Bong Joon-ho’s “The Host” (2006) is the movie I inform everybody they should see in the event that they need to know the way extraordinary the South Korean filmmaker’s expertise really is.
Some would say to hunt out Bong’s “Snowpiercer” (2013), a preferred favourite, or his jaw-dropping, genre-defiant Finest Image winner, “Parasite” (2019).
I think that anybody who felt let down by “Mickey 17” (together with this author) will need to revisit the work that made Bong so acclaimed within the first place.
For me, the short response has all the time been “The Host.”
It begins in 2000, with the one scene in English, with Scott Wilson enjoying an American physician instructing his lab accomplice to “pour the formaldehyde down the drain opener.” We reduce to dozens and dozens of bottles of poison taking place the drain.
Proper from the beginning, we’re in monster film territory, however the scene is as surprising because it as darkly humorous. We all know what occurs when scientists mess with nature, not to mention the Han River, however the scene can be performed for actual.
The American physician is conscious of the poison he’s about to unleash and his accomplice is horrified by the instruction, which he in the end follows. The opener is ideal – black comedy however abdomen churning.
Lower to years later, when a fisherman, noting the apparent aftereffects of the poison spreading within the water stream, witnesses a deformed tadpole swim previous him.
“What number of tails did it have?” he asks.
Once more, we snicker as a result of we all know we’re watching a monster film, however the second remains to be chilling.
Finally, we meet the Park family, an enthralling, tight knit working-class household working subsequent to the Han River. Somebody spots an enormous, weird-looking object hanging from the bridge, which dives into the water and emerges right into a crowd of individuals as a quick-footed consuming machine.
It solely takes “The Host” 11 minutes to get to the movie’s extraordinary intro to the monster, which resembles an enormous tadpole crossed with a mountain lion. In broad daylight, the monster is someway each humorous and actually scary.
The F/X on this and each different scene is superb. By the point Bong’s movie is 20-minutes previous, it already appears like a traditional.
The preliminary assault scene is the movie’s inventive peak, because the modifying, cinematography, music, pacing and masterful use of gradual movement create a flawless set piece. I can’t suppose offhand of a monster unveiling that takes place on a sunny day the place we clearly see the risk and, as a substitute of the phantasm being apparent, the readability of element and motion are this vivid.
Along with capturing and destroying the monster, the plot turns into in regards to the seek for Hyun-seo (Ko Ah-sung), the youngest of the Park household, who turns into the monster’s prisoner. Tune Kang-ho’s efficiency as her blonde-haired, goofy and lovable father is the movie’s coronary heart and comedian aid. Additionally available within the rescue is Nam-joo (Bae Doona), the Park member of the family with Olympic-level archery abilities.
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Bong’s sensible monster film takes a second act flip that felt like paranoid sci-fi 20 years in the past however now appears like a scary look forward. Scenes of the household below quarantine and held prisoner by Hazmat swimsuit carrying captors present uneasy reminders of the Coronavirus pandemic, even because the scenes are supposed to be, on some stage, satirical and darkly comedian.
The portrayal of presidency process throughout an outbreak is chilling, at the same time as Bong is sending it up.
As in most monster motion pictures, the authority figures are the issue, whereas the heroes are the believers who’re brave sufficient to face the unthinkable. Whereas the contagion sequence goes on too lengthy, the thrilling rescue scenes are all the things you’d need.
This combo of social commentary and monster film is all the time hanging, although the wisest selection was making it a household story, because the narrative is in regards to the effort to reunite a damaged household unit.
“My motion pictures are primarily based in style, which is a common language. All people speaks it.”
– Bong Joon HoTribute posters for Bong Joon-ho’s:
Parasite (2019).
Mom (2009).
The Host (2006).
Mickey 17 (2025). #BongJoonHo pic.twitter.com/UiHMAdtlDm— Agustín R. Michel (@AgustinrMichel) March 6, 2025
I cared deeply in regards to the Park household, which not solely offers the movie its human core however characters whose unsure outcomes solely elevates the suspense. The comedy turns into madcap and is typically pressured however, contemplating the depth, all the time welcome.
“The Host” is an eco-Kaiju, like all Kaiju monster motion pictures – the subtext is environmental influence, and the devastation introduced on by a man-made creature. Whereas it could be too artsy for these anticipating a extra conventional Kaiji movie, it’s additionally the sort of movie that is aware of should you’re going to introduce archery early on, it had higher repay ultimately.
Made post-“Reminiscences of Homicide” (2003) however earlier than “Mom” (2009), “Snowpiercer” and “Okja” (2017), Bong’s “The Host” turned certainly one of South Korea’s top-grossing movies and garnered hype worldwide. I keep in mind studying about it in {a magazine} unfold that gave a glimpse of the startlingly vivid creature results.
I noticed the movie on the 2006 Denver Movie Competition at a midnight screening. I left the theater totally exhilarated (the next night time, I returned to the identical theater, the place the identical slot was given to “Pan’s Labyrinth.” It was an amazing yr for the fest).
Subsequent movies like “Cloverfield” (2008), “Pacific Rim” (2013) and “Monsters” (2010) additionally excel in increasing the expectations and human middle of Kaiji movies. “The Host” is so good that it performs like a super double characteristic with “Godzilla Minus One” (2023).
By showcasing certainly one of cinema’s biggest film monsters, the jaw-dropping spectacle of “Rodan” (1956) and the troubling allegory of “Godzilla” (1954), Bong created among the finest movies of 2006 and a monster film as shifting as it’s superior.