Twilight

If you have a teen, or pre-teen, girl in your household, you've probably heard enough about Edward and Bella -- the teen romance at the heart of Stephenie Meyer's vampire-human Romeo-and-Juliet Twilight series -- to make you long for a matching his-and-her set of stakes to drive through both their hearts. There's a little gore and supernatural stuff in the Twilight books, but the most scary and unearthly thing about the books in the series is how much kids have come to love them. Brought to the big screen by Catherine Hardwicke (Thirteen, Lords of Dogtown), Twilight was fated for success (the DVD sold three million copies on its first day, for heaven's sake); the question is if it's anything other than a simple machine designed to turn fans of the book into an audience for the movie.

Twilight the movie is, in fact, not bad; in fact, it's sporadically great. The good-news-bad-news proposition entailed by that reality comes as you get occasional moments in Twilight that work so well that they make the rest of the film around the highpoints seem shabby and slack.

For those of you who don't have teens and tweens, Twilight begins as Bella (Kristen Stewart) moves to live with her separated dad in the Pacific Northwest; trying to fit in at her new school, she makes the acquaintance of the locals, including Edward (Robert Pattinson), a dreamy aloof boy who's part of the local foster family, the Cullens. Edward is cute and cool and a little cold -- for those of you who grew up in the '80s, he looks like Morrissey with blonde highlights -- but there's something a little off about him, and he gives Bella the come-here-go-away thing from the jump.

Bella breaks through Edward's mood swings with sheer persistence, and learns that he's a vampire -- part of an extended family who don't drink human blood and just want to get by on their own. Edward digs Bella -- a lot -- but he has to keep it fairly chaste, as teen boys with roving hands are one thing; teen boys with roving hands and razor-sharp fangs are another. Much has been made about how the no-sex-please-we're-immortal feel of the Twilight books meshes with Meyer's Mormon beliefs, but whether you think it's a deliberate moral choice or an less calculated artistic one, the end result is that a lot of the sexuality of the vampire genre gets drained out, leaving behind a slightly more anemic kind of longing. I'm not saying that a story about teen vampires -- or teen anyone - has to have sex, but having a vampire movie without sex is like making a film about NASCAR where our heroes change the sparkplugs and check the tire pressure for their vehicles but never turn the key and hit the gas.

While Harwicke may bypass the sex, she doesn't skimp on the emotional lives of her characters, and this is, in part, where Twilight excels thanks to Stewart's performance. Stewart doesn't act like someone in a genre film loaded with the supernatural; she acts like a teen who's the lead character in a Sundance indie who's then surprised when the fangs and frights come out. There's a scene late in Twilight where Bella, on the run from some less-nice vampires with the Cullens helping her get out of town, drives past her pals as they enjoy a nice, calm, human night out and you can see the loss and hurt in her eyes as she watches the prospect of a normal life, a safe life, literally in the rear view mirror. Pattinson doesn't get an equivalent scene -- Edward's a little too perfect to be interesting -- but it's tribute to Pattinson's charm that Edward doesn't feel as dull as he actually is.

The DVD contains a few deleted scenes that completists will shriek for and the indifferent will shrug at, plus commentary from Hardwicke, Stewart and Pattinson, plus three music videos. The disc also looks great, with the muted rained-out colors of the disc springing off the screen with lush life. Twilight has a few rough spots -- some form the source material and some from the adaptation (Hardwicke's special effects team's work feels a little cheap and rushed in spots) -- but it's also got a couple of striking images and Stewart's fierce, fully-invested performance to smooth things over. Your kids will probably want to watch the grunge-meets-goth horror-romance of Twilight over and over again; Stewart's spirit and Hardwicke's style mean that isn't too scary a prospect.

You can read Erika's theatrical review of Twilight here.

Comments

[AV]

The movie is not all that compared to the books. You must read the book first!

[MCG]

I totally agree. The book was much better. My son is 13 and he actually got up and left the room while the movie was playing. He was so excited for it to come out on DVD, as he has read the book (is on the third book in the series now). He was majorly disappointed about the special effects. When Edward carried Bella while running, it just looked so "fake". With today's technology, I expected a more realistic feel to the "supernatural".

