Originally Posted 2018. 12. 19
The Host (괴물) is a 2006 South korean monster film directed by Bong Joon-ho and starring Song Kang-ho, Byun Hee-bong, Park Hae-il, Bae-Doona and Go Ah-sung. The film concerns a monster kidnapping a man’s daughter, and his attempts to rescue her. The director got his inspiration from a local news article about a deformed fish with an S-shaped spine caught in the Han River.
All about the movie!
In the year 2000, Scott Wilson, an American military pathologist, orders his Korean assistant to dump 200 bottles of formaldehyde down a drain that leads into the Han River. For the next several years, sightings of a strange creature in the waterway are reported. Also, the fish in the river kept dying.
In 2006, a retarded man named Park Gang-du is running a small snack-bar in a park near the Han River with his father, Hee-bong.
While Gang-du is midst in his way on his food delivery, a huge creature emerges from the Han River and attacks the nearby people. The creature snathces Gang-du’s daughter, Hyun-seo with its tail and dives back into the river.
The government announces that the creature is the host of a deadly virus. The American military arrive and quarantine those who had contact with the creature, including Gang-du and his family.
Gang-du receives a phone call from Hyun-seo; she explains that she is trapped somewhere in the sewers with the creature. Gang-du tries to explain the situation to the people in the hospital, but gets ignored. He and his family escape from the hospital and prepares for battle.
The family encounter the creature, but Hee-bong gets killed buying time for his children to escape. Gang-du is captured by the Army. Na,-il and Nam-joo escape, but are separated from each other.
Meanwhile, two homeless boys get swallowed by the creature. Only one of the boys, Se-Joo survives, and gets helped by Hyun-seo into a hiding spot that the creature cannot reach.
Gang-du, captured, overhears an American scientist saying that there is no virus. The whole virus issue is a made up story to distract people from the creature’s origin. The scientists tries to lobotomize Gang-du, but he manages to escape by taking one of the nurses hostage.
Back in the sewers, Hyun-seo and Se-joo makes a rope from old clothing and uses it to escape from the hole. She soon realizes that the creature was pretending that it was sleeping to lure the two out of their hiding spots. The two are swallowed by the creature.
The government announces the plan to release a chemical called Agent Yellow into the river and its surrounding are in order to kill the creature. Gang-du sees Hyun-seo’s arm hanging out of the creature’s mouth and chases after it. The Agent Yellow is released and stuns the creature. Gang-du pulls Hyun-seo out of its mouth, only to discover her dead, still protecting Se-Joo. Gang-du is enraged, and attacks the creature. With the help of the other family members, they kill the creature for good.
Gang-du adopts Se-joo, and the two live in his food stand.
[Photo from: liveen]
My thoughts!
The Host is not only a monster film, but is also an environmental disaster film due to the origin of the creature. The movie also portrays elements of satire, especially towards the American military. There are metaphors and political commentary about the U.S., such as Agent Yellow referencing to Agent Orange.
The special effects in this film is, to me, decent considering the film’s age.
The scene where Hee-bong accepts his death in front of the charging creature after realizing that his gun is malfunctioning is memorable to this day. The emotions in his eyes when he turns to his children and waves his hand, signaling them to run away as he gets killed by the creature is without a doubt splendid acting. The reaction of Gang-du of his father dying in front of his eyes makes the scene even better.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Host_(2006_film)
[Photo from: Hankyung]
Ichigo-ichie 