Vampire flick rubs ‘Twilight’ fan the wrong way
Few movies have translated into successful movie adaptations. “Fight Club.” “Atonement.” The “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.
“Twilight,” the 2005 bestseller by Stephenie Meyer, won’t be joining that list.
Photo courtesy of www.movieweb.com
Fans of the book series will find themselves disappointed when a lack of plot and character development drags the movie down. Even the sight of Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix”) can’t bring redemption.
Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart, “Into the Wild”) moves from sunny Phoenix to gloomy Forks, Wash. after her mother remarries.
Other students welcome her into their group. But instead of embracing her newfound popularity, she focuses her attention on Edward, a devastatingly handsome boy who acts oddly whenever she’s around.
After getting off to a rocky start, the two fall in love despite Edward’s dark secret. As a vampire, he feeds on blood – it’s hard for him to resist making Bella his next meal.
Lucky for Bella, Edward is a part of a family of “vegetarians” who only feed on animal blood. But when another band of vampires comes to play, chaos ensues and Bella’s life is in danger.
Melissa Rosenberg’s screenplay aims to please fans. She includes favorite quotes (“You’re my brand of heroin”) and remains true to the essence of Meyer’s story.
But key explanations and parts of the books are left out or rushed. The audience never learns more than a surface explanation about Edward’s family. The meadow scene, which Meyer has said inspired her to write the novel, is glossed over in a montage.
As the heroine in distress, Stewart’s portrayal lacks emotion – she often appears bored, especially with Edward.
In the forest scene where she tells Edward she has figured out his secret, she says, “I’d rather die than stay away from you.”
But those are only words. Nothing else in her demeanor implies that they’re fact.
Pattinson’s Edward is pretty to look at, if not the statuesque picture that thousands of teenage girls imagined when they first read about him. And while better than Stewart, he still fails to convey one key point – he is supposedly struggling to not kill the girl he loves. Rather than gripping the audience by the atrium, he ends up being more comical to look at than heartbreaking.
Yet despite dull performances from the two lead actors, they have moments where their tormented passion shines through and the audience still wants them to find a way to be together.
The direction of the movie by Catherine Hardwicke has its hits and misses. With beautiful panning shots of the forests and gray tones to the film, the audience gets a feel for the setting.
But Hardwicke fails in developing a sense for the vampires’ strengths. Save for the only fight scene of the movie, most of their movements and attacks feel like scenes out of a bad horror movie.
The movie falls short of the high expectations so many had, like several book-to-move adaptations before it. With a sequel already planned, one can only hope that “Twilight” fans will still embrace it after a mediocre first draft.
‘Twilight’
Release Date: November 21
Director: Catherine Hardwicke
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Cam Gigandet
Genre: Romance, Drama, Thriller
Rating: PG-13 for some violence and a scene of sensuality.
Grade: C-
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on Tuesday, November 25th, 2008 at 12:50 am and is filed under Arts & Entertainment, Film Reviews, Vibe.
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