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Average User Score: 7 (59 sources)

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V_Translanka

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Good lord this movie is pretty **** awesome. Screw Cloverfield & King Kong, baby! The monster shows up in the first 10 minutes! It's a great combination of comedy, dramatic horror & even a touch of satire. I don't want to overplay the...
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Good lord this movie is pretty **** awesome. Screw Cloverfield & King Kong, baby! The monster shows up in the first 10 minutes! It's a great combination of comedy, dramatic horror & even a touch of satire. I don't want to overplay the comedy elements, which ARE great, but it's like the Korean equivalent of a Shaun of the Dead for monster movies. As soon as they showed Kang-ho Song, who plays the oldest son, sleeping at the helm of their little shop I instantly knew two things: 1) he's gonna be the hero, definitely, and 2) I'm gonna absolutely love this movie. And I did! You should too!

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Posted nov 13, 2008 10:00 am pt

drek2

-1

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So one sunday comes along and I got my handy free movie ticket that's finally redeemable due to its 'fun' restrictions and I don't know what movie to see, so I roll the dice and choose The Host because of its hype from Japan. From start to finish...
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So one sunday comes along and I got my handy free movie ticket that's finally redeemable due to its 'fun' restrictions and I don't know what movie to see, so I roll the dice and choose The Host because of its hype from Japan. From start to finish the movie is sub-titled, like The Passion or Apocalypto but just like them I was used to it in seconds. On to the movie! First off, when's the last time you saw a good monster movie? Maybe Godzilla in '98? Well finally we got another one that's actually pretty good (and funny). The movie is based around one family who owns a food stand near a river - a few years back something made it into the water that made a mutant evolve into a people-eating monster that can swim and run on land. So of course our focus family has their youngest abducted by the monster and it's up to the family to rescue her. Along the way you get some pretty good laughs and some great action. If you can handle the sub-titles go check it out for sure!

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Posted jul 5, 2008 5:17 pm pt

BoredMark

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The first good creature-feature since the birth of CGI. Its a pretty good movie all around.

Some of the humor apparently doesn't really translate - or something, kinda funny - not really. Also, a whole lot of Anti-Americanism. The...
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The first good creature-feature since the birth of CGI. Its a pretty good movie all around.

Some of the humor apparently doesn't really translate - or something, kinda funny - not really. Also, a whole lot of Anti-Americanism. The film begins with an American Scientist instructing his subordinate to dump chemicals into the river. It ends with an American chemical called 'Agent Yellow' being used to try and kill the beast. Hmmm, they didn't really try to sugar-coat that one but can you blame them?

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Posted may 2, 2008 7:22 am pt

rockin01

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If it weren't for the (mostly) decent special effects, this movie would have rated 1 star. I understand that Asian filmmaking sensibilities are different, but bad acting and inert writing are the same in any language. The critics who jumped on the...
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If it weren't for the (mostly) decent special effects, this movie would have rated 1 star. I understand that Asian filmmaking sensibilities are different, but bad acting and inert writing are the same in any language. The critics who jumped on the love train for this movie must have been drinking tainted water from the Han River...

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Posted oct 7, 2007 11:17 am pt

konichiwa21

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+ good story + a couple of funny parts + great looking action + first scene with the monster at the lake is amazing + good ending - characters are pretty shallow - some major story spikes are played out like jokes - plot is thin

the...
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+ good story + a couple of funny parts + great looking action + first scene with the monster at the lake is amazing + good ending - characters are pretty shallow - some major story spikes are played out like jokes - plot is thin

the best monster movie i've seen

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Posted aug 15, 2007 8:46 am pt

wwillow

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So I went and saw The Host this weekend. I really enjoyed it. It's a political monster movie. People are saying it's the modern day Godzilla, and I can see that I guess. The idea behind it is that a lot of chemicals get dumped into the Han...
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So I went and saw The Host this weekend. I really enjoyed it. It's a political monster movie. People are saying it's the modern day Godzilla, and I can see that I guess. The idea behind it is that a lot of chemicals get dumped into the Han River. Several years later this huge mutant thing emerges from the Han River and well, it eats people. The government comes charging in and starts rumors of a virus. It's reminiscent of the whole SCARS debacle.

I don't want to give too much of the plot away. So I'll go onto the special effects which were done by the same group that did all of The Lord of The Rings special effects. So in the most part the FX was really good. But there were some parts - with the monster running through crowds of people that it was just - well it was so bad it was funny.

Several people actually got up and left during the movie. Personally I thought it was very funny. I went into it knowing that it was a monster movie so I knew that there were going to be cheese moments. Oh there was this one where this family is grieving because they lost a young girl, well they were crying hysterically, and flaying all over the floor. One of them even lost their shoes with all of the kicking and throwing themselves around. And during all of this there's camera crew's and photographers. My friend and I laughed so hard! We were the only ones though.

