Movie Review: Twilight
After a summer of seeing nothing but picture’s of and hearing all this hype about someone named Edward Cullen, all I could think is, “Who the hell is Edward Cullen?!” It seemed like every girl from pre-teen to soccer mom was fascinated by this character. Finally, I discovered that this mysterious Cullen character was from a currently four book series starting with “Twilight” by Stephanie Meyer. It’s been considered to be as big a series as Harry Potter. I was intrigued and bought the book but it’s just been sitting on my shelf.
So now the film version of “Twilight” as hit the box office. Every girl has been anticipating it so I got drawn in to going to see it at midnight opening night.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with the story, it’s about 16 year old Bella (Kristen Stewart) who goes to live with her father (Billy Burke) in small town Washington state. She is introduced to a strange group of “foster” children who keep to themselves, the Cullens. The five teens were adopted by Dr. Carlisle Cullen (Peter Facinelli). She is saved by Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) after almost being hit by a car and it sparks her interest because he was nowhere near her and was able to push the van away from her…curious. Her Native American friend Jacob (Taylor Lautner) tells her tales of his tribe that involve the Cullen family. (Incidentally, Jacob’s tribe is said to be “descended” from wolves…hmmm wonder what that could mean) Eventually Bella comes to the conclusion that Edward is in fact a vampire. They fall for each other and a traditional tale of forbidden love begins. By the way, Edward has a special ability of being able to read minds, all except Bella’s. Bella is welcomed by Edward’s family but soon becomes the object of the hunt for a rogue group of vamps. The chase is on and Edward and his family must risk their own safety and security to protect Bella. Edward’s sister, Alice (Ashley Greene) has the gift of foresight and sees Bella becoming a vampire, but her visions are subject to change. What ever will become of the two lovers? Will Bella die, or live forever? Da da Duhhhhh!
“Twilight” was surprisingly pretty good. It was visually shot well and was a good length. It is obvious that there are some holes in the story line, but this is not uncommon in movies adapted from novels. The writers, however, did a good job making it as seamless as possible. The acting overall was pretty good, nothing superb, but good enough. At times the dialogue was a bit repetitive and awkward, but since it was teens it was believable, but I’m not sure if that was intentional. Edward comes across as a bit of an obsessed stalker, but who can resist that?
I’m not sure if it’s because I’m a girl, or because it was a vampire movie, but something about it made me go back and see it again the following day. “Twilight” has definitely been marketed towards teen girls, but I really think you guys out there should give it a chance. I don’t have any guy friend’s who have seen it, but you may be surprised. There’s a little something for everyone. Overall, I’d say it’s worth seeing. I must say, it defiantly made me want to read the book, and am certainly looking forward to the next film.
* * * 1/2 stars
Links from Around the Web:
Categories: Movie Reviews
-
Drew
