Movie review: The Host
Dec. 20th, 2009 08:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
catalyst2Just finished watching The Host, a Korean MotW movie - except that it was way better than that label suggests.
The child actor who plays the part of Hyun-seo, the young girl, snatched by the monster early in the movie just steals the movie as she has to play a very difficult part, responding to a CGI monster within a very limited environment for almost all of the movie and yet she does it.
Similarly the CGI throughout the movie (with one exception - the fire at the end) is great - the sinuous looping way the monster navigates across the bridge is wonderful and yet the close-ups of its gaping maw are just terrifying every time.
The ending is good too - only when the three protagonists act in synergy do they defeat the monster - and yet all is not sweetness and delight at the end.
In short, trim, taut and terrific, just like every damned good monster movie should be.
ETA: many of the reviews mention really bad dubbing but the version I saw was subtitled (which, on the whole, I prefer) so there was no issue there.
The child actor who plays the part of Hyun-seo, the young girl, snatched by the monster early in the movie just steals the movie as she has to play a very difficult part, responding to a CGI monster within a very limited environment for almost all of the movie and yet she does it.
Similarly the CGI throughout the movie (with one exception - the fire at the end) is great - the sinuous looping way the monster navigates across the bridge is wonderful and yet the close-ups of its gaping maw are just terrifying every time.
The ending is good too - only when the three protagonists act in synergy do they defeat the monster - and yet all is not sweetness and delight at the end.
In short, trim, taut and terrific, just like every damned good monster movie should be.
ETA: many of the reviews mention really bad dubbing but the version I saw was subtitled (which, on the whole, I prefer) so there was no issue there.
