It’s a beautiful thing when a fractal image and a post mesh so perfectly. Today is one of those cases because this review is going to cause a huge storm with Twilight fans. (If you haven’t guessed the image is called Twilight Storm).-
As I grow older it seems I get farther and farther away from what’s “hip” and “happening”. I had no idea that Twilight even existed much less was a literary phenomenon on par with the “Harry Potter” novels until last Labor Day Weekend when my sister-in-law Wendy Pyle clued me in. Of course, by then the author was on book Number Four (with many more to come I‘m sure) so I’m not about to get on the bandwagon at this late date.
The movie made from the first book debuted on November 21 (and made seven million dollars at the midnight show alone). Robyn and I saw it in a ¾ full theater Sunday afternoon and we helped the movie rake in over 78 million dollars.
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Here’s my review…
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You don’t have to read the book to know what’s happening in Twilight. In fact, a viewer who is remotely aware can pretty much figure out what will happen from the first snippet of dialog so I won’t bore you with much of a plot summary. In short, new outsider (girl) meets bad boy (vampire) falls, in love and gets in trouble with badder boys (also vampires). It stars a bunch of actors I’d never heard of (with the exception of Peter Facinelli--mainly because he’s married to Jenny Garth (who was on Dancing With The Stars a few seasons ago).
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I could have gotten past a familiar (dare I say derivative?) plot if I’d liked the characters better. Lead actress Kristen Stewart plays Bella as just this side of clinically depressed. Pretty boy Robert Pattinson (who‘s biggest role was Cedric Diggory in the fourth “Harry Potter“ movie) is all over the emotional map as Edward Cullen a “vegetarian” vampire. (He also wears more makeup than the female lead and just about everyone in the cast) At least the “normal” kids as Bella’s high school are portrayed in a realistic manner (although I find myself wondering why everyone was so interested in a girl who hardly seems interested in them). The rest of Edward’s “family” are barely drawn and the bad guys get even less back-story. (Here’s where reading the book probably would have helped me.) The movie is shot through a blue filter and a lot of time the action moves with glacial slowness and everyoe seems to be generally "down". The few action sequences sprinkled through the movie don’t have much better special effects than you’d find on a good television show.
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Still, fairness requires me to be completely honest. Obviously, I’m not the desired demographic for Twilight so it would have been a real surprise if I’d enjoyed it. Robyn liked the movie better than I did (but she had some problems with
Twilight as well.) Still, there were a lot of black-clad teen and tween girls (and Moms of said girls) who all seemed to really enjoy the movie. (There was even a round of applause in the theater while the credits rolled) Whether you like it or not Twilight has become part of the cultural landscape so you’d better be prepared for more movies and other books/shows/movies with a similar theme. (Tomorrow I‘ll be reviewing Season One of True Blood which is an example of what I was just talking about.)
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FINAL GRADE (for Fans) A
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FINAL GRADE (for non-Fans) C+
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