This
film is so hostile to the Airbnb model, it could have been funded by the city
of New York or the state of California. Still, it probably has a point when it
suggests first-time mules should probably spring for a decent chain hotel when they
are in Amsterdam to make a drop that will clear their gambling debts. Instead,
Robert Atkinson opts for an over-booked hostel that refers him to a tony
private home with rooms for rent, leading him straight into Hell in Andy
Newbery’s The Host, which opens this
Friday in Brooklyn.
Admittedly,
Atkinson faces an unusually dire situation, but it was his own spectacularly
bad decisions that brought him so far astray. He was the one who decided to
gamble with the cash left in his London bank’s short-term safety deposit and he
is the one who lost it all and then some at a triad-controlled Casino. He
doesn’t have much choice but to accept Lau Hoi Ho’s offer-he-can’t-refuse. He
only has to schlep a locked briefcase to a prearranged exchange. Lau’s
assistant Jun Hui and his enforcer Yong will accompany Atkinson to keep him out
of trouble, but they do a terrible job of it.
First
of all, they let DEA Agent Herbert Summers turn Atkinson during the flight.
Actually, this is just fine with Jun, because she is a deep cover plant.
However, letting him let a room at Vera Tribbe’s stately townhouse is a huge
mistake. She is definitely a weird one—and dangerous. At least everyone will
have a chance at a do-over when Atkinson’s responsible family man brother Steve
comes looking for him.
This
is a strange film, starting with Derek Jacobi’s initially baffling wrap-around cameo
as the head-shrinking Dr. Hobson. However, judging from the third act
revelations, one could guess it was intended as an homage to Simon Oakland’s
brief but defining appearance in Psycho.
The Host also takes its own radical
turn, shifting from an in-over-his-head thriller to a veritable horror movie.
Newbery
does not take us on the smoothest of rides, but he embraces each audacious plot
point with relish. He also has the benefit of some colorful and distinctive
character actors to help sell it, including Jacobi, Togo Igawa as Lau (a
Japanese actor playing a Chinese gangster, but whatever), Tom Wu as the
henchman Yong, and Nigel Barber radiating silver-haired authority as Agent
Summers.
Instead
of going big, Maryam Hassouni makes Tribbe creepy in a quiet, squirrely kind of
way. Dougie Poynter and Mike Beckingham are believably Kane and Abel-ish as the
bickering Atkinson Brothers, while Suan-Li Ong playing Jun Hui shows some
potential to be an action star in the Juju Chan mold.
