The Host

The Host - Dir. Andrew Niccol (2013)

Whether you like it or not, author Stephenie Meyer created a worldwide phenomenon with her Twilight series. The books were adapted into a hugely successful film franchise as Twi-hards turned out in droves to watch Kristen Stewart choose between the hunky werewolf Jacob or the pale, sparkly vampire Edward. Meyer looked to catch lightning in a bottle once more with her follow-up novel The Host, which has been turned into a big-budget picture by Open Road Films and Universal.

The Host falls firmly into the realm of science fiction, but continues many of the themes Meyer tackled in Twilight, specifically teen romance and a female protagonist trying to find her place in a topsy-turvy world. The Host is basically Invasion of the Body Snatchers for tweens as the Earth is invaded by alien beings known as 'Souls.' The Souls quickly possess the majority of the human population with only a few scattered pockets of resistance. Among those still free is Melanie Stryder (Saoirse Ronan), whose father chose to kill himself rather than be taken. Melanie has survived on the run alongside her younger brother, Jamie (Chandler Canterbury), and boyfriend Jared Howe (Max Irons, son of Jeremy Irons). Unfortunately, she is captured on a supply run by a Seeker (Diane Kruger) and implanted with a Soul known as Wanderer. Melanie's spirit remains strong and she resists Wanderer's attempts to access her memories to discover the whereabouts of other free humans.

Melanie and Wanderer enter into a reluctant symbiosis as they evade the Seeker and journey to Melanie's home in the Arizona desert. There, her Uncle Jeb (William Hurt) has transformed a vast cave system into a self-sustaining sanctuary. Jeb takes Wanderer in and nicknames her Wanda in spite of everyone's protests and firm belief that Melanie is dead. The plot thickens when Wanda develops feelings for the hunky Ian O'Shea (Jake Abel).

The crux of the story revolves around the odd love triangle in which two girls share one body. It’s a credit to the abilities of Saoirse Ronan (who was cast after producers saw her in Hanna) that she is able to argue with herself less silly. This is certainly a Herculean task given the hoary dialogue Ronan is forced to speak, such as "Kiss me like you want to get slapped." The tangled romance loses more credibility given that Melanie/Wanda's love interests are a couple of cardboard cutouts from an Abercrombie & Fitch display. The movie slowly atrophies once it focuses on the young and the beautiful as they moon for each other.

The Host doesn't get off to a bad start. Director Andrew Niccol, who also helmed Gattaca and In Time (along with the underrated Lord of War), knows how to handle slick sci-fi. Niccol sets the right atmosphere by immersing us into the sleek, utilitarian society of the Souls with their chrome sports cars and minimalist shops simply named "Store." However, once The Host settles into the desert caves, the story slows to a crawl as we are introduced to a number of uninteresting characters and their equally insipid relationships. On the positive side, Melanie is a stronger and more independent heroine than Twilight's passive and mopey Bella. Also, you can always count on actors like William Hurt, Frances Fisher, and Diane Kruger to bring some gravitas to even the most lackluster material.

If you're going to watch a movie titled The Host, skip this Stephenie Meyer adaptation and go for Bong Joon-ho's monster movie instead.

Rating: * (*****)

In Time

In Time - Dir. Andrew Niccol (2011)

"For a few to be immortal, many must die."

Time is money in this high concept sci-fi action flick starring Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried. In Time (formerly under the working titles of Now and I'm.mortal) is set in an alternate world where time is the new currency and genetic engineering has allowed mankind to cease aging at 25. Everyone is born with a year on their clock and once you reach of age, time begins ticking away. A glowing digital readout on your forearm tells you how much you have left. Instead of 99-cent stores, they have 99-seconds stores and a cup of coffee can cost four minutes. The poor are forced to literally live day by day. Now and then, some poor soul will drop dead in the street. Their body lays there because nobody has the time to pick him up. Just when you think you're about to come ahead, the cost of living rises.

And forget about upward mobility. The city is divided into sections known as Time Zones and it can cost someone years to travel from the ghetto of Dayton to the affluent part of the city known as New Greenwich.

Will Salas (Timberlake) understands how broken the system is. There's not much he can do about it, until a high roller named Henry Hamilton (Matt Bomer) arrives in Dayton with over a hundred years on his clock. Will saves him from a group of time thieves led by Fortis (Alex Pettyfer). Already over a century old, Henry gives Will his remaining time before running his clock out. When Will's mother, Rachel (Olivia Wilde), dies in his arms because she couldn't afford a bus ride, he vows revenge against the wealthy in New Greenwich.

Before he can enjoy the lap of luxury, Will is falsely accused of murdering Henry by the Raymond Leon (Cillian Murphy), a police officer known in this world as a Timekeeper. Will escapes from custody and kidnaps Sylvia (Amanda Seyfried), the daughter of a powerful banker named Philippe Weis (Vincent Kartheiser). Weis callously extols the virtues of temporal Darwinism, only the strong must survive for mankind to prosper. Faster than you can say Patty Hearst, the rebellious Sylvia joins forces with Will to rob from the rich and give to the poor. Their disruption of the status quo makes them wanted fugitives.

In Time was written and directed by Andrew Niccol, no stranger to dystopian futures having also made Gattaca, about a society where the population has been engineered to be perfect. Niccol also directed the underrated Lord of War and wrote the screenplay for The Truman Show. As such, "In Time" has some clever ideas. The poor are always in a rush because they haven't the time to dawdle while the rich can afford to live at a leisurely pace. The trade off is that they can still die by accident so they surround themselves with bodyguards and be overly cautious. Thus, the elite don't truly enjoy the fruits of immortality. When Weis lines up his wife, daughter, and mother-in-law, they could just as well be triplets.

Niccol wisely avoids delving into the origins and science of his world. Such exposition isn't necessary and any deep thoughts into the story would yield a great deal of plot holes. You'll also need to prepare yourself for inane dialogue rife with silly time-related puns.

The concept of an eternally youthful society allows the movie to be completely populated only by the young and the beautiful. Justin Timberlake has taken bold roles in films like Alpha Dog and Southland Tales to distance himself from his boy band image. His turn as Facebook co-founder Sean Parker in The Social Network was exceptional. Yet, he doesn't quite have the chops to play a believable action hero. With her anime eyes and china doll looks, Amanda Seyfried, is perfectly cast as the fragile socialite.

In Time doesn't have the cerebral tone of Niccol's previous films. It is a straight-up B-movie with a few shootouts and car chases thrown in when it's not too busy pontificating about social inequality. The message is hammered home so frequently that In Time could easily be considered socialist propaganda or at the very least, a rallying cry for the Occupy Movement. If you've got time to spare, it might prove to be a mildly diverting experience.

Rating: ** (*****)