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 well-liked favourite, or his jaw-dropping, genre-defiant Greatest 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 fast response has at all times been “The Host.”
It begins in 2000, with the one scene in English, with Scott Wilson enjoying an American physician instructing his lab companion 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 also be performed for actual.
The American physician is conscious of the poison he’s about to unleash and his companion is horrified by the instruction, which he in the end follows. The opener is ideal – black comedy however abdomen churning.
Reduce 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 giggle as a result of we all know we’re watching a monster film, however the second remains to be chilling.
Ultimately, we meet the Park family, a captivating, 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 one way or the other 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 seems like a basic.
The preliminary assault scene is the movie’s inventive peak, because the enhancing, 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 concerning the seek for Hyun-seo (Ko Ah-sung), the youngest of the Park household, who turns into the monster’s prisoner. Track Kang-ho’s efficiency as her blonde-haired, goofy and lovable father is the movie’s coronary heart and comedian reduction. Additionally readily 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 seems like a scary look forward. Scenes of the household underneath 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 degree, satirical and darkly comedian.
The portrayal of presidency process throughout an outbreak is chilling, whilst Bong is sending it up.
As in most monster films, 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 the whole lot you’d need.
This combo of social commentary and monster film is at all times putting, although the wisest selection was making it a household story, because the narrative is concerning the effort to reunite a damaged household unit.
“My films are based mostly 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 concerning 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 usually compelled however, contemplating the depth, at all times welcome.
“The Host” is an eco-Kaiju, like all Kaiju monster films – 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 type of movie that is aware of if you happen to’re going to introduce archery early on, it had higher repay in the long run.
Made post-“Reminiscences of Homicide” (2003) however earlier than “Mom” (2009), “Snowpiercer” and “Okja” (2017), Bong’s “The Host” grew to become one among South Korea’s top-grossing movies and garnered hype worldwide. I bear 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 perfect double characteristic with “Godzilla Minus One” (2023).
By showcasing one among cinema’s best film monsters, the jaw-dropping spectacle of “Rodan” (1956) and the troubling allegory of “Godzilla” (1954), Bong created probably the greatest movies of 2006 and a monster film as transferring as it’s superior.
