if you can manage it) to make an immediate purchase'.

RichC2

I also was not a big fan of this movie. It may have been the hype, but I doubt it. For one reason or another I was simply unable to get into it, and as such, it felt long and uninspired.

I enjoy slapstick, but much like Save The Green Planet, there are times where it just doesn't fit. Lightening the mood is a great thing, but doing it in such an over the top manner is hit or miss, and I'm sad to say, (for me) it was mostly miss. It made the film seem insincere, if that makes any sense.

LiquidSky

I rented and watched this weekend and agree 100% with Adam's review (and not because I also review for the site).

Josh Z

I'm also with Adam on this one. I tried really hard to like this movie, and would probably give it another go, but for me it just did not live up to any of the hype that has been built up around it.

tbickle

hmm, well all of your hearts must be as black as the darkest night....good day to you sirs! I jest, I jest, but how can three dvdtalk reviewers remain immune to the charms of 'The Host'? 'Save the Green Planet' had it's own brand of lunacy, a small part of it carrying over to '..Host' but it's a fairly arbitrary comparison. I guess for me it was Kang-ho Song's performance that really stood out...I mean c'mon...what film were you guys watching? When a monster film revolves around a ratty, hole-ridden sweat-pant wearing loser with a penchant for cheating people out of their squid tentacles...how can you go wrong? The tension-driven sequences were competent enough but it was the comedy that drove the film. The mourning sequence in the school hall was played brilliantly...the scene starts out somber of course then slowly segues into a comedic wrestling match...cut to a scene later - our protaganist who just thinks he lost his daughter is sprawled out asleep on the floor!! The wrestling match proved to much...Anywho, each to their own I suppose...we can't all have taste

das Monkey

You guys have me wanting to watch this so I can pile on.

das

X

It didn't do much for me either. From what I had heard, I was expecting much more.

It seemed like whatever might be considered comedy was forced and I found myself looking for what was really funny about it, but I didn't find it. Those moments seemed more like irony than comedy to me.

Mr. Salty

I'm with tbickle. "The Host" is one of my favorite movies of the year. It's just an all-out fun monster movie. I agree with whatever reviewer called it a mix of "Jaws" and "Little Miss Sunshine."

LiquidSky

Personally, I felt the mourning scene (actually, the family's reaction) worked better on "Twin Peaks" when Mrs. Palmer found out Laura was dead....wrapped in plastic.

Josh Z

For me, the movie could have used more Jaws and less Little Miss Sunshine.

Richard Malloy

Definitely a charming film, and I agree with the recommendation to "Rent It". Of course, I don't blind buy anything that I can rent first, and given how cheap Netflix is I don't understand why anyone would do differently. But I suspect that many renters will ultimately want to own the film.

In the end, I prefer "Save the Green Planet", which I think is an apt comparison, given that both films strain mightily against the conventions of horror/sci-fi and comedy/melodrama, genre-bending both to their own purposes. But "The Host" takes itself a bit less seriously, and I suspect it will appeal to a broader audience.

POTENTIAL SPOILER....

Another film that I think is somewhat similar is Speilberg's "War of the Worlds". Although "WotW" is an immensely darker film and has a far greater level of intensity and gore, there's a striking difference with respect to the fate of the kid. "The Host" definitely doesn't fall victim to the need for a sunny ending that resolves everything positively, but manages to be both affirming and tragic in its choice of who lives and dies that gave the film a somewhat deeper poignancy than I had any reason to expect.

maxamillion

This is definitely (and barely) a rental.

I was not impressed at all with this movie. Very happy I did not buy it.

visitor Q

Well, considering that you don't see too many "creature" films coming from Korea, I believe it was a valid attempt - worthy for a rental. Yes, it could have used some refinement, but I for one found the film refreshing, different and interesting.

Did it have flaws? Sure.

- Political overtones
- Idiotic portrayal of non-Asian actors
- Overly melodramatic sequences
- Pacing problems
- Cliched plot development

... but aside from those (which are mostly common to Korean films), and where I would fully agree with Adam is his take on character development (including the creature) and the inconsistency of the CGI work done on the creature. Film time could have been better spent fleshing the family out instead of focusing on their misgivings. But not everything needs to be laid out on a platter - forgive the pun.

In the end, I enjoyed aspects about the film .. and even more so after a second viewing. I admit, it did not live up to the hype after the initial viewing however. I would have enjoyed seeing more of the creature but at the same time, enjoyed the angle the story took in the middle considering it relied heavily on the adventure undertaken by the family as opposed to being strictly a "monster" movie. The humor - while offbeat - may have seemed inappropriate or dark, but I found no fault with it. A part of it's lack of appreciation may be cultural. But I'm no expert.

No, the film is not for everyone, but I agree with Adam's final take .. rental.

eXcentris

I loved "Save the Green Planet", and liked "The Host" (although, like visitor Q, I enjoyed it more on a second viewing), and I pretty much agree with the "Rent it" classification, mostly because the average moviegoer who might not be familiar with the mixture of genres you often find in Asian films might be put off by it. As a reviewer though, I'm not sure I like the idea of attaching definitive labels such as "Rent it", "Recommended", etc... at the end of a review because I find it too restrictive.

Supermallet

If that's how you feel about the movie, then don't read my upcoming Blu-ray review. I agree with Adam on pretty much every point that he made, and am in some ways even more vehement about my dislike.

RyoHazuki

I thought it was great.

visitor Q

Not to worry, Suprmallet ... after your Apocalyto review, I've written off your input as a reviewer completely.

And I can certainly see why a fourth review of The Host on this site is necessary.

Adam Tyner

It'd be the one and only (unless someone else decides to chime in later) review for the Blu-ray release.

