Alicia I love this movie so much

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Taha Avalos The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

bowmanblue Monster movies come and go and, these days, they're all pretty much the same. The question is, 'Can a film repackage the same old story enough to make it an enjoyable experience?' I'm glad to say that, with the Korean film, 'The Host,' the answer is a firm YES.The story itself is as old as it comes - big monster/scared humans. However, this film is just too much dumb fun to be forgotten. 99% of it is subtitled (a couple of English speaking actors pop up here and there, so you'll have to be used to reading to enjoy it) and I guess it's hard for me to concentrate on actors' performances, but I think the central family who gets caught up in an attempt at fleeing/hunting one hell of a weird fish-monster-thing are believable as a family unit.For a horror film there's not that much gore (and when I say 'gore' I mean the 'red stuff'), the 'horror' comes from watching some really helpless civilians fall foul to the beastie. The special effects are just about passible. Sometimes you look at the monster and can see that it's not really there, other times it really does interact well with the environment.What really elevates 'The Host' over so many similar films are the little touches. There seem to be plenty of 'random' moments in the story which aren't really connected to the central plot. It maybe a throw-away line from a random extra who only appears in the film to say these few words. Or it may be the added character traits and backstory which have been put in to actually flesh out the characters, rather than just making them pure 'monster-fodder.' It's pretty 'self-knowing' though never really comes across as a comedy/horror, despite the antics making me smile on more than one occasion. The family's interactions which each other are just quite fun to watch as they bicker like the best of us between them.Perhaps the film isn't quite so 'random' as I thought it was. The Korean culture appears to be different enough to our Western ways of doing things to mean that occasionally I wondered whether people would really act the way the characters did, only to conclude that the reason they were behaving that way was because they simply do things differently in certain situations. Either way, the film was enormous fun and, if you're into your monster movies then it's definitely worth adding to your collection (and it is nearly two hours long, so prepare for a monster-marathon watch!).

Incarna I LOVE monster movies, and I've been looking for this movie for a while, but I couldn't find it because of Stephanie Meyer's movie with the same name. Finally, Netflix added it. I really wanted to like it, but despite the other reviews, I've found the FX bad. The animation was amazing, but there was something odd and the monster seemed out of place, I think it was the texture. Maybe if it had some scales instead of polliwog skin (I guess that is what they wanted to achieve?) it would have looked better.Anyway, that wouldn't have matter if the movie wasn't boring. I just didn't feel anything (except from the scene with the pictures). The tense moments didn't feel tense, or maybe it is just my love for monsters. And some parts were too slow. But I had already watched half of it so I had to finish.However since there are people here that loved it so much, I suggest you to watch it, maybe you are one of them and pass a good time.

ApeLieUproar I think most of the budget must have been used on the monster, with almost nothing left for the script. Because the script is pure nonsense. It's infuriating because there seems a germ of a good idea here that was squandered.Okay, so the deal here is, a giant fish-monster suddenly appears and goes on a rampage, killing a bunch of people and kidnapping a bunch of others. So the first thing the government cares about is a virus that doesn't exist? Meanwhile, the government seemingly has no interest in capturing or killing the monster, despite the fact that the monster is not shy and frequently goes out into the open to catch its prey. No military personnel staking out the monster, no monster hunts (despite a palpable lead), no inquiries or news reports into what the f**k this thing even is or how it came to be. No, all they care about is a fake virus and quarantining people for no discernible reason. Perhaps the point is to try and establish martial law, but this is never explore and nothing comes of it. It's completely bizarre. So it's left to a family of idiots, of whom one's daughter has been captured by the fish- beast. The family does enormously stupid things but they're apparently the only ones who care about the existence of this mutant creature and somehow end up fulfilling, with the help of a hobo, what should have been the government's responsibility of actually killing the thing. The daughter ends up dead, and this is quite sad, but I felt annoyed as much as or more than sad about this, especially since the movie ends with the father and a boy he adopted eating dinner (?!)I realize there is some kind of social commentary going on here. Something about the unfeeling of government officials and such. But why can't a commentary be made in a way that makes actual sense???

jacotinto I was really curious about this movie since it was the first Korean movie i saw, and i gotta say: what a surprise. The plot is complicated, but is well-built. I gotta be honest by saying that some sequences were pretty much useless. I watched this in original language (obviously with subtitles), and some dialogs were just... weird. That surely didn't ruin the movie, and it's also explainable by the fact that translating Korean's figure of speech must be nearly impossible. The characters are kind of weird, especially the blonde one (which can be regarded as the protagonist, maybe) which is clearly a mix of paternal love, bravery and pure retardation. (yes, pure retardation.) I'm sincerely amazed by the special effects (even though i found out they were US-made) since the monster was beautifully done. Some scenes were simply smart, the movie was also hilarious at certain points.Surely worth a watch, in my opinion, also because it's something totally different