Souls - DVD

Content: In a not too distant future, Earth seems to have become an ideal place to live. People are peaceful, there is no crime, no pollution, no wars. But the beautiful appearance is deceptive, because the people are in fact extraterrestrial beings who have taken the bodies of humans as hosts. Only a few have managed to hide from the so-called souls. One of them is Melanie Stryder (Saoirse Ronan), who lives an almost idyllic life with her boyfriend Jared (Max Irons) and her eleven-year-old brother Jamie (Chandler Canterbury) until she is discovered and captured by a Seeker (Diane Kruger). But when she is implanted with a soul named Wanderer, Melanie's consciousness manages to keep from being completely erased. Although the Seeker does everything she can to use Wanderer to gain access to Melanie's memories and thus information about the whereabouts of Jared and Jamie, Melanie succeeds more and more in drawing Wanderer to her side. She even manages to convince the soul to escape, which eventually leads her to a group of surviving humans that includes her brother, Jared, and her uncle Jeb (William Hurt). But Jared in particular doesn't trust Wanderer, convinced that there's nothing left of his Melanie but her body. But Wanderer, who everyone here just calls Wanda, slowly manages to gain the trust of the others - unaware that the Seeker has long since nipped at her heels and is on the verge of locating the human camp...

That a success like the Twilight saga cannot be repeated so easily, Stephenie Meyer had to realize with her follow-up novel Souls. Although the novel can be called a bestseller, it did not come close to the sales figures of the Bis(s) books. This story has everything that young fantasy readers should like: suspense, a not uninteresting basic idea and a romantic love triangle with a special twist. And with all these ingredients, the book is of course also perfectly suited for a film adaptation suitable for the target group.

With Andrew Niccol, a director was found who, at least since Gattaca, is very familiar with unusual visions of the future. And also the casting of the leading role with the Oscar-nominated Saoirse Ronan lets hope for good things. Since Niccol's screenplay closely follows the novel, fans of the book should also get their money's worth, even if of course some significant cuts within the story must be accepted. Those who don't know the original, however, will find it rather difficult to come to terms with some aspects.

The most problematic aspect is the dialogues that Melanie and Wanda have with each other. What can work in the book does seem a bit silly in the movie version. Especially since the dialogues are not necessarily the film's greatest strength. Especially towards the end the whole thing degenerates into a scene that was supposed to be the emotional climax of the movie, but unfortunately comes across as rather unintentionally funny. Niccol has delivered much better in the past.

But the film also has its good points. The effects are convincing and the visuals are overall very engaging. Especially in the caves where people hide from the seekers, some very nice looking ideas enhance the action in a positive way. And also the pacing of the production knows how to convince. Despite some somewhat sluggish dialogue scenes, it never really gets boring in the course of the more than two hours of running time. And also the actors do a really decent job in the face of the rather weak script, especially Saoirse Ronan and the ever-reliable William Hurt.

Whoever already had a problem with the Twilight movies will probably have a hard time with Souls. But if you love Stephenie Meyer's books in general and this one in particular, you'll be enchanted by the movie adaptation as well. Worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: Since the contrasts in the bright scenes sometimes seem a bit exaggerated, the picture here and there seems a bit garish. Otherwise, however, the visual realization with a coherent color scheme and a good to very good detail sharpness leaves a consistently positive impression. The audio features some very accomplished surround effects, which seem a bit more powerful on the DTS mix than on the Dolby Digital 5.1 mix, which is also very lively. Good!

Extras: In addition to an unfortunately unsubtitled audio commentary by director Andrew Niccol, producer Nick Wechsler and writer Stephenie Meyer, the DVD has a very short making of (approx. 7 mins) and even shorter removed scenes (approx. 2 mins) to offer, as well as the trailer and more programme tips. Especially compared to the always lushly equipped Twilight DVDs, the additional offer is extremely meager.

Conclusion: Souls is quite successful for fans of the novel template. For those unfamiliar with the book, some aspects of the story simply seem too superficial, which in turn means that other minor flaws in the production become more noticeable. The dialogues are also almost unintentionally funny, especially towards the end. Nevertheless, even if more could have been expected from director Andrew Niccol (Gataca, In Time), Souls is by far not as bad as its reputation. The DVD is technically well done, only the bonus material is rather meager. For Stephenie Meyer fans it is still enough for a: Recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp