Many popular books have been turned into movies over the years. Considering how popular Twilight by Stephenie Meyer has become, it isn't surprising that a movie was made. Plans are already in motion to turn the other three books in the series into movies as well. I didn't see Twilight when it came out in theaters, but I did decide to pick up the DVD since I enjoyed the book overall.
Teenager Bella Swan moves to Forks Washington to live with her father Charlie despite the fact that she really doesn't like the town. She makes the move so that her mother can travel with her new husband, a minor league baseball player. Jacob, a friend from her childhood when she spent some time in Forks, is ready to renew their friendship, though he goes to school on the reservation because he is an Indian. Bella makes a few new friends during her first day of school while also noticing the Cullens. The five are foster children of Carlisle and Esme Cullen. The Cullens tend to stick together, with four of them even dating.
Bella is drawn to the single one, Edward, but he can't stand her at first. That changes and they start to spend some time together even while Edward claims they shouldn't be friends. Bella ends up figuring out that Edward and the other Cullens are vampires, something that doesn't scare her off. Edward is worried about keeping his control around Bella and his foster sister Rosalie is less than pleased with the relationship. Things are more complicated when a group of vicious vampires arrive and one of them, James, sets his sight on Bella.
Twilight is a fairly long movie, which I expected considering how long the book is. This is a pretty good adaptation of the book that contains the main points. The movie isn't as detailed and some of the explanations are missing, making it seem like there isn't much reason for some of what is happening. I do think that people who haven't read the book first can still enjoy the movie, though certain things will make more sense if the book is read first. There are changes from the book, including something that I don't remember being in the book in the same way it is in the movie. The movie doesn't have as many of Bella's thoughts as the book does, something that doesn't bother me at all.
Bella really isn't shown in Arizona before she moves to Forks, though there is a brief scene at the beginning of Twilight that shows her saying goodbye to her mother. A little bit of time is taken to show Bella starting at her new high school. Charlie isn't around that much, so there isn't that much of Bella's relationship with Charlie shown. It doesn't take long for Bella and Edward to start spending time together. Most of the movie is focused on their developing relationship. There is some action in a few scenes, though I don't consider the movie to be action packed. There are really only a couple of fight scenes that don't get that graphic. Since there isn't a lot of action in the movie, the pace moves a bit slower, with some scenes seeming to drag on too long. I wasn't bored by what was going on, but some viewers may feel differently.
Edward and some of the minor characters in Twilight are vampires. They are a bit different from vampires in most other movies and books. They can go out during the day and as long as it is overcast or cloudy, they look normal, though a bit pale. They sparkle in sunlight, something rather unique for vampires. When Edward told Bella, it was a big deal in the book. It didn't seem to be as big of a revelation in the movie. The effect to make Edward look like he was sparkling was really bad and looked nothing like how it had been described in the book. Bella says that Edward's skin looks like diamonds once she sees it, but it doesn't. To me, it looks more like his skin had glitter on it. The Cullens didn't feed on humans and instead relied on animal blood to survive. I have read a few books that had vampires that didn't feed on humans. The vampires have reflections in mirror and they can be seen in pictures. The different things about vampires didn't bother me that much, though it is a bit different.
Usually when I watch a movie, I don't notice that much about the makeup of the characters. While watching Twilight, I constantly noticed the makeup. Edward and the rest of the Cullens are very pale white. In some scenes, I could see where the makeup ended on the neck, so the face would be pale white and the neck would be more flesh colored. That usually didn't stand out a lot, but I did notice it several times. I think there was an intention for the hair or collar to hide the difference in the skin color. The first time Esme is shown, her make up doesn't go all the way to her hairline on her forehead and she doesn't have bangs, so a strip of slightly darker skin is very visible. Bella is also shown to be very pale throughout the movie, sometimes with dark circles around her eyes. I'm still not sure if the dark circles are supposed to be her makeup or are intended to make her seem more vulnerable and fragile. During some scenes, she looks paler than the vampire characters. I also noticed the variations in skin tone on Bella in several scenes. In some other scenes, she has more color and even has freckles that weren't there when she was so pale. Late in the movie, Edward and Bella are both very pale. That time at least, the pale look was carried through on all of Bella's visible skin. What is supposed to be later that evening, the skin tone for both of them changes. They still look rather pale, but there is more color to their skin instead of just being white like they had been earlier. All the variations with the skin tones and makeup did get very distracting to me. I just don't understand how these problems with the makeup made it into the finished movie.
