Jul
26
2006
The Host
Posted by luna6 21 Comments
Movie : The Host / Gwoemul / 괴물
Release Date: July 27, 2006
Country : South Korea
Director: Joon-ho Bong
Starring: Kang-ho Song, Hae-il Park, Du-na Bae
Runtime : 119 Minutes
Editor Rating : 9.0
Users Rating: 8 
(53 votes)
Loading …
Plot Synopsis : A Korean Scientist working for the U.S. Army is ordered to dump highly toxic chemicals into the Han River in Seoul, South Korea. Because of that, something in the Han River eventually mutates into a terrifying creature that hunts humans as its prey. One of the first victims of this monster, was a small girl named Hyeon-seo. Her father, Kang-du, works at a food stall on the banks of the Han River and witnesses the monster making his first appearance out of the Han River. Kang-du immediately goes to assist the people that are being attacked by the monster and doesn’t notice his daughter leaving his family’s food stall during this mayhem.
Once he does notice his daughter out on the banks of the river, he runs over to her and tries to flee with her to higher ground. Unfortunately he loses hold of his daughter and soon she is attacked by the monster and is taken away by the beast (presumably killed). Meanwhile Kang-du and his immediate family (his father, brother and sister) are quarantined by the military. A hysteria occurs and the media feeds the public misinformation that the monster is spreading a deadly virus. Kang-du was the only survivor to have gotten in contact with the monster and doctors now fear that he may be carrying a deadly virus.
During his quarantine in the hospital, he receives a phone call on his cell phone from his daughter screaming for help. Nobody at the hospital believes that he did receive that phone call or that she is alive, except for his family. The family members manages to escape the hospital and goes back to the Han River to battle the beast one final time in an attempt to retrieve their Hyeon-Seo.
Movie Review : The Host will no doubt be the most successful film in Korean history. The film is successful on many different layers and makes for one hell of a thrill ride.
First and foremost, the director, Joon-ho Bong, should be credited with making a masterpiece in the genre of high-tech sci-fi horror movies. If you are familiar with Joon-Ho Bong’s previous films like Barking Dogs Don’t Bite (brilliant) and Memories of Murder (very good) you can get an idea for the potential for this film. The Host takes the style of Memories of Murder (the constant rain fall and absolute tension) as well as the film’s two main actors and pumps that style into a movie about a monster, not a serial killer monster as in Memories of Murder, but a mutant monster created by toxic chemicals. The film is directed in a fast paced style that will have you jumping out of your seats on more than a few occasions and during the other times have you clenching your armrests from the suspense.
Kang-ho Song who played Kang-du (the father that lost his daughter to the monster) rocked throughout this film, as he did in Memories of Murder. Kang-ho Song’s counterpart and nemesis in Memories of Murder, Hae-il Park, plays his brother in the Host and he was compelling throughout the Host as the more hot tempered of the two brothers. Bae Du-Na, who appeared in Barking Dogs Don’t Bite, sadly isn’t given as much screen time as the male leads, but she could stand against a wall as a wallflower for 10 minutes in a film and I would be impressed, so no complaints about her role.
The high tech wizardry involved in creating the monster from the Han River was absolutely impressive and as good as anything I have seen from Hollywood. Obviously on the most basic level, the Host is an impressive sci-fi film in the summer blockbuster variety, but note that the heroes in this film are not super soldiers or the military with their high tech weapons. The heroes were ordinary people, battling to save the life of one of their family members from a beast that was ultimately created by the military.
One small complaint about the film, would be the manner in which the other villain, besides the monster, was portrayed. Not quite as blatant as the film Handbando and its negative portrayal of the Japanese, but the portrayal of the U.S. Government was done in such a simpleton manner that it actually detracted from the points the director tried to bring up. An example being the evil U.S. scientist, with his cliched character, that seemed out of place compared with the other qualities of the film. Even though the chemical pollution was based on an actual event, the utterly evil scientist made it harder to fathom that it was based on a real occurance. Besides that, the Host will have you sitting on the edge of your seat for its 2 hour run time and you should definitely check it out at the first opportunity. Start your timers and place your wagers on when this film will be remade by Hollywood.