[LaWanna]

I liked the movie and I look forward to reading the books.

[Katie Lynn]

I read all the books to the series and i do agree that the book was better then the movie. so if you never read the book you need to. but i also think that the movie was great. i went to see the movie 7 times in the theaters and i bought 2 copies of the movies which i got both at midnight of the opening day. i am in love with the books, the movie and most of the male cast. and i can't wait for november 20, 2009 for new moon to come out. <3

[nancy]

read the book first its nothing compared to the movie

[Rhonda]

I agree the books are much better than the movie, also. But of course that normally happens anyway when a movie is based on a book. With that understanding i liked the movie for what it was worth. The moviw would have been 5 hours long if everything in the book was placed in the movie. Of course, I have to say the book brings more light to the relationship and what draws Edward and Bella together. I actually can't wait for the next movie.

[Rhonda in Florida]

The movie was ok but it is a tween - teen movie I own it my tween gets up at 6am every morning just to watch it before school she has watched it at least 13 times probaly more. I thought it was worth one time. I would like them to make the next one.

[Stacy]

Eh, I found Kirsten's performance horrible. She is so frustrating to watch and she never really conveys any emotion except for disdain and Rob P. wasn't that much better either. Compared to the feel of the books, the movie is ridiculously bad. No special effects were any good, except for the baseball scene, which was frankly amazing and my favorite part of the movie because everything looked decent and there was barely any talking.

[Josh, 29, Northern Indiana]

I just rented the movie from RedBox and enjoyed it. I haven't read the books, and I was wondering what the craze was about the book series and the movie. I wasn't going to take any interest in Twilight at first, because I thought it was just another gothic emo teen movie. But, I had read one ad or piece of information that mentioned that it had some strong redeeming values, like, the family was trying to abstain from human blood and sexuality was minimalized. From my conservative background, this movie was great! And, for my work in a group home for at-risk teenage guys, this series has many valuable discussion points.

From the movie, I particularly liked the portrayal of addiction and the internal battle that goes on with that. The extensive work and battling that Edward Cullens had to go through to guard himself from relapsing into his addiction for human blood was portrayed with stunning power and authenticity. As the at-risk teens from the group home that I work at watch this movie, I will be sure to talk to them about addictions and the amount of self-control that each person has to exercise in his life.

All-in-all, I felt that Twilight was an amazing and stunning movie.

[Ashanti]

I gotta agree with Stacy. I love the book and the movie was ok for what it was worth, but Stewart and Patterson just didn't convey enough emotion to make me believe their performances.

[Elanor]

After all this has no one realized the books (no matter what series) are always better than the movie?

But this... Twilight is just drek, IMO.

[Daffyo]

The way I see it the movie is just an additive to the book. I read the entire series and loved it. I found myself explaining the characters to my husband while watching the movie so he'd understand them. Hopefully they do a better job with the next one because so much was left out that you almost had to read the book to get the point.

[Danielle]

I have read all the books. I love the series and I like the movie. The movie couldn't do everything it wanted or make it extra special with awesome effects due to low budget, with the 2nd and 3rd coming up hopefully it will get better. I personally liked the way all the actors protrayed their characters. All-n-all I liked the movie but LOVE the seris. And yes, I have always known books are better then movies :)

[Melissa]

i thought the movie was amazing and Hardwicke and all the actors did a great job with the budget that they had

[Jennifer]

well i'm grown. read the books and was terribly disappointed in the movie. i guess the truth has already been stated ..the book is always better. reading allows us to create "edward","belle",and "jacob" in a manner that nearly reflects what we imagion them to be...hollywood did thier best, that being said i dont think thier best was good enough. not for this book.i will watch the next movie and i'm sure we'll all have the same things to say .....it just wont measure up!!!

[Psychobutterfly]

I rented this movie then bought it. It was an outstanding movie!!!! Can't wait til the sequels are out!!! Lokking forward to them!!!