So I say go see it if you can enjoy those cheesy monster movie's. This one is a bit more as it has the whole underlying government issue and then there's this family and there interactions with one another. Over all a good movie.

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Posted apr 22, 2007 10:56 am pt

messenjah14

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In 2000, an american factory in Korea dumps a bunch of chemicals into the Han river. In 2006, all hell breaks loose as a gigantic, mutated creature comes out of the river and starts killing and snatching people away. Kang-Du Park's daughter is one...
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In 2000, an american factory in Korea dumps a bunch of chemicals into the Han river. In 2006, all hell breaks loose as a gigantic, mutated creature comes out of the river and starts killing and snatching people away. Kang-Du Park's daughter is one of the ones who get kidnapped, so he goes on a chase to find the monster and his daughter, and is aided by his family. Meanwhile, the American military comes in and discovers that the monster is bearing a horrible virus.

The best monster movie ever? I seriously doubt that making such a claim would be false. Why? I plan to tell you. First of all, Gwoemul propably had the best plot I have ever seen in a movie of this genre. It all starts off seeming like some cliched Godzilla-copy, but the moment we meet our so-called main character, Kan-Du, his occasional dialogue and overall attitude prepare us for something different. The moment the army arrives, everything truly starts. The plot unfolds into social and political commentary, different than usual character development, extraordinarily well coreographed action, and it's all covered in weird, sweet sense of humour that I'm pretty sure that any possible remakes will be unsuccesfull in copying, due to it's unique qualities. Also, this movie made something not all that many succeed in nowadays: I actually cared about the characters. I didn't really notice it until one of the main characters got killed. I felt like watching Balthazar Getty's character die in the last season of Alias, I mean I just realised that I didn't want the rest of the cast die. I also loved how little the monster was actually shown in the movie. Usually the monster is nearly the star, but here it was just used to give us something deeper and more meaningful. When it came to acting, this movie delivered and even gave us a free slice of damn good pie ontop of that! The man who played the grandfather did an excellent job in portraying a man who felt as if he needed to save all his children, and redeem himself a place in heaven. Also, Kang-Ho Song was spectacular in the main role, giving a truly memorable portrayal of what people will be willing to do for someone they love and take care of. Bong did a smashing job at the directing, bringing us an extremely realistic tale of what would truly happen in case a monster of such kind would ever emerge. Then, one of the things that are usually important for monster movies. The creature itself. It was apparently entirely created using CGI, but I'll be damned if someone is actually capable of seeing that. That has got to be some of the most impressive computer animation I've ever seen. The few action scenes that we saw the monster in worked wonderfully, and were highly more intense than in most other movies of this kind. But, you can't have a movie that just has good qualities. There's always something wrong. In this movie's case there aren't many, but one of the nads I have for this movie was definately it's incapability to actually put the humour into the scenes that would've actually needed them (except for the funeral scene, which worked awesomely). The humour worked, but it was somewhat loose from the story on occasion. Then, the final fight of the movie was abit streched, I mean the monster should've died atleast 20 times during the beating that it received. Then there were some slightly illogical things (for example in one of the key scenes of the movie, the main character receives brain surgery of somekind that supposedly removes part of his brain, but that sure didn't affect him whatsoever), but I can let them slide for now. Are those little problems enough for me to call this movie something that deserves less than a 5/5? Not in my opinion.

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Posted mar 5, 2007 6:29 pm pt

Irongrinder1

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After chemicals get dumped in the Han river, a monster evolves out of a local fish. After years of growing it turns on the locals to feed.

It's basically just a monster movie, but it's done very well. Humor, action, drama, you name...
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After chemicals get dumped in the Han river, a monster evolves out of a local fish. After years of growing it turns on the locals to feed.

It's basically just a monster movie, but it's done very well. Humor, action, drama, you name it. What I liked about this movie is that it didn't have any of the annoying Hollywood humor which in most action/monster movies just pisses me off. Instead it had a good sense of dry humor and hysterical screaming Asians.

