A callous American doctor stationed at a military facility in Seoul orders an underling to dispose of formaldehyde by pouring it down the sink, never once stopping to consider the havoc it might wreak once the toxic chemicals reach the water system. It’s on this basis of fact that Bong Joon-Ho (Memories of Murder, Parasite) begins his monster fantasy, one of the most compassionate of its kind since Bride of Frankenstein. A slow-witted narcoleptic (Song Kang-ho) who runs a convenient stand must save his family and all of Korea from a four-legged chemical dump. Come on! You don't want to see a movie that tells this story? Particularly one in which the political commentary is as bitingly applicable as the day it was released. In its own way The Host is a much sharper piece of storytelling than In the Valley of Elah, Lions for Lambs, Reign Over Me and any number of well-intentioned anti-war films released by Hollywood in 2006. Unlike his altitudinous, power line-downing Japanese counterparts over at Toho, this monster, designed by the director, descends from the rafters like a bat hanging by its prehensile tail only to hit the ground running like a good-sized bucking bronco. Nor is it a case of taking several reels for a monster to gradually reveal itself in shadowy dribs and drabs. The creature is quickly brought into the open where it spends the rest of the picture hiding in broad daylight. If Hollywood studios took a lesson from this picture, oh how much happier action film fans (and critics) would be. (2006) — Scott Marks
This movie is not currently in theaters.