When the US Army carelessly dump a large amount of formaldehyde into Seoul's Han River, the chemical creates a mutant which soon comes of age and unleashes a reign of terror on the city. In the midst of the carnage are the Park family, thrown headlong into the crisis when their youngest, Hyun-seo (Ko Ah-sung) is taken by the beast. Initially the family, led by the aging Hie-bong (Byeon Hie-bong) go into mourning, but when Hyun-seo manages to place a cell phone call to her father Gang-du (Song Kang-ho), the family embark on a desperate rescue mission. After putting together a plan of attack, Hie-bong takes his sons, Gang-du, an unemployed loafer, and Nam-il (Park Hae-il), a jaded forty something gambler, along with Olympic archer daughter Park Nam-joo (Bae Du-na), into battle with the beast. Meanwhile the US military prepare to unleash a new chemical weapon in a bid to kill the monster themselves, amidst outcry from Seoulites opposing the use of the gas on their home soil.
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Working with the same team whose talents the director previously utilised in the aesthetically stunning
Memories of Murder,
The Host has a great look and feel about it throughout. There's also some very good CGI at work here; Bong told me that he formulated the idea for this movie whilst still in high school, and at that time had always envisioned a guy in a monster suit stomping around Seoul. However, by the time the US military finally got around to inspiring the origin of his monster (when they actually did dump 20 gallons of formaldehyde into the Han, in February 2000), he was already thinking along the lines of a CGI beast. Apparently, due to budget constraints a number of rewrites were required, but, as Werner Herzog's
Incident at Loch Ness proved admirably, less can sometimes be more.
That's not to say the monster is sparsely used however; it does make a number of impressive appearances throughout, rampaging along the banks of the Han and duelling with the Parks as they attempt to rescue Hyun-seo from its lair. And whilst nowhere near the size of a behemoth such as Godzilla, it swims, climbs, pukes up thousands of bones and generally grinds up anyone who gets too close; not a creature you'd want to encounter in a dark alley. This aside, it's a monster movie with real depth that engages at so many levels. Bong cleverly updates the classic 'us against them' theme running through countless classic B-movies, where an invading alien race or city-smashing leviathan usually represented Communism attacking the West. Here, the unwitting creators of the creature are the US military, with the result that in
The Host, the lines are blurred between friend and foe, arguably reflecting current times quite aptly.
Indeed, there's some superbly incorporated political satire at work throughout, from Donald (David Joseph Anselmo), the American jock posthumously canonised by the world's media after foolishly engaging the monster, to the misinformation circulated by his nation's military, who ultimately want an excuse to test out their new chemical weapon. Yet, due to the subject matter and the film's narrative, Bong hits his barbs home almost matter of factly, as the concept of the American military as manipulative, dishonest and careless seems far more believable than the idea of a giant monster devouring people...although on second thought, there's perhaps a decent argument for the two concepts being one and the same.
Additionally, the focus upon the Park family fosters a personal and very genuine empathy with the trials and tribulations faced by the main characters. This lends
The Host a rather unique context as, historically, monster movies usually centre around the destruction of a city or a planet, as opposed to the demolition of a slightly dysfunctional family unit. This context is highlighted in an excellent sequence during which the Parks grieve for Hyun-seo alongside other mourners at a remembrance service for victims of the monster's opening rampage. At first moving, before degenerating into black farce, it's a scene that simply wouldn't work in pretty much any other monster movie.
In closing then,
The Host is a film that manages to provide a serious, and vastly superior alternative to the sanitised, Hollywood-friendly creature features made in recent years (including
Godzilla: Final Wars). It offers a quite intimate look into the affairs of a family who are just trying to get by, and are forever changed by their encounter with the awesome beast. There’s also some great 'monster on the rampage' sequences and a serious political critique of US foreign policy, all the ingredients for a potentially superb film. Yet perhaps the best aspect of this one is that Bong clearly never forgets that at the end of it all, he's shooting a monster movie, and, for most of the time at least, the tongues are certainly set into cheeks. Excellent