Cast:
Kang-ho Song – Park Gang-Du
Hie-bong Byeon – Park Hie-bong
Hae-il Park – Park Nam-il
Ah-sung Ko – Park Hyun-seo
Du-na Bae – Park Nam-JooDavid Joseph Anselmo – Donald
Paul Lazar
Clinton Morgan – Agent Yellow
Dal-su Oh – Voice of the monster
No-shik Park
Brian Rhee – Young Korean Doctor (as Brian Lee)
Scott Wilson
Pil-Sung Yim
![[del.icio.us]](http://images.del.icio.us/static/img/delicious.small.gif){kind=small}
2006 Movie Reviews, Korean Movies, Movie Reviews, Movies |
Comments
21 Comments so far
yeaH i agree with daz, jimmy is just another stupid piece of shit that movie was real good i liked the part when the guy threw the beer bottles at the monster and when they all got ready to find their missing family member i thought that was sweet. anyways i liked it alot espcially the part when the girl shot it with the bow and arrow
Man, you just can’t go anywhere without running into people who want to cuss each other out. Nothing more boring.
Hey Jimmy,
You bring up some good points. There has been a lot of hype behind “The Host” which I think is well deserved, but in general, a lot of hype can lessen the impact of the movie. I think maybe you were too analytical about the Host rather than just enjoying the story. I have seen all of Joon-ho Bong’s movies and love every one of them. The Host most closely resembles Memories of Murders. My personal favorite movie by him would be “Barking Dogs Don’t Bite” but its a strange dark comedy, that may not appeal to all folks.
Anyways I thought I would try to answer some of your questions :
1) Why was there no puncture wound when the main character had a needle stuck in his neck?
Not sure about this…couldnt find the moment where the needle was in his neck.
2) Why was the main character in severe quarantine sometimes but allowed to roam around the facility other times?
During times of national emergencies, chaos ensues and lapses in security can occur. (9/11 or Hurricane Katrina ?)
3) Why didn’t the monster fish the kids out of the hole with its tail?
The monster was going to “eat” the kids, thus he used his tongue to better select his hor’dourves of the day.
4) Why didn’t the monster wake up when a beer can was thrown at it and a kid ran across its back but actually does wake up when the same kid runs behind it?
Monster could have been in a deeper state of sleep and closer to consciousness when the kid ran behind it?
or alternatively
Sauropods or Stegosaurids (large dinosaurs) had an extra large spinal cord in the hip area (similar to a second brain) to more efficiently transfer sensations through their long body length. Perhaps this mutated monster did not have such a second organ and thus recieved certain sensations later than what you or I would have expected?
5) Why couldn’t the Korean military hunt this thing down when entire misfit family could individually?
Possibly a social statement by the director?
6)Why use formaldehyde as the chemical? It is a toxin but should not cause mutations. It causes cancer but so does smoking. Why not just dump a truck load of cigarettes into the river?
The opening scene – with the dumping of formaldehyde – was based off an actual real life event.
“Albert McFarland, a 58-year-old civilian employee of the U.S. military command, was accused of ordering the dumping of 24 gallons of formaldehyde, a toxic chemical, into the Han River, a main source of drinking water for 12 million people in Seoul, the capital, early last year.”
link here
7) Where did the homeless guy at the end come from and where did he get all of that booze?
The homeless guy seemed to live under the bridge near the han river. The booze (Soju) is extremely inexpensive in Korea (about $2 a bottle) and its not uncommon for people to have large quantities of the drink (even the homeless).
8) Why didn’t the monster’s mouth light of fire since the bum poured gas all over the monster’s face and mouth?
Whatever kind of saliva the monster had in his mouth could have killed off any types of flames.
Jimmy shut the fuck up you emo soundin motherfucker the whole point in a movie is for pure enjoyment not 2 challenge the the majorly intelligent you should take life a little less serious. This film blew me away, goo sfx, good everyfin cant complain
Where can I find the subtitles?…
I wanted to slit my wrist during this movie. The initial scene with the giant tadpole was great but unfortunately the movie fell apart after that. I must have watch a copy with poor subtitles because the dialogue was weak. Maybe there were many key points that were lost in translation. I didn’t twitch during the movie even though I was watching it on a 50 inch lcd with the volume cranked. I found that I laughed and rolled my eyes quite a bit. There were many many many continuity errors like many other asian movies. Many of the scenes left me wonder, “WHY?” Why did the director have this scene. What is the significance? This movie left me with other questions.
1) Why was there no puncture wound when the main character had a needle stuck in his neck?
2) Why was the main character in severe quarantine sometimes but allowed to roam around the facility other times?
3) Why didn’t the monster fish the kids out of the hole with its tail?
4) Why didn’t the monster wake up when a beer can was thrown at it and a kid ran across its back but actually does wake up when the same kid runs behind it?
5) Why couldn’t the Korean military hunt this thing down when entire misfit family could individually?
6)Why use formaldehyde as the chemical? It is a toxin but should not cause mutations. It causes cancer but so does smoking. Why not just dump a truck load of cigarettes into the river?
