Twilight [Blu-ray]
Summit Twilight (Blu-ray)The big-screen adaptation ofTwilight, Stephenie Meyer’s bestselling vampire romance, is aimed squarely at its key demographic: teen girls whose idea of Prince Charming is a brooding, pale, undead teen who could kill you instantly at any moment. Such a prince is more fascinating than frightening to new girl Bella Swan (KristenStewart), who moves to the rainy-gray town of Forks, Wash., to live with her dad (Billy Burke), thelocal sheriff who’s puzzled by a series of “animal attacks.” On her first day at school, Bella appears to (visibly) nauseate her lab partner, Edward (Robert Pattinson). Turns out the scent of her blood is this vampire’s “brand of heroin,” and his struggle not to kill her causes an irresistible pulltoward her. Whether he’s attracted for the normalreasons or because she smells especially sweet tohim is vague in the book and even less clear on-screen; nonetheless, Bella falls hopelessly in lovewith Edward, which sets her on a dangerous path when a few nomad vampires show up in town, one particularly keen on tracking the human. Directed by Catherine Hardwicke (Thirteen), Twilight is full offunny moments–not all of which are intentional–and the casting, from Stewart to Bella’s self-absorbed friend Jessica (Anna Kendrick) is spot-on.The big-screen adaptation of Twilight, Stephenie Meyer’s bestselling vampire romance, is aimed squarely at its key demographic: teen girls whose idea of Prince Charming is a brooding, pale, undead teen who could kill you instantly at any moment. Such a prince is more fascinating than frightening to new girl Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart), who moves to the rainy-gray town of Forks, Wash., to live with her dad (Billy Burke), the local sheriff who’s puzzled by a series of “animal attacks.” On her first day at school, Bella appears to (visibly) nauseate her lab partner, Edward (Robert Pattinson). Turns out the scent of her blood is this vampire’s “brand of heroin,” and his struggle not to kill her causes an irresistible pull toward her. Whether he’s attracted for the normal reasons or because she smells especially sweet to him is vague in the book and even less clear on-screen; nonetheless, Bella falls hopelessly in love with Edward, which sets her on a dangerous path when a few nomad vampires show up in town, one particularly keen on tracking the human. Directed by Catherine Hardwicke (Thirteen), Twilight is full of funny moments–not all of which are intentional–and the casting, from Stewart to Bella’s self-absorbed friend Jessica (Anna Kendrick) is spot-on. The weakest link, unfortunately, is Pattinson. While he certainly looks the part, his Edward could have used an extra injection of testosterone (Pattinson, who is British, used James Dean as a model for his American accent). In scenes where he growls about the temptation to kill those who would harm Bella, or flitting around a forest warning her how dangerous he is, he comes off more like a whimpering puppy than a debonair monster. The good news is, his chemistry with Stewart (particularly in their big kissing scene) is palpable, which, let’s face it, is really what matters to Twilight fans most. –Ellen A. Kim
On the DVD
The special features for Twilight kick off with an audio commentary with director Catherine Hardwicke and stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson. There’s some mumbling and groaning from Stewart (one gets the impression that Stewart is quite similar to her reserved character in the film), some standard behind-the-scenes observations from Hardwicke, and a lot of awkward self-deprecating remarks from Pattinson (of their big kiss, he opines: “This is quite difficult ’cause I have a really flat head, and so it’s quite difficult to get a correct angle.”). What’s funny is Pattinson stumping Hardwicke with some basic plot questions, like “Why doesn’t James just kill [Bella when she's packing at her house]?” While Hardwicke and Stewart attempt to answer, Pattinson doesn’t appear satisfied. The deleted and extended scenes include an additional dream-sequence kiss (rightly cut because it took away from the buildup to their first kiss) and more footage of Victoria (Rachelle Lefevre). The seven-part documentary is a pretty thorough look at the development of the film, including stunts, special effects, and the involvement of author Stephenie Meyer. Another featurette looks at the Comic-Con frenzy; however, it spends no time on how the actors were cast, which would have been fun for fans who did all their own mental casting while reading the books. Also included: three music videos and trailers. –Ellen A. Kim
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User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars In Love with Twilight
I read all of the books. I decided to read Twilight the book before watching the movie. The books have much more going on in them than the movie has time for but ultimately you will not be disappointed. I watched this movie after reading the first book and it allowed me to put faces to the names of the characters as I read the other 3 books in the saga. Each book just kept getting better than the last.
3 Stars Ok
This was an ok movie. The acting left something to be desired it was almost like the girl was embarassed to be in this movie. The book is good.
4 Stars Not the book, but it’s pretty good
After reading all four books of the saga, I have to say the movie doesn’t do the story justice. I watched the movie first, really enjoyed it, and then read all the books. The books were SO much better. The movies just don’t seem to capture the love between the two main characters as well as the story in the books do. In any case, the movie is still pretty good.
1 Stars OMG-X-a-zillion/ tween girl bliss-out.
It’s the same ol’ story: hormonal surges in a 12 year old girl’s development causes her to fall under the spell of a fictitious, tortured male specimen with an otherworldly,androgynous look…a visual fantasy that sells alot of books and movie tickets…guaranteed.