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Posted feb 3, 2007 5:53 pm pt

jason16888

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This movie has already been released in Korea and being that I am of asian heritage it is only natural that I have already seen this movie, especially becuase it is the highest grossing South Korean movie ever. And I have to say the beggining is...
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This movie has already been released in Korea and being that I am of asian heritage it is only natural that I have already seen this movie, especially becuase it is the highest grossing South Korean movie ever. And I have to say the beggining is extremely spectacular as this evil fish-like creature emerges from the Han river and begins to reak havok at all that come in it's path. Amongst all of this the movie sets itself up for a borderline comedy meaning that throughout the entire movie even though you would expect the characters to be serious, they simply don't and they continue on with their disfunctional ways. Now with out spoiling anything I have to say that my overal impression of "The Host" is that it is one of the best worst monster ever. The reason why I say this is becuase the film introduces a lot of really complex story lines and weaves then together quite well giving sort of a realistic glimpse of how the word would react to this situation. But the problem with this movie is that it's end was so porely written and so porely exicuted that it completely undermines an other wise fantastic movie. In fact, the ending is so bad it will leave you completely stuned in confusion. So when I say it is the best I mean no other monster movie has ever come close to the depth and hidden humor that this movie has. But this is all tied together in a way that is worst if they didnt have an ending. Overal this movie is that of hidden promise and depth, but falls apart in a way that is nothing but frustrating becuase of the fact that the beggining sets itself so well for a good monster movie. And as an avid Asian movie goer I have to say if you are looking for some nice scary monster movies. Check out the originals of "The Ring" and "The Grudge" which both don't suffer from their Americanized counter parts. My final judgment is that this movie came so close but fell so far which is why I gave it a 50%.

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Posted jan 31, 2007 11:24 am pt

• [+] Chicago Reader
  
  100
  The mix of dark humor, creeping suspense, and a sort of apocalyptic tenderness makes this the best horror flick in years.

  by J.R. Jones | Read Full Review »
• [+] San Francisco Chronicle
  
  100
  A great piece of filmmaking and a legitimate science-fiction/horror classic.

  by Peter Hartlaub | Read Full Review »
• [+] Film Threat
  
  100
  Joon-Ho's epic is a masterpiece of monster cinema that's intelligent, innovative, and reaches down to the basic core of family unity to propel its story beyond mere conventions of science fiction.

  by Felix Vasquez, Jr. | Read Full Review »
• [+] Portland Oregonian
  
  100
  The Host isn't just a terrific monster movie. This South Korean box-office smash is also a laugh-out-loud comedy and a surprisingly angry political satire.

  by M. E. Russell | Read Full Review »
• [+] The New Yorker
  
  100
  I have seen The Host twice and have every intention of watching it again.

  by Anthony Lane | Read Full Review »
• [+] Seattle Post-Intelligencer
  
  91
  The sudden turns of temperament are a treat after the smart-ass attitude of American horror flicks, and the film is full of minor surprises, squirming in unexpected directions without leaving the conventions behind.

  by Sean Axmaker | Read Full Review »
• [+] Entertainment Weekly
  
  91
  Bong Joon-ho's wildly entertaining saga should become the hip, thinking-person's monster movie of choice.

  by Lisa Schwarzbaum | Read Full Review »
• [+] Christian Science Monitor
  
  91
  A cross between "Godzilla" and "Jaws," it manages to be both truly scary and truly funny - sometimes all at once.

  by Peter Rainer | Read Full Review »
• [+] The New York Times
  
  90
  The Host is a cautionary environmental tale about the domination of nature and the costs of human folly, and it may send chills up your spine. But only one will tickle your fancy and make you cry encore, not just uncle.

  by Manohla Dargis | Read Full Review »
• [+] Slate
  
  90
  The movie pops up out of nowhere, grabs you in its big, messy tentacles, and drags you down into murky depths, where social satire coexists with slapstick, and B-movie clichés mutate into complex metaphors.

  by Dana Stevens | Read Full Review »
• [+] Time
  
  90
  If this madly entertaining movie has a fault, it's that it's too ingenious for the genre it ostensibly inhabits.

  by Richard Corliss | Read Full Review »
• [+] Los Angeles Times
  
  90
  With a subversive streak as wide as the Han and a title open to interpretation, The Host confounds our expectations while providing top-notch entertainment. For Bong, the monster movie is an ample vessel, one that he can fill with social criticism while discovering exuberant amusement in the process.

  by Kevin Crust | Read Full Review »
• [+] Austin Chronicle
  
  89
  The Host is a freewheeling mix of high style and goofy, good-natured fear-mongering.

  by Marc Savlov | Read Full Review »
• [+] Philadelphia Inquirer
  
  88
  A wonderful, witty mix of horror and social satire, The Host takes its simple, time-tested premise - menacing creature terrorizes the populace - and runs with it.

  by Steven Rea | Read Full Review »
• [+] The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
  
  88
  The first 20 minutes of the South Korean film The Host represents one of the most entertaining movie openings in memory. It's the same kind of pop-culture thrill provided by Steven Spielberg's "Jaws," with the same sense of astonishment, fear and pleasure at something genuinely new.

  by Liam Lacey | Read Full Review »