Twilight: The Movie
Last night was a wicked ride... and after some rumination, I'm ready to illuminate.
I'll break it down into sections, because this is very important. We'll start with Character development/acting.
Bella- This is the most important one because she's our queen of sorts. The one who obtained the affection of our favorite leading men (yes both Edward and Jacob). I have to say that once I was in there and we were following her around, I realized that Bella wasn't very important to me. Remember this is my opinion, but she wasn't important-- the actress or the acting. As a reader of the books, I knew what she was supposed to be feeling, so whether or not Kristen Stewart's face and actions mirrored them or not, I probably plugged them in. It's an unfortunate thing to realize, but it could have been any girl in there... and I still would have been completely focused on the relationship development and the way the story developed. The only part that I was really uncomfortable with as far as Ms. Stewart goes, was her writhing in the floor. Maybe it was just the uncomfortablness of it all... but it just screamed overacting to me.
Edward- Not so with our king. I think I knew Robert Pattinson would do a good job with Edward. He didn't disappoint me either. There were only a few spots where his performance was a little sketchy. The first day in the classroom... I was not particularly happy with his performance... especially in the shot where he is blantantly STARTING at Bella. But otherwise... I was impressed. I'd stop the world and melt with him.
The Cullens- One word: underdeveloped. Even after talking to a few people I still maintain that they were underdeveloped. Little nuances that were lost when the script chopped up the story. The screenwriter didn't realize when she was taking away things like the lunchroom talks, she was taking away Rosalie's reaction. When she cut down Bella's visit to Edward's house she was taking away a chance to meet Carlilse and Esme in the truest sense and essentail Jasper and Alice time. Just underdeveloped all the way.
School Friends- I was pleasantly surprised. Despite the silliness conveyed by our resident Mike Newton, most of Bella and Edward's classmates were spot on.. and maybe even a little more real because of the life the actors breathed into what had once been paper thin one dimensional to me in the books.
Charlie- Loved him. His rapport with Bella was surprisingly accurate and what little we saw of him, I felt was positive.
Jacob and Billy Black- Both were so underdeveloped that neither is worth mentioning much, except to say that I believe Taylor Lautner will be a dynamic Jacob with the right direction.
James, Victoria and Laurent- They were the baddies that they needed to be. James espcially was played well.
Next is well... everything else I can think of to critique. lol.
Cinematography- I'm not a fan. The shots were somewhat obscure and yes, while the relationship is obscure and maybe they were trying to capture that, they overdid it on some of the close up shots.
Scripting- Hit or miss. I respect that they would have had a five hour movie on their hands if they'd left everything in, but as I said up in the cullens section, they took out things that are vital to opening character development. And while everyone will argue with me about the character development point (because I come to this movie with a thorough knowledge of most of the characters via four books) I still maintain that the basest of development could have been taken care of with just a few tweaks here and there.
Vampiric factors- I could sit here complaining about things like the awkwardness of the "forest running" or the poor representation of Edward's fast abilities, but I choose to, instead focus on something that the movie almost completely ignored. Their gifts. Yes, I realize that there was some talk of Edward's mind reading and apparently Edward had let Bella in on Alice's mind reading. But Jasper's gift was completely left in the dust and all of the Cullens other strengths were left to the wayside. It was something that could have been fixed by that simple lunch scene. I think that's what bugs me the most is that they didn't see that one scene would have fixed a multitude of details that would have enriched the film.
The Sparkle- This was by far one of my favorite features of the entire movie and one of the ones I most feared. Too much CGI animation and Edward could have looked... REALLY manufactured. But he didn't. He looked amazing to me. And my favorite part of the movie by far was when that shaft of light shined over his face and illuminated his skin while they were lying there. He looked so alien. So tortured. So beautiful. If there was one frame that completely exhibited Edward in the movie, it was that one to me.
At this moment, I can't think of anything else that's really comment worthy, one way or the other. Feel free to ask my opinion if I didn't cover something.
Overall, I left the theater in a contemplative brood, mostly because while it captured some of the essense of Twilight, if they had added just fifteen or twenty minutes more, it would have made a world of difference. I will go back and see it again next week while I'm on Thanksgiving vacation because I need to see it more than once to really be able to analyze it. (haha, like I didn't do enough analyzing right here.)
I give it three stars, just because the woman in me will always be overjoyed to see that clean shaven Rob Pattinson on the big screen. The boy has the essential Edward and hey... maybe that's the point.