Monday I reviewed the movie Dog Soldiers, a movie that was made outside of the United States. But after I finished that movie I realized I haven't reviewed a non-English movie since The Raid back in 2024. So to fix that I go from Britain to South Korea with a horror flick I've heard about many times but never got around to watching until now. Oh and if you're wonder why I put the year the movie was released is because I didn't want any confusing with that crappy 2013 film with the same name.
The Host is a South Korean monster movie that was produced by Chungeorahm Film and distributed by Showbox. Bong Joon Ho directed and wrote the screenplay along with Ha Joon-won and Baek Chul-hyun.
The story is, in 2000 an American pathologist ordered his Korean assistant to dump hundreds of bottles of formaldehyde down a drain which finds its way to the Han River. Six years later, a mutant monster born from that action is causing havoc and killing people. Caught up in this madness is a family who must find a way to survive this monster and a supposed virus it carries.
- Negatives
The only true negative I can is the CGI. Now design wise the monster looks great. It's a very ugly monster and has a lot of amphibian traits. But the CGI for this thing isn't good plain and simple.
- Mix
I've got nothing.
- Positives
One praise I'll give is the surprising tonal balance. The movie's tone can range from horror to drama to action and comedy. And it's all balance to a great degree. The drama of the dysfunctional actual works instead of cheap tag on. The horror has some good tense, and there were some funny moments that got a laugh out of me. But not only is the tone balanced but because it's so well executed it gives the movie a very unpredictable edge.
Now Joon Ho, Joon-won, and Chul-hyun do dive into social satire by not only taking influence from an actual waste dumping scandal (the McFarland incident) but by dividing into things such as government incompetence, media hysteria, etc. Now unlike today's satire where it's clear the woke writer is playing favorites, Joon Ho and company actually do a good job on their satire because he along with his fellow writers critiqued both the incompetence of the American and Korean government. Because of this not playing favorites attitude you can something that's actually entertaining instead of preachy.
The last praise I'll give is Song Kang-ho's performance for his role as Park Gang-du. His character is a slow-witted clumsy misfit but is also shown to be a caring father. Kang-ho captures both the character's comedic side but he also anchors the film emotionally as well. And when two very big and sad events happen to Park you're actually hoping the guy wins in the end, and that's in part thanks to Kang-ho's performance.
While the CGI isn't good, there's a lot of other aspects to love about The Host.
My final rating is, Good.
That's all for now. Come back on Saturday, Oct 17th, for my review of the newest live-action Street Fighter movie. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.
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