7) Where did the homeless guy at the end come from and where did he get all of that booze?
8) Why didn’t the monster’s mouth light of fire since the bum poured gas all over the monster’s face and mouth?
I guess I couldn’t enjoy this movie because I felt that it cheated my intelligence. Maybe I was disappointed because of all of the hype about this movie. I haven’t seen the director’s other movies but this one hardly suggest that he is even close to being a genius.
hi, I’ve just seen the movie and I think is very good. At the end, as the cast scrolls, I heard a beautiful music. I want to ask you, if this music appears on the CD soundtrack or not. The soundtrack is composed by Byeongwoo Lee and I want to know if the music form the end titles is included on this CD. please help…
thank you, augustin
I was late to this party, but damn, I’m glad I showed! I was expecting some fun, no brain b-movie cheese ala Yongarry, but instead I found a really inspired monster flick with a great focus on the human element! Not your run of the mill giant creature movie!! A somewhat “believable” monster, above average cgi, and great acting performances abound. A few tiny misteps with the cliched evil US scientist, and a soundtrack that occasionally draws away from the tension, but overall one of the best giant monster flicks since 1999’s Gamera 3: The Awakening of Iris! Bravo!
Yes, one of the most impressive movies i have ever seen! The opening sequence(s) was one of the best among all the sci-fi’s i have seen – There are a few complaints though, where the film loses its pace due to unnecessary antics like drilling a hole in the father’s head (no one can run out of a hospital after something like that) but has been a very satisfying experience overall. I have a BIG fan of korean movies and movies like The Host (and of course, Joint Security Area, My Sassy Girl etc etc) prove that they are in a different league of their own :-) Hats off !!
Cool…I hope it gets some press stateside when it is released and hopefully people will check it out. I think some people find subtitles scary…don’t know why. Btw…the Host did become the top seller of tickets in Korea in early September.
well i just did about 30 seconds of research and found a US release date for january 26, 2007 :D
ok ki, i did see gwoemul a couple of months back, and really enjoyed it, especially a few scenes of subtle humor (the american guy on the riverbank, dashing off to ‘help those people!’ while his korean girlfriend hangs onto his arm and fusses at him. also, the way hyun-seo eats the kimbap was very cute).
d’you know when we can see this in the US? there have been rumors of release but nothing certain.
I saw this movie at the TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival), and lets just say this was the most amazing movie i have ever seen!! The acters did an amazing job playing the different roles of the character! After the movie, their was a Q&A which the directer was there to explain the background and idea’s of the movie!! it was an amazing experience! (I was korean myself so i understood the movie!
hahaa i might be watching the movie tonight .. i hope it`s good . i`m korean so i don`t think it`ll be too hard to understand =P
Korean …thanks for pointing that fact out. I checked some sources and it seems Bong Jun Ho helped with the screenplay but did not actually direct Antartic Journal. Makes more sense now as well, since it didnt seem up to par with Barking Dogs Don’t Bite and Memories of Murder. Thanks!
good review. “Antarctic Journal ” is not Bong Jun ho’s film. as you watched the film, the mobile company worker who betrayed Park Hae-il was the director of that film – Antarctic Journal. He’s one of close friends of Director Bong Jun-ho, I heard.
Katie-San even without subtitles I think you will really enjoy the film. In the beginning when the chemicals were dumped, they spoke in English and when the doctors examined Kang-du they spoke in English as well. From there, it is a whole lot of chasing and being chased so you should be able to follow along with the action. Not many scenes with people sitting around and just talking. I would read the plot synopsis from the review above before you go, so you will know a bit about how the story progresses. Only thing you might get confused about, without subtitles, is the background of Kang-du. His wife left him immediately after she gave birth to their only child (the girl that was captured by the monster). He is kind of goofy and air-headed, thats why his brother and sister are so harsh on him. Lemme know what you think if you do check it out.
*Also no zombies in the film, just a big bad ass monster that looks a bit like the creatures in Aliens on steroids.
how would you say the movie is overall, if watched without english subtitles? easy to follow?
i may check it out this month, although my korean is ‘very not good.’ i do know that mul= water. and chom-bi = zombie. any zombies in the film?
Very awesome. I wasn’t sure if you lived in Korea or not. I’m going to see it at the Toronto International Film Festival in September and really cannot wait. This just fueled my anticipation. :)
The Host is being released in theatres today (July 27th) in Korea so the DVD won’t be available until, maybe, the Christmas season. The movie is really impressive throughout so whenever you get the chance would recommend you watch it as well. I talked my way into seeing a preview screening of the Host :)
Wow… how did you see this film? Is it on DVD?