Twilights’ latest star being that tween dream prize, Edward Cullen, a sensitive, brooding vampire scaling giant trees in seconds and living in a secluded sleek, ultra modern glass house in the heavily forested, picture-perfect Pacific Northwest.
To top it off the vampire’s skin shimmers and sparkles like diamonds when exposed to sunlight…have you ever heard of such a horrible, ugly secret?!LOL
The over stated pancake makeup makes the vampires (who live and work among humans in small town Forks)look like distant relatives to Heath Ledgers’ Joker…except without Mr. Ledger’s masterful acting or his skin-crawling menace.
So it’s all about those shrieking 12 year old girls and their demand for prolonged screen time of their vampire heartthrob, Edward. Everyone else and everything else just fades away around him…and the lackluster supporting cast make this very easy.
The central love connection between the dazzled and curious human, Bella, and the diamond skinned, resistant to physical love, immortal prince of darkness, Edward,is dull at best.
Hopefully, the energetic magnetism of the werewolf hottie played by the firecracker man-boy Taylor Lautner will light up the next chapter to keep those tweens gasping for more heartthob.
1 Stars Loses much info from the Book
I read the entire series before seeing the first movie, Tilight, yesterday. I have not seen New Moon. I am not going to comment on the actors or the acting. My biggest dissappointment was with the adaption of the storyline from the book to the screen. The development of the relationship between Bella and Edward is completely lost on screen. The movie takes many lines from the book and places them at odd spots through out the movie. Had they incorporated the lines in the order they appeared in the book, things would make more sense. I understand stand the need to adapt for the screen and time constraints, but there is no excuse here. There were added scenes in the movie that were unneccesary. They could have used that time to clean up the story line.
The biggest diappointment is that they eliminated the ‘AHA’ moments that Edward and Bella each had…the moment when they knew they were all in and completely in love. It happens for Edward (when after painfully ignoring her for six weeks…which is not portrayed in the movie), he hit his limit as 3 boys invite Bella to the dance. Jealousy (a new emotion for him) over takes him and he gives in to his need to speak with her and get to know her. They do not indicate this at all in the movie.
For Bella, this happens after the day trip to the Beach at LaPush. It is there that she learns from Jacob that Edward is a vampire. In the book she is completely overwhelmed with this information. So much so, she spends the evening doing everything not to think about it. The next day, she tries to reconcile what she know about Edward, what Jacob told her, and what she learns on line about vampires. She is clinging to the thought that there are good vampires and Edward is ‘good at heart’. At this time she takes her life changing solo walk in the woods where she processes all this information, finally coming to a decision. Her decision is that no matter what Edward is, the thought of not being with him is too painful and she knows it is too late, that she is ‘in too deep’. She believes in her heart that he is good and won’t hurt her. This walk in the woods and self realization does not occur in the movie.
It is these 2 critical elements that are left out of the movie in combination with the aforementioned issue that that the relationship development between the two characters is out of order, incomplete, and scattered throughout the movie that makes it difficult in the movie to understand how they fall for each other .
A few final points.
1. The movie is overall choppy, with no real sense of passage of time. The relationship in the book develops over a few months (there are 6 weeks alone where they are each quietly tormented by not speaking to each other) and over several conversations. In the movie, is is only a few weeks. The time allowed in the book instills the growth of love, caring and commitment amongst the characters.
2. The relationship with the Cullen family is also much clearer in the book. The line from Alice (at the hotel in Phoenix) is completely cut, but speaks volumes in the book. Alice and Jasper tell Bella that she is all that is important. Edward has been alone for 90 years, and is now happy for the first time and the Cullens will all stand up to protect her. Powerful in the book, not in the movie.
3. The meadow scene was a huge disappointment. It was not when it should have in the story line in the book (in fact I wasn’t even sure it was happening right away when I was watching the movie). It was not a beautiful sunny day, there was no drive or hike to the meadow…I can’t even say in words what was wrong with the meadow scene, just wrong time, wrong setting, not the same revealing conversation as the book, and not the same tenderness and vulnerabilitiy expressed in the book.
4. Bella does not tell him she knows he’s a vampire that night in Port Angeles. In the movie this happens in the forest (the next day I think..combined into the meadow scene) and Edward says ’say it, say it out loud’…out of character for Edward, I thought. This is also an example of the jumbled scenes from book to movie. As a side note, in the movie, I guess he didn’t notice the book she was carrying from the book store about vampires (not in the novel).
5. Edward in the book is dead set against Bella knowing any details about how to become a vampire; yet in the movie, he openly tells her.
6. Alice’s vision of Bella being friends wil Alice and Bella’s future (as dead or a vampire) are not brought to light at all. These visions are a driving factor behind Edward’s actions. I think these are only brought out in Midnight Sun, but are critical and I know Midnight Sun was available at the time of filming.
Overall I am disapoonted that Stephanie Meyers did not have more say in what critical elements made it to screen and the order in which they were portrayed.
Filed under: Blu Ray Movie Reviews