The Host

First Hit:  Well intentioned and not well crafted or executed.

The idea that an alien life form could use our bodies as a host and use them with less anger, violence, and angst is interesting.

The idea of what happens to the person whom had the body prior to being inhabited is thought provoking. Would our violent nature fight against the intrusion?

Would humans see the wisdom of the species taking over their body, or just see the quiet nature and simple robotic way of being as a way to kill our spirit? Or would humans know they are inhabited? All interesting questions and not explored very well in this film.

There were moments where Melanie / Wanderer / Wanda (Saoirse Ronan) who was a human holdout (as Melanie), captured and given new soul (Wanderer / Wanda). The two spirits (Melanie/Wanda) live inside Melanie’s body. She is hated by her former human boyfriend and other humans in a colony headed by Jeb (William Hurt). The souls outnumber the humans but the audience is pushed by the story and director to take sides that the humans are the righteous beings in the universe.

To me the film had a strong possibility to really explore some interesting questions, but only Ronan and Hurt gave the possibility of this interesting story a chance to live in this film. Hurt was hampered by his role as head of the human holdouts and therefore had to have a more human slant. Ronan, however, was able to bring a level of sensitivity to her role and the moment that the camera was about 6 inches above her face as she lay down on the operating table, the tenderness of her human and invader presence was truly felt. She held the film together.

Ronan was the best part of this whole film and it only worked because of her. Diane Kruger as The Seeker, the person charged with converting Melanie from human to Wanderer was very good as her own internal fight with her human aspect became clear as the film progressed. Hurt was fun to see and enjoyable to watch. His natural air of authority rang true. Andrew Niccol wrote the screenplay, playing on human emotions to protect our ways and essence, was a little naïve. It would have been interesting to explore a human getting to know and embrace what was good about the species we were hosting. Niccol also directed this film which showed the limitations of his ability to create a wider more interesting story.

Overall:  Liked some of the acting and the potential of the concept and this execution lacked depth.

In Time

First Hit:  The concept of this film is outstanding and the acting very good; however the film isn’t memorable.

What would you do if you knew that you only had 1 year to live?

What would society do if everyone only had 1 year to live after reaching age 25? How hard would you work to gain more time? What would it be like to always look 25 no matter how old you really are? What would you do to live longer if you could get other people’s remaining time?

These are the primary questions this film asks audience members to think about. To keep you posted on your remaining time everyone has a digital clock imbedded in their left forearm. The clock stars the day you turn 25 years old. Your remaining time is always on your arm.

Will Salas (played by Justin Timberlake) is 3 years over his 25th birthday. He lives day to day. He gets other time by working hard. He never steals or inappropriately takes anyone else’s time. Other people rob people for their time. He meets up with Henry Hamilton (played by Matthew Bomer) who is over a century old and is done with living. He wants to die.

Will saves him from being shot. While hiding out Henry gives Will all his remaining time (hundreds of years) while Will is sleeping and then goes out and commits suicide. Chasing Henry are Timekeepers, led here by Raymond Leon (played by Cillian Murphy).

The Timekeepers track people who are giving away too much of their time and also track people who pass through time zones. In this world time is the only currency and is used for everything (instead of money), people trade time for food, coffee, and bus rides. If the master planners think there are too many people alive, they raise the price of everything thereby reducing the available time for individuals.

With his new gained time, Will travels to a fancy part of the city and meets Silvia Weis (played by Amanda Seyfried) who has a very rich (time wise) father Philippe Weis (played by Vincent Kartheiser). Philippe is a controller of time in a specific geographical area and he has a lot of time. In fact he has a 1,000,000 years in a bank vault in his office. Silvia falls in love with Will and because the timekeepers are after him, he has to run and she decides to run with him, living day by day for time.

The lesson Silvia imparts to the audience is that loving someone and living fully may require her to only live each day at a time. Good films need to stay with me and have me think about them a day or two (or even weeks or months) after I see them.

This film left my memory banks within 24 hours. And even though it was a great subject, and wonderfully acted, there was something missing – real questions about the real mystery of life, like what is time (outside of a human “concept by which we measure our pain” – John Lennon)?

Timberlake was excellent and really seemed to embody the part. Bomer was good as the disillusioned guy with more time than he needs. Murphy was excellent as the driven Timekeeper who just did he job the best he could and had a difficult time changing his point of view. Kartheiser was strong as Seyfried’s father although he almost looked younger than her. Seyfried was very good as the girl who needed to wake up from her sheltered existence. Andrew Niccol wrote and directed this. He did get strong performances and the film was well put together and crisp. It just seemed to lack the depth necessary to make it memorable.

Overall: In Time was good to watch and very entertaining, but with such a meaty subject why did it fade from my mind so quickly when a film like "Margin Call" still has me thinking. If you want entertainment this is a very good film to go see.