Bella and Edward meet fairly early in Twilight and their relationship is the main focus for the movie. The first time they meet, Edward acts like he hates Bella on sight and then within a short period of time, he starts acting differently toward her. It isn't long after that before they are spending all their time together. Their relationship does move fast in the movie since some things have been left out. The romance is rather mild, though they are shown kissing a few times. Bella and Edward do share a few sweet moments, but I don't think the movie is that romantic overall.
Bella is a teenager that is doing something to make her mother happy that makes her unhappy, at least at first. She tries to keep to herself, but she ends up in a very dangerous situation. She seems very vulnerable at times and is a bit of a klutz, especially where sports are concerned. She does make some questionable decisions a few times, though she does that to protect her family. She seems to have a good relationship with her parents, even her father that she isn't as close to since she's been with her mother in Arizona for so long. There are some voice overs from Bella that help to share her thoughts about what is going on. Kristen Stewart is fine in the part, but nothing special. Bella's father Charlie is only in a few scenes, so he ends up being a rather flat character and their relationship doesn't receive much attention at all.
Edward is mysterious when he is first shown. He has a unique, rather rude reaction to Bella at first. He struggles with being a vampire and his fear of hurting Bella. Robert Pattinson was fine in the part, but I failed to see what all the fuss about him was. It isn't that I hate him in the part or anything, but I wasn't overly impressed either. I also thought his hair, which received all sorts of attention, looked stupid for most of the movie. He looks much better with shorter hair.
The other Cullens are just sort of around in some scenes without receiving much attention or development. Alice seems nice and the most accepting of Bella. There is no explanation for why Jasper doesn't say much. Emmett is just sort of there. All that is shared about Rosalie is that she doesn't think it is a good idea for Edward to be involved with Bella. Carlisle and Esme seem nice and they accept Bella right away, but they just aren't in enough of the movie. The actors were all fine in the parts, though none of them had the chance to do much to stand out. The evil vampires are shown even less and there isn't much motivation provided for why James decides to target Bella. The few friends that Bella makes at school aren't around much and basically receive no development. Jacob isn't around much either, though I'm guessing that will change since he is a very important character to the series overall.
Main Cast
Billy Burke - Charlie Swain Peter Facinelli - Dr. Carlisle Cullen Edi Gathegi - Laurent Cam Gigandet - James Ashley Greene - Alice Cullen Anna Kendrick - Jessica Stanley Taylor Lautner - Jacob Rachelle Lefevre - Victoria Kellan Lutz - Emmett Cullen Robert Pattinson - Edward Cullen Jackson Rathbone - Jasper Cullen Elizabeth Reaser - Esme Cullen Nikki Reed - Rosalie Cullen Christian Serratos - Angela Weber Kristen Stewart - Bella Swain Michael Welsh - Mike Newton
Catherine Hardwicke - Director
DVD Information
There are two different DVD versions of Twilight. One of them has one disc and only a few extras, like the extended versions of a few scenes. The other version has two discs and more extras, including a documentary on the making of the movie.
I didn't hate Twilight, but I didn't love it either. For me, it was just a mostly entertaining movie featuring vampires that has some issues. I wasn't blown away by the book either even though I did like it overall, so I think that is part of why I feel the way I do about the movie. It is entertaining, though it will probably disappoint some people that like vampire movies. This is a different sort of vampire movie, so it may disappoint some viewers.
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