Man, this rocks.

»The Host« is much better than »Renaissance« or »Death Note« (which pretty much sucked either way) or anything else I’ve watched recently. And it is of course in no way compareable to any stupid American monster-movie like the US-remake of »Godzilla« for example. I really liked that it was a drama more than a monster movie most of the time and in the parts where it was a monster movie it was just wonderful archaic one, the heroes not fighting the monster with an army and tanks but with bows, mollotows and spears.

The CGI was pretty good (except for the fire-effect), or rather – considering that it had that much screen time – it was pretty awesome. One of the very few CGI characters that really felt real (nice to compare it with Ryuk from the »Death Note«-movie which is perfectly the other extreme: the lame animation was the last straw that broke the movie’s back).

And again: I totally adore they way of South Korean movie soundtracks just like »Sympathy for Lady Vengeance« for example »The Host« has a solid yet beautiful orchestrated, melancholy soundtrack with lots of solemn string arrangements.

Now for the bad news, Universal has bought the rights for a remake. Just like every other fan of Asian cinema I so much hate them for »stealing« the good ideas and making lots of money with it instead if supporting the original by pushing it in the US with a big theatrical release. »Shall we dansu?« is such a wonderful, warmhearted Japanese movie and expcept for some freaks like me no one knows it but a lots of stupid people know the crappy remake Richard Gere with Jennifer Lopez (I had the pleasure of being forced to kinda watch it during a flight. Gross.).

Who’s in betting that they will change the ending concerning someone NOT dying in the end?

Anyway, a really good watch, I liked the characters, the story, the CGI, the music even the ending! And that did not happen to me very often in the last year.

EDIT: I don’t believe it: »The Host« is getting a German theatrical release on March, 15th. On the other hand, they announced Jet Li’s »Fearless« and Terry Gilliam’s »Tideland« for 2006 and as far as I know we are still waiting for both of them.