AMB Reviews

Twilight: 7/10 Stars

Release Date: November 21, 2008

Content Advisory: Rated PG-13 for some violence and a scene of sensuality. Bella and Edward share several passionate kisses. They begin to make out atop Bella's bed, but they are abruptly interrupted. Several deaths throughout are more implied than shown. However, one vampire fight towards the end, involves an evil vampire breaking Bella's leg, tossing her across the room and bloodying up her head and leg. He also bites in her wrist in an attempt to kill her (some blood is shown).

Review:

Being an avid fan of these novels, I was pretty excited as I walked into the dimly lit theater for Twilight. I am not an addict and my whole life does not revolve around these novels, but I must say that I definetely enjoyed the books. Wondering whether or not they would actually be able to pull it off, I anxiously sat through the movie, only to be pleasantly surprised...

In Short:

Although the Twilight novels are mostly aimed at a teenage girl audience, the trailers of this film seem to want to aim it at teenage boys. Why? More than likely, because the studio already knows that all of the screaming girls will rush out to see this opening night. Their solution? Get some boys to come along. I was one of the boys who rushed out with some of his screaming teenage girl friends to see this film opening night.

Although not perfect and somewhat jumpy at parts, Twilight remains amazingly faithful to the book throughout, and usually always leaves you in anticipation of what's coming next. Bella was played nicely and realistically by Kristen Stewart, while Edward, played by Robert Pattinson, although at times verged on the side of overly melodramatic, actually began to grow on me as the movie progressed. In the end, Twilight is an enjoyable, romantic, suspenseful, yet overrated flick that offers one of the most unique perspectives on vampires that you'll ever see.

In Full:

Twilight begins with a jumpy and fast-edited sequence of a vampire catching its animal prey. It then quickly jumps to Bella's life, as if they didn't want to linger too long on what the vampire was eating. Bella is just leaving the hot and sunny town of Phoenix, Arizona to go live with her dad down in the rainy town of Forks, Washington. After her parents divorced and her mom re-married a baseball player, she wasn't up to the challenge of moving around the US with them. She decides it's time for a break and goes to see her quiet dad, who doesn't really know what to do with her. As Bella says early on: he doesn't hover. Soon after a meeting with an old friend named Jacob (played by Taylor Lautner, best known for his role as the atrocious Sharkboy), Bella heads off to school, immediately making some new and optimistic friends.

This all changes when she walks into Biology class and finds her lab partner to be Edward Cullen. She immediately senses something different when around him. Of course, after he saves her from a out of control van, and smashes his fist halfway into the vehicle, she knows something is up. Wouldn't you? As the movie progresses and she slowly grows closer and closer to Edward, she realizes all of three things: Edward is a vampire, Edward wants to suck her blood, and she is completely in love with him. Sound romantic? It mainly is... until Edward's vampire family is faced with another vampire bent on killing humans. Who is that human you may ask... Bella.

So, there you have it. The perfect plot for a suspenseful romance. And surprisingly... they actually pull it off. I kept wondering how they could turn a 400 and something page book into a two hour movie, but they actually accomplished it. They fit all of the most important scenes from the book into the movie. Unfortunately, this also means that all of the small transitions that helped lead into those scenes were cut out. Although one who has read the book won't find any problem keeping up, this may cause viewers who haven't yet read the book to lose track of where it's going... fast. It's a jumpy and fast-edited movie. What this means? Don't sit in the front row.

The acting, as I spoke of earlier, was decent, with no actor and actress really standing out to me, but with not one person who really stuck out as terrible. Taylor Lautner overcomes the bad image associated with him and Sharkboy, and plays Jacob nicely in the few scenes he's given. The whole Cullen family was casted perfectly, with each actor and actress filling out their role and personality perfectly. The rest of the cast, although certainly not perfect, never either overacted or underacted enough for me to comment upon their acting. The only exception would be Edward, who, although is supposed to be somewhat melodramatic in the book, seems to be overdoing it a bit too much at occasional scenes in the film.

What does this all say about Twilight? Being someone who read the books and thoroughly enjoyed them... I am not in the least way like many of the screaming girls obsessed with the books who truly believe their whole world is revolving around Edward. Rather, I am here to say that Twilight is sure to please both fans of the book as well as non-fans. Fans of the book will be pleasantly surprised at the movie's faithfulness, while non-fans will probably find something in here to enjoy, whether it be the tender romance scenes or the fast-paced and suspenseful action sequences. Either way, whether you be a romance or action sap... Twilight, although not perfect, is sure to be a sweet treat for many viewers, boys and girls alike.