If I had to pick a favorite book ever, it would be The Host by Stephenie Meyer. So when it started circulating that the book was being made into a movie, I was so frickin’ excited! I was a mean person and too impatient to wait for my best friend to get the opportunity to see the movie, so I went myself. Here are my thoughts on it:
In all honesty, the movie was depressingly disappointing. I understand that it’s a long book so there’s just no way to put every little thing into the movie, which was still just over two hours long, but there were some little things missing that broke my heart to have absent. There’s also things that need to be changed from book to movie for the same purpose, but some of the changes completely altered the effect in the movie.
I will admit that I’m probably making too many comparisons to the book, but naturally it’s nearly impossible not to do so when I’m as passionate about the story as I am. In the book, the whole point is that Wanderer, the alien, learns what it means to be human, and thus chooses humanity. In the movie, Melanie, the human, tricks her into it, sometimes even literally driving her to it by taking over her own body (which isn’t something that happens in the book except under VERY specific circumstances).
Then there are the issues I have that are completely unrelated to the fact that the movie is a poor representation of the book. If I had never read the book, I would still have a problem with the plot as portrayed in the movie. I felt like there were entire scenes missing that would help explain why certain people began acting differently and what prompted a particular conversation. The editing was bad enough that it was painfully obvious when scenes were shot back to back even though they appear days apart in the movie due to little things such as their costumes.
Overall, the changes and the editing (or directing) made this movie feel very awkward and empty and left me so let down I wish it’d never been made into a movie. It had so much potential and fell horribly short :-(.
*That being said, I do own the movie and still occasionally re-watch it because I just can’t help myself.*
About Stephenie Meyer
Best known for her Twilight series, Stephenie Meyer’s four-book collection has sold over 100 million copies globally in over 50 countries, with translations in 37 different languages. In 2008, Meyer also released The Host, which debuted at #1 on The New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. Stephenie Meyer graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in English Literature. She lives in Arizona with her husband and sons.