Twilight the movie

Skip this post if you haven’t watched the Twilight movie and don’t want spoilers.

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Right, so, I didn’t want to blog so soon after that last post of mine (yeah, I sometimes time my posts when I want people to read), but I just can’t resist. I finally caved and watched Twilight online. And I have to say that it’s the lousiest movie I’ve seen in a while. Oh my GOD!!! The book is miles better. I don’t remember actors’ names so I’ll call them by character. Edward is pure eye candy. His acting, except for rare moments (which I’ll talk about later), is stiff and wooden and expressionless. Bella’s trying too hard to be emo and is nowhere near the loveable klutzy girl that Meyer wrote. Carlisle was my favourite character. *tries not to gush about Carlisle here* The plot is not very well developed I think. The story moves too fast into the love story between Edward and Bella and dwells far too much on the love scenes, which weren’t even done well. A lot of the love scenes in the book were kind of intellectual, as in there was a very significant point to them. Not the kind of mindless I-kiss-you-you-kiss-me type that the movie portrayed. Similar for the school scenes. There was just not enough time to develop the characterisation and the kinds of things that go on there. The scriptwriters would have done well to stick to the original book that Meyer wrote. That’s already condensed down so much and already pure entertainment. By trying to glamourise and package the story for film, the scriptwriters seem to have lost the essence of the book and created something on their own – some superficial Hollywood kind of romance that’s done badly – there are other better romance films out there.

Let’s talk about the good bits. Like I said, Carlisle was good. Very natural kind of acting, not forced. I liked the scenes in the Cullen house, especially when they showed the Cullen family trying to cook for Bella. I think that’s my favourite. The part when Edward brought Bella to his room, he has this look like he’s not sure if she’s going to like it, that scene was nice. Love all their cars. Um… I like the bit where Charlie was cleaning his gun and Bella said that Edward’s outside and then Charlie suddenly snaps the gun to and tells her to bring him in. Yeah. I didn’t like much I think. Can’t remember. Ok, I kind of like the fight scene in the ballet studio. It was cool in a way. James was not that bad an actor but I didn’t expect him to be portrayed like that. Something in his voice seems unexpected. I like that line that the scriptwriters put in for Edward: when Bella tells him she wants some answers, he says, “Yes, no, to get to the other side, 1.77254…” which was hilarious IMO even if it was delivered in Edward’s deadpan and expressionless voice. Like I said, there were rare moments when Edward broke out of this expressionless thing he has going on. Can’t remember specific ones, but those moments were much welcome relief.

So, overall, I think I give Twilight a very low 1 out of 5 stars, unfortunately. The acting is not up to par, the plot is undeveloped and rushed and the characters are far too underdeveloped and one dimensional. It seems like just any other teenage romance film that happens that the main character is a vampire. A bit more emphasis on the fact that the main character is a vampire would have been nice. Can’t comment on the effects cos the online version I watched is not very good. I got a problem with how Edward doesn’t always look chalky white and stone carved but maybe that’s just the low resolution of this version. I will go and watch it again in cinemas, just cos I said I would. Maybe it’ll have a different effect when I watch it with people and push it up to a 2 stars rating in my book. *shrugs* Like I said, there’s nothing wrong with what’s written in the book so why not just follow it closely? There’s so much more in there in the way things are done and portrayed that give richness to the plot that got lost in translation to the big screen. I expected to be disappointed but not this badly. I think I’d still stick to the book and my imagination.

Apologies to my friends who are avid fans of the film.

~ by mezzogal on December 29, 2008.