Twilight Movie Review

Countdown to being 20: 4 months 3 days

Date: 4 January 2009

Venue: On the bed in the room


I watched Twilight!

And popular belief got the best of me and I was sorely disappointed. I kept an open mind that maybe I won't be THAT disappointed but I was. Robert Pattinson's face didn't really make up for it either. Okay...it did...but just a wee bit!

Okay...let's try to be diplomatic about this review lest I get murdered by rotten tomatoes from huge fans of THE MOVIE (note that I said the movie, not the book. Because they are separate entities and I, of all people, should accept the fact that no movie will ever be better than the book...except Fight Club. :D)

Firstly, the cinematography could have been tweaked a little to make it so much better because (as my friend had mentioned) Twilight shouldn't really have the indie movie appeal (which Catherine Hardwicke seems more at home with).

The acting was ridiculously wooden.

Yes, it's true that we can't expect what we had imagined (while reading the book) to be portrayed on the big screen but even without reading the book, we should know that VAMPIRES ARE SMOOTH! They are gliders in action, speech...well EVERYTHING really! Whereas the Cullens in the movie (apart from Carlisle. Carlisle made me fan myself) did not really portray that confidence and (dare I say) arrogance that vampires naturally possess. Although I have to admit that Rosalie (Nikki Reed, pretty lady) played out the arrogance pretty neatly. And I liked the part where she broke the bowl. That was funny.

The chemistry that was portrayed (Charlie+Bella, Edward+Bella, Emmett+Rosalie, Alice+Jasper) made me smile. That was one highlight of the whole movie. Charlie was adorable and I liked how he (Billy Burke) portrayed his character.

I was very, very disappointed by how the others portrayed their respective characters though.
To quote Bella, Edward's 'mood swings are kinda giving me whiplash'. Yes Edward is supposed to be mysterious and brooding and has trouble resisting drinking Bella's delicious blood (his brand of heroine apparently) but really! Wooden ALL THE WAY! His speech was gaited and the way he played the wrong emotions in the wrong lines kind of sucked.

Alice...I was hoping she would be bubbly and expressive and full of emotion but all seven (no I didn't count. Random guess) lines that she delivered were...to put it blandly...subdued. I didn't warm up to Ashley Greene's portrayal of the 'life of the party' Alice Cullen at all.

Bella wasn't clumsy enough. :D REALLY! She just slipped on the ice, she knocked down the apple and that was pretty much it. At least ones that I was concentrating enough on. Redemption comes in how 'human' she was. How she stumbled over her words, how annoyed she was with Edward, how she laughed at the smallest of things. And of course, her struggle in resisting Edward. It was fun to watch.

Okay now to the things that I absolutely LOVED about the movie.

Number one will ALWAYS BE the baseball scene. :D WHO DOESN'T AGREE WITH ME??!! Am I right or am I right?! That has got to be the saviour of the whole movie, I must say. Jasper's baseball bat twirling was wicked lush!



I loved that scene starting from when Alice announced that "It's time" with that secretive smile up till Victoria said "I'm the one with the wicked curveball" and after that it was..."I could do without any of THAT". Okay maybe not THAT drastic but along those lines.

Number two is definitely the ballet studio scene. I cringed when Alice looked like she was about to bite Bella's fingers off. Heh.

And what I really loved about that scene was how Bella struggled with the venom coursing through her. That felt real. That was how I imagined Bella would be. Although what put me off was Edward's reaction. Again with the woodenness!! But I still liked it.

And the scene that tickled my funny bone was when Charlie cocked the gun right before he asked Bella to bring Edward in. And of course...the drawing of the halo on top of his head. Heh. That was funny.

Okay two tiniest of tiny scenes that I lurved was when Edward and Bella exchanged the "And so the lion fell in love with the lamb" line. And I'm very obligated to enter these lines accompanying the previous one. "What a stupid lamb." -Bella "What a sick masochistic lion." -Edward. Sigh. And the other one is the line Edward executed PERFECTLY in my opinion. "Edward Cullen: That's all superhero stuff, right? What if I'm not the hero? What if I'm...the bad guy?" I swooned when he said: "...the bad guy" the emphasis on bad...aiii. Badump a dump dump. Be still my heart.

I suppose the ending made me smile too. The part where Victoria turns around, releases her hair from her clip and walks down the stairs with that wicked grin. Whoa.

If I gave it stars out of five, 2 would be a safe bet due to less than perfect cinematography, lack of smoothness from the lead actors and the fact that it dragged at very inappropriate times. The thought of exiting the movie theatre even crept into my head halfway through the movie!

Last call, the book was easier to digest and I liked what I saw in my head rather than what I saw on the screen. The movie might have been good to virgin Twilighters (those who haven’t read the book, obviously) but to fans of the book, don’t butcher the movie. It didn’t meet up to our high expectations but it was done. So there.