The Host (MOVIE: 2013) Directed by Andrew Niccol

The Host. 2013. L-R: Jared, Melanie/Wanderer, and Ian.

THE HOST
Directed by Andrew Niccol
Notable Actors: Saoirse Ronan as Wanderer(Wanda) or Melanie Stryder, Diane Kruger as The Seeker/Lacey, Chandler Canterbury as Jamie Stryder, Max Irons as Jared Howe, Jake Abel as Ian O'Shea.

Rating: 4 out of 10.

SPOILERS.
The world is at peace, according to whose side of the fight you're on. Souls (as they call themselves) have inhabited almost every human in the world. They cut open the base of the skull of a human and put in these beautiful silvery and glittery centipedes that have tiny little attachments that control the entire body. Most of the humans that are implanted with souls kind of fade away with their consciousness. The soul then controls the body. The Souls began doing this with 11 other planets. They come not to change each of the worlds they experience, but rather just experience and bring harmony. Some planets are completely okay with the occupation, others find it welcoming, while Earth....is greatly opposed to it. Souls do not lie to each other, they give everything they can to help each other out (even giving someone a car because they asked for it,) and do not exchange currency at all. People walk into grocery stores, and only ring out so they can take inventory of what they need to replace.

The human resistance finds Wanda/Melanie.

Sounds like paradise right? For everyone except those are still human. The humans feel like their brain is taken over, they lose themselves in the end. Wanderer, a Soul whose been to like...nine planets, is put into Melanie's body. They chose one of their strongest to go up against one of the human's strongest, hopefully to extract the memories to the location of the rest of the humans.

At first, Wanderer is compliant. She slowly but surely unlocks the secrets to Melanie's head. The fact that she was in love with a guy named Jared and that he found her while raiding a home for food to feed her and Jamie, her brother. Jared is the love of her life, and swears to get back to him. 
Wanderer goes out into the desert to find her loved ones, but they ended up finding her instead. They keep her prisoner in the compound. Her Aunt Maggie hits her, Jared hits, they all hit her...she's not one of them anymore. She doesn't retaliate, she doesn't harm anyone...and they slowly begin to believe that she has Melanie trapped inside. Ian begins to fall for just Wanda (Wanderer's shortened name) while Jared still longs for Melanie. Meanwhile, the Seeker continues to take lives to find Melanie/Wanda. By the time they capture the Seeker, Wanda has found out that the humans have accidentally killed Souls and themselves alike trying to separate them from the body. Wanda shows them how to remove the Soul from a body, but will give the Doctor this knowledge only if he lets her die, so Melanie can have the body back. In the end, they find a body that hasn't woken up after Doc removes the soul, and they put Wanda in, so she doesn't take a life, but rather saves it in the end. Ian and Wanda can finally be together, while Melanie and Jared are back together. In the end, the two couple go out on a raid, and get caught...by a Seeker. Turns out, it was a Soul whose like Wanda, on the side of the humans and living with them. They learn that their is four groups that they've found, human society has not fallen.

So, that was a long comprehensive review. I read the book The Host by Stephanie Meyer, and shockingly it was good. This was the woman who wrote Twilight, possibly the most godawful book series in the history of the world, that spawned an even worse movie series. Thank god all the werewolves were half-naked...that was the only redeeming thing about the series. Anyways, I had moderate hopes for this, because lately...book to movie adaptions haven't sucked...or maybe because I really thoroughly enjoyed Divergent, The Hunger Games, and Ender's Game, I thought this would be different....it was lack luster. I wish I saw more of the apocalypse like I did in the book, then the stupid love affair with Jared and Ian. When I rewatched it though, it didn't seem like much of the love affair was present. It seemed more in tune with other thing. I don't think this ever should have been made a movie. There is too much going on, and they sacrificed a lot from the books to make this movie. I personally, would probably prefer a mini-series instead.

If you don't expect much, or you've already seen it, I suggest rewatching...or watching with lower expectations. It's not terrible, but its not awesome either.