The Host (2006, Joon-Ho Bong)

"One day, an unidentified mutant suddenly appears from the depths of the Han River and spreads panic and death, and Gang-du's daughter Hyun-seo is carried off by the monster and disappears. All the family members are in a great agony as they have lost someone dearest to them. But as they find out she is still alive, they resolve to save her"

This film is just excellent. A perfect combination of mindless entertainment and intelligent film making. It's one of the best modern day films I have seen in awhile and it's sad that the film will not get the true respect and admiration it deserves because of the sub-genre it belongs to, monster movies.

What separates the film so much from others in it's sub-genre is everything. Sure, it's a monster movies but it does not feel like one at all. It just feels like a human/family drama who's main point of suffering just happens to had been caused by a monster. The monster instead of being flashy and having a lot of over the top cgi action scenes hardly comes out. Instead, the film is more focused on the family dealing with the tragedy of maybe losing one of their own to the monster. It's because of this that when the monster does pop out we are truly glued to the screen because we care about these characters. It's the first time I have seen a monster movie where we actually care for the victims. It's also the first monster movie that actually feels realistic.

The film also seems to be saying a lot about Korean society right now. Some is pretty easy to understand but because of the culture gap it feels like there is much more being said. I loved this aspect of the film. The whole decision to focus on the people dealing with a sudden monster attack that might have spread a virus instead of the actual monster is a very odd choice but it works perfectly and adds a lot of edge and humor to the film.

The Host really lives up to it's already big hype. I hope the film continues getting more buzz and I hope that people begin to tell more people to watch it. It doesn't matter too much though,. I am beyond sure that the film will find it's audience really soon and will be considered the great film is is fairly soon by people. I just hope that these people are not just the horror buffs that already are loving it. It deserves to be taken outside of it's genre.

This film also seems to prove once again that Asian Cinema is where it's at. The Host makes every single action film made in Hollywood in recent years look like pieces of crap. It's hard to pull off a great action film and The Host does this and much,much more. To put it simple, it's just an excellent film. I have the feeling that it will become a favorite of mine on repeat viewings.

- ****