 | MOVIE DETAILS • Name: The Host • Year: 2020 • Country: Netherlands • Director: Andy Newbery • Main cast: Maryam Hassouni, Mike Beckingham, Dougie Poynter, Suan-Li Ong • Runtime: 102 minutes • Production company: Pearl Pictures Productions • TRAILER
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The Host (2020) is a curious case. A movie with very high pretensions. The story might not be the most original one but still manages to keep you glued to your chair by its constant change of plots, some of them really not expected at all. The acting is not superb, but it is more than competent. And photography and lights are beautiful enough, making almost each one of the frames a nice picture. But, then, what is wrong with the movie? Why doesn’t it outstand as an interesting piece mandatory to watch?
Watching The Host (2020) I was having the same feeling as watching The Perfection (2018) [read our review here]. Both movies are visually attractive, and the plot drives you to unexpected paths. But the whole pack doesn’t work. The Host (2020) is the debut feature film of Andy Newbery, a man with a wide experience in TV series. And probably that is the key to why the movie will never be catchy enough. The filmmaking falls into the indulgence of fast-consume that most TV productions have, and it forgets to spoil the audience working on all the senses and creating an atmosphere perturbing enough. Because that is the essence of a movie, it is how you communicate, not only what you see and what you hear. With a good movie, you end up being part of the action. You are another one of the characters, although only in a corner just witnessing the happenings. When watching a good movie you even have the feeling of smelling things, hearing something that is not being played on the speakers, and getting to know the characters deeper than what the lines of text deliver. In The Host (2020) that is missing, and that is a crime on its own, especially in a movie of this sort.
The Host (2020) is basically a thriller, although at some moments it crosses a line to step into the terrains of horror. The action starts when a London banker takes some money that doesn’t belong to him and loses it all in gambling. In order to get the money back he embarks himself in a bizarre plot involving the Chinese mafia, but with totally unpredictable consequences. It is very tempting to tell more of the story because the more I think of it the more I am liking it, but ruining those surprises would totally kill the experiencing of the movie.
I have heard different reviews about The Host (2020). Some of them call it a silly waste of time, but some others praise its plot full of surprises. I stay in the middle of the two, I am a freak for good stories, I like thriller movies and I adore it when horror comes insight. But, still, I need a strong final package for me to claim that a film is really a good one and worth to watch. If you find yourself with the chance to see The Host (2020), I’d say go for it. You might enjoy it, it really has its set of positive sides that make it worth to watch, it has potential. But you could also feel like it was a silly waste of time, and I would understand it.
RATE: 5,5/10
IMDB URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt8316568