Supermallet

I'm not worrying, because my opinions are as valid as anyone else's and I'm going to continue to voice them without thinking about whether or not people will agree with them. All I can do is lay down my arguments and hope that people will understand where I'm coming from, even if they arrive at a different conclusion. It's a shame that you won't ever heed my words again, as Visitor Q is one of my favorite movies, and Miike one of my favorite directors. I'm sure we have much in common, aside from how we feel about Apocalypto.

As Adam pointed out, it will in fact be the only review of the Blu-ray version of the film. And even if someone had already reviewed The Host on Blu-ray, at DVD Talk we actually like multiple reviews of the same movie, because it offers more options to the reader.

tbickle

I agree that classifications do not work on a whole although 'Recommended' is slightly more tolerable than 'Rent it'. 'Rent it' belies the notion that one would never watch the film more than once, a fairly ridiculous label to apply to 'The Host' even with all of it's supposed faults. I suppose it's more of a try before you buy mentality but I've never understood that either. Can there be that many people that plop down money to 'rent' a film, love it, then plop down more money to own a film that they just watched even with the knowledge that it could be a while before the film is watched again? I suppose the advent of netflix makes this more tolerable but for my money the moment has passed....As a fellow film critic, I feel the need to see everything to stay knowledgeable...and I can see a rental a mile away...'Shooter', 'Catch & Release', 'Ghost Rider'....I also disagree that a review should be written with the average moviegoer in mind...for one, why would a casual moviegoer frequent a dvdreview site in the first place? much less click on a review of a film that seemingly wouldn't interest them? and the minute you start writing reviews for the casual mindset, ya screwed, although I don't think any reviewer on this site does that or I wouldn't be here...

Supermallet

Of course, your argument only applies if the reviewer feels The Host is worth more than one viewing, which they may not.

The Running Man

A bunch of these reviewers, including Ian Jane (not surprising), completely missed the point of this movie thinking it is, or was supposed to be, some camp or goofy fest.

There was nothing campy or goofy about the film nor was it supposed to be tounge in cheek thing. It's two things that make these people think this:

- An Asian monster movie (they think Godzilla)

- It has comedy in it

Neither of those point make this movie a camp fest or goofy. The style of humor used in the film should be of no surprise to those people who have seen the director's previous film Memories of Murder. And yes, the majority of the humor is supposed to be kinda dark and ironic.

It really surprises me how people insert things into a movie and regurgitate it as what they lead themselves to believe rather than what it was. Reminds of those idiot US critics who described Shiri as a Korean Rambo.

And I apologize for this in advance, I really do, but I can't hold this one in. I just read Francis Rizzo's review and the guy is a officially a jerk:

Oddly, this is one of the few times where I would recommend watching a foreign film with an English dub, as the laughable quality of the voices and dialogue, along with the natural disconnect between the voices and physical speaking, give the film an added layer of monster-movie cheese, putting it up there with the Godzilla's of the world in terms of campiness.

I love how the internet has created these wannabe elitists who slam every dub repeatedly again and again without even so much as hint of an actual thought process that occurred before writing anything. All it is, is a product of buying into all the nonsense that has plagued the internet fanatics as to what is right and wrong (all dubs are bad).

And on top of that, going as far as to even insult the film at the same time.

FrancisRizzo3

For The Host, we actually have 6 reviews
The Host DVD Video Highly Recommended
The Host HD DVD Rent It
The Host DVD Video Recommended
The Host DVD Video Highly Recommended
The Host Theatrical Highly Recommended
The Host Theatrical Highly Recommended
with Blu-Ray on the way.

I can hardly see how this could be a bad thing, unless we were not reviewing other discs, which we obviously are, looking at our lengthy review list.

VisitorQ, you better get used to this kind of depth, as it's only going to get bigger as acceptance of HDDVD and BluRay increases, and we maintain our level of coverage.

FrancisRizzo3

Official jerk checking in...

Have you listened to this dub? It's awful. It lacks emotion and has simply laughable dialogue.

And I would always recommend watching a foreign film in its original language to get a true feel for the film. I've never seen a dub that's better at that than the original. I don't think it's elitist. It's about as elitist as asking for original aspect ratios and uncut edits.

The Running Man

That's plenty elitist.

I have been watching foreign films for quite a long time. I too at one point bought into the whole "dubs are horrible and always will be" attitude simply because the generation of dubs I grew up with were almost all poorly made. However, that has changed drastically as I have noticed well made dubs.

The problem is many vocal ones out there have refused to catch up, and while there will always be frantic fans going to the extreme on issues, I expect higher of those who want to be critics. To bash every single dub again and again and again and again is not professionalism.

Regardless of whatever or not it means anything to you, there are people out there who either like watching dubs, have no problem with dubs so they are curious to check them out, or find subtitles distracting that they rather watch a dub. Whatever the case is, bashing dubs relentlessly does no favors to anyone out there who would like to know the real deal.

It also doesn't help the people who are producing the dubs. Had reviewers been more fair out there, then perhaps situations can improve in general for that industry. Since finding an honest review of dub is like finding a needle in a haystack, then there is no feedback to be heard since none of them are worth a damn.

On top of that all, even if you did find this dub so horrible, why on earth would you recommend it because it's bad? To add "monster-movie cheese"? You didn't get this movie so you want to kick dirt at it??

Those are the reasons I called you a jerk.

Oh, and I have heard a bit of this dub and it is nowhere near horrible. To people like you...a "horrible dub" is simply "a dub".

If you want to hear what a real horrible dub is, watch the English dub to the Japanese film Kibakichi. That'll help you give you some realistic perspective on what's what.