a5c7b9f00b A race of non-corporeal, parasitic aliens who go from planet to planet looking for hosts have come to Earth and basically taken over the human race. It's believed that, once inside a body, all memories of the host human are gone. Some few free humans remain hidden from them, forming a resistance group. When an alien Seeker captures a girl named Melanie and puts a Wanderer in her body, she hopes to find out where the remaining humans are gathered, but Melanie, a strong fighter able to converse with the alien in her commandeered body, convinces the Wanderer to say nothing. Disappointed by the lack of progress (though suspecting an empathy for the human), the Seeker informs the Wanderer that she'll be removed and placed in a new host while she herself will enter Melanie. With human lives at risk, Melanie convinces Wanderer to run away and hide out with the humans, but finding them doesn't mean they'll allow an alien presence among them. Jared (Melanie's boyfriend) wants her dead, but Jeb (Melanie's uncle) wants to wait, and Ian, tasked with guarding her, finds himself siding with Jeb. As Ian begins to fall for Melanie, a strange love triangle develops, with Ian wanting Wanderer (inhabiting Melanie's body), Jared wanting Melanie (imprisoned inside her own body), and no one knowing any way to separate the two without killing both. When an unseen enemy threatens mankind by taking over their bodies and erasing their memories, Melanie will risk everything to protect the people she cares most about, proving that love can conquer all in a dangerous new world. Stephanie Meyers puts her touches on another wonderful fantasy piece, taking us into the mind of a alien, as the entity 'takes over' the body of a young girl and attempts to obtain needed mental images and thoughts from her Host's experiences, to continue her species invasion and eventual complete take over of our Earth.<br/><br/>For most of us, life is but a daily grind, where we toil , for the often mere pittance we receive for it and the difficulties many of us face as a result of that and go on about our existence trying to enjoy life and our friends and family and help others in the process; make the world a better place than we found it,- but for the heroine in this film, it's far more than just that basic survival instinct in a gritty capitalistic society we are all part of, but indeed it's become survival of the most keen and important not just for her life, but the threatened life of the entire species we call human beings.<br/><br/>Interweaved with romantic relationships, family values of the protagonists and a mostly subtle but completely fascinating sci-fi look and feel from the aliens history to their technology, we get a complete picture of a threatened planet's survival hinging on the outcome of one brave girl as she fights back for family, friends and her planet.<br/><br/>A fascinating trip through the mind of Melanie, played by Saoirse Ronan , is a study of the fight for individualism and the attempt to rely on the better nature of our beings, from aliens who through the process , themselves, must fight to ignore feelings from their host.<br/><br/>Through that entire process we see the rationalization made from Stephanie Meyers's characters from another planet, that Earths beauty with it's plentiful resources is squandered by climate issues and violence among its citizens thereby issuing the question of who really deserves to 'preside over' it.<br/><br/>A good book makes you think about your life and the choices you make as they impact other elements, and through that storyline mixed with decent sci-fi visuals we find a very entertaining adventure about who we are as a species, what we have done with what we were given and what ultimately we could face in the form of threats from places in our universe , far far away.<br/><br/>I thoroughly enjoyed this foray into alien invasion, being gripped by it and hoping right alongside the entire cast of characters, that Earth survives this battle and takes with it a growing desire to heal not only our planet, but each other in the process.<br/><br/>If you like otherworld journeys laced with psychological meaning, decent story lines, great sci-fi visuals and mixed with thoughtful solid acting, then you should not avoid this one. I read this book years ago, and completely disagreed with it being transformed into a movie…especially just one movie. If Breaking Dawn deserved 2 (mediocre) movies, then this 600 page beast did too. Better yet, I think it could have been a great miniseries on TV…but I digress. The interactions between Wanda and Melanie were portrayed horribly. In the book, they have very intense conversations with each other (in their head…no one has to talk out loud). I understand that having both "voices" be voice overs would have been confusing…so DON'T MAKE THE MOVIE! My sister and I both almost left within the first ten minutes, but out of loyalty to the book we stuck around.<br/><br/>The truck crash was the dumbest thing in the world…in the book they had pills to kill themselves if captured. Ya know, a guaranteed way to avoid being taken over. Melanie attempted suicide and she still was taken as a host. Please do not waste money on this movie like I did. Sorry if this was a lot of ranting, but I have never felt so much dislike for a movie before.<br/><br/>The reasons I gave the movie a 3 instead of a 1 are I think Uncle Jeb was portrayed well, and I liked the way they animated the souls because I was never able to really picture them in my head. Those are the only good points in my opinion.<br/><br/>**Just a hint to directors and screen writes: when two characters are about to kiss, they don't need to announce it. It can just happen. An invasion of the body snatchers is preferable to realizing that the true horror perpetrated here is not on the characters but on the audience.
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370 weeks ago