Movie Review

Big Geek recently got me into reading the "Twilight" series, so of course I wanted to go see the movie. We went to see it today and I could not wait to review it. I feel that I have enough background to really sink my teeth into a detailed review of this highly anticipated movie rendition of a book. Brace yourselves, I get into it a bit here...

First, a quick synopsis for those of you not familiar with the books and story. Please don't believe from the media that this story is "So different from anything that has ever been done" because that is crap. Look, it's the story of a girl who moves to Washington State to live with her father and she falls for the Vampire Hottie at school which of course puts her in harm's way and ultimately he must save her. This is nothing different than most vampire stories including "The Lost Boys", "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" or even the recent "True Blood". The thing that struck me and makes me hungry to read more is Edward Cullen. He and his family are interesting and tho her writing suffers in conversations between characters the author's explaination of the Cullen Vampire clan is well thought out and explained.

Cinematography. Directing photography on the northwest coast of Washington State should not be so difficult. I really felt like they tried WAY too hard to capture that "money Shot" and in the meantime could have let the beautiful surroundings of Washington tell the story on it's own terms. The cinematography was forced and mixed gritty with quirky in a bizarre way that did not work. This was confusing as a viewer because imagry and feel was so jumpy and at odds with each other.

Writing. I know that they took from the book, which to be honest, was not well written either, but seriously! The script was also missing some scenes that were important and they changed scenes by altering the motivation for them or what actually happened, when it would have been fine if they followed the book. Those who went to see the movie without reading the book were probably confounded and wondering what they had missed.

Casting. Eric, a boy who has a crush on Bella in the book is now played by a gay boy who would more likely be chasing after Edward than Bella. Jacob should have been more masculine and hotter...considering what happens in the series with his character. The actor who played Mike was great, but the Jessica character was overboard and obnoxious. They left out other chracters from the book that would have helped along the story a bit. We didn't see enough of the Cullens, but what we did see was promising and accurate. The actor who played Esme was right on for me looks wise, although I thought Esme was blonde in the book. She played the gentle nature of the mother figure wonderfully.

Acting. It was as if very few of the actors knew what the story was or what movie they were making. I have to say I was not impressed when I first saw Robert Patterson was cast as Edward, HOWEVER I was incredibly impressed with his portrayal. He did the best he could with the lines and the blocking he was given. He is a decent actor, and VERY easy on the eyes, something I had remembered from his short role in "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" a few years back.
Kristen Stewart was flat, she looks like Bella might have, but she is not consistant and I could see parts of her own real life personality showing through...at least the spoiled bitch I had seen in interviews recently anyway. Jasper looked more scared than restrained and it was silly to me (hence my giggles whenever he came on screen), but in his defense they really didn't give him much to work with.

Stunts. I was interested in how they would pull off Edward running with Bella on his back thru the woods of Washington, or how the vampire fights would go. It was silly and snicker inducing for me. Perhaps if they had excluded the wide-shots and focused on the the characters with the blurry background explaining the hard to capture action.

Music. A few of the contemporary songs used were good but I was disappointed at the orchestral (and I use that term lightly) music. Music is so important at setting mood and it was poorly done here. I can honestly say I cringed a few times as I heard music swell or flutter along the background that was disjointed from what was actually going on in the scene. A wonderful opportunity to create some exciting and beautiful music was lost here.

This movie is evidence that most books should be left in the reader's imagination and never be placed on the silver screen, especially when they missed so many opportunities to make it work. Unfortunately even sweet Edward himself couldn't carry this movie on his own and I left the theater with a sour taste in my mouth.