~Review: The Host~ (<3)

This week, I had the time to watch a few of my stockpiled Netflix movies I had lying around, in the wake of finals, and the first order of business for me was to watch South Korean monster extrrrravaganza "The Host," also known as "Monster" in Korean (forgive me, I don't know the actual Korean). First off, I'm not usually one that jumps at the chance to see a monster flick, usually because I hate most of the monster designs I see. I exclude Cloverfield from that category, because the designs there were top-notch, and now I can say that I can add The Host's scaly man-eater to the list.

In a behind-the-scenes respect, the Host immediately had me interested; the monster was designed and animatronicked by the crazy-talented folks at Weta Workshop. Yeah, that Weta Workshop. Also, I'm told that this movie was the single highest-budget film in South Korea's history, and it really shows.

The production values on the Host are easily some of the best I've ever seen in a monster movie; the creature has a really defined and well-animated musculature, making it one of the most realistic I've seen since Cloverfield, probably more so, since it's only about the size of a truck, rather than Cloverfield's skyscraper-matching bastard, which is nice to see, really. Because the monster (God, I'll be using that word a lot in this review, and I apologize; my mental thesaurus tends to shut down around 1:30 AM) isn't a ludicrous size, the scenes where it has a lot of screen time and impact are made that much more engaging. As opposed to focusing on, say a leg or a tail per shot, most of the time the viewer gets to see the whole creature in all it's wonderfully mutated glory.

Now, this mention of mutation brings me to the crux of why I love the Host more than most other monster flicks. First, the story behind why the monster exists at all is really cool and not just a "Well, what a normal day in the city this is... HOLY SHIT A MONSTER! *BOOOOMRAAAAAWR*" but rather a quiet transition from the monster's accidental creation to the introduction of the movie's protagonist family (I say "protangonist family" because really, all of them have a huge part to play in the story, another nice touch) to the implied shit hitting the fan.

Getting to these characters, each and every actor seems perfect for their role, which is really nice to see. Also good is the fact that even though the Host is a highly studio-funded movie, there is not a single actor recognizable to an American audience, although the men playing Gang-du and Hee-bong (the dopey son and caring-badass grandpa) are apparently big-name actors in Korea, but both do a great job of giving some real dimension and empathy to their roles. There are also a few major roles for Americans, but again, no big names here (there's a hilarious character later on in the film played by an actor with some hardcore cross-eyedness, making him even funnier).

I was really surprised to watch the Host and find it both really well-written and, oddly, deeply satirical (almost, but not quite, bordering on anti-American), using terms like "Agent Yellow," a biochemical weapon meant to destroy the monster (sanctioned by American forces stationed in Korea after the appearance of the creature). Even the birth of the monster is due to an American coroner making his employee dump bottles and bottles of formaldehyde into the main river in Seoul. Most of the movie is downright hilarious, another monster-movie first.

Not to drag this out too long, I'd just say that the Host is VERY good in almost all aspects, which is not something I say often (for any of you who are worried about me only reviewing movies I only like or partly dislike, trust me, I'll be writing up some serious bile-spewers later on). I'd recommend anyone with a working brain to rent, download or steal it and enjoy it for yourselves. Guh... 2:00 in the morning makes me sleepy. Night, all, and go see the Host!