Presents

The Host

  If you're a fan of Godzilla, and, let's face it, who isn't?  Then you've probably already heard of The Host, an excellent Korean movie that what I'm describing as a more realistic Godzilla movie.  Now, if you're thinking, 'oh great, a giant monster movie with a guy in a rubber suit, no thanks!', then you're thinking the wrong way here. Here's the story: When the American government dumps toxic chemicals in the Han river (that runs through Seoul, Korea), it causes fish to mutate.  Now, at first, we see two fishermen grabbing the mutant in a small mug, but, later on it gets bigger!  The real story here is about one family, the Park family, they run a small grocery store on the banks of the Han river, when the monster comes to the surface and begins grabbing people, it grabs the youngest member of the family, Hyun-seo.  Now, after the family escapes the government enforced quarantine, they're out to find their missing child and get a little revenge on the monster that took her.

Now, that's a pretty simple explanation for the movie, there's so much more going on here.  There's the who government involvement aspect of the movie, first they cause the problem, then their solution to the problem seems much worse than the actual problem.  Then there's the family story here, this movie is really not a monster movie as much as it's a movie about the Park family and what extremes they (and any family really) will go to to help one of their own.  Or perhaps you're more about the redemption aspect, with Hyun-seo's father, Gang-du, who the family considers a bit of a dim-wit, stepping up to save his daughter's life, by whatever means necessary!

The Host is so much more than a monster movie that it's scary...get it....monster movie...scary?  (Fine, you make the jokes then!)  I'm giving The Host four out of four cigars, because it's not just a monster movie, which appears to be from the DVD cover, it's more of a monster drama...and a damn fine one at that!  So, until next time, when I'll dump some chemicals into my local stream in the hopes that something will mutate, come to shore and devastate my neighborhood...just for fun, remember that the best movies are bad movies!