Twilight: The Review.

So, as you know I stood in line at 8 pm, waited for 4 hours, to see the movie I've been waiting for.. for a long time!  I waited a bit to write about what I thought till my "web" buddies got a chance to see it, cause I was dying to see what they thought, to compare notes and what not.

The line began to wrap around the building, filled with anxious teenagers, and "tween agers.. As I thought, it is a "school night" right?  Regardless of the squeals, and the "Oh, my Gawd!" remarks, I was excited beyond belief, with my Team Edward shirt on (that every other 13 year old was wearing too), sitting on the floor with the hubby watching a movie on his 3G, painting my nails black, and Bridget on my other side talking about anything and everything!

Finally, we are allowed in the theater with a mad dash to claim 8 seats, throwing our jackets and bag over them, and sitting on the others like a baseball player sliding into base... safe! The movie begins and the crowd roars and cheers, and the girls, including me, giggle with excitement!

The first sight of the Cullen Clan, walking in that slow motion, wind blowing against their ever so perfect hairs, with the sound of "Supermassive Black Hole" by Muse in the background, got my temperature rising a few degrees!  Erica and I giggled like a couple of school girls seeing Mr. Cool for the first time. It was perfect! Then pan into view, Mr. Edward Cullen... Mr. Immortal Vampire, Handsome Creature, Perfect in every sense of the word perfect, intense look in his golden eyes that should make all female creatures tingle from inside out.. that was the Edward in my vision.. but out comes what seems to be someone that stepped out of Highschool Musical with a bit too much "white" on, who was thrown the script like 15 minutes ago and expected to be the "it" guy.  Now don't get me wrong, I think Robert Pattinson is a HOT guy.  I just wish he took an Edward Cullen 101 class.. He's got the looks, but I really wanted him to captivate me, to sweep me off my feet. Instead he struggled with the words and at some points his acting.

I laughed so hard at the scene when he first sees Bella in class, with that look of anguish/ I don't want to eat you face.. his reaction of "Ewww.. get a way" could easily be misunderstood for someone who has not read the books.  They did not make that clear enough for me.

Then came the courtship. 

It happened to quick. We needed more dialogue.. more anguish of her trying not to fall for him, but couldn't help it kinda thing.  I needed more from him too.. to see more of his pain of trying to not fall in love for this mortal girl because he knew what that would do to her.. I needed to see more of the "forbidden" love that was unfolding.  And all I was left with is "what could've been" in my head. 

The meadow scene. 

The scene that I could read over and over again and loose myself through pages of endless possibilities. The scene where she confronts him of the truth.. I mean, she just realized that he's a vampire for goodness sake. We needed a bit more reaction than that! We needed more conviction. 

To sum it up, much of what made the relationship between Bella and Edward an iconic love story for women everywhere (notice I didn't say teenagers)... was stripped away from this movie.  And we were left with a mediocre teenagery-angst of a film.  At times I felt like I was watching a high school play where the girls sitting behind may have tried out for but didn't quite make the cut.

So I'm left to say, that although it had it's moments that snapped me back into the world of Bella and Edward... like the scene where Bella visits their home and they are talking in his bedroom, and he slyly whisks her away.. ah! 

The BOOK IS ALWAYS BETTER.. and my imaginative mind alone is enough to reclaim my love for Twilight. I will always love Edward and Bella, and this movie will not overshadow this series for me.  I look forward to Part 2.

The other Characters:

• Loved, loved, loved, Alice. Perfect!
• Carlise was on the dot
• Jasper.. despite his somewhat odd behavior, because he's starting to get used to this vegetarian diet, I wish they did more with him..
• Jacob. You know I actually adore this guy. He had a small role, that's okay. I can't wait to see if there is a Part 2, and if they do, will they keep this Jacob, if so, they need to buff him up... after all he is a growing Werewolf!

Alright, my fellow Twilight-Cohorts.. lay it on me.. what did you think? Parts you loved, didn't love, wanted more of, less of.. I want it all.. I know I've met tons of you that fell in love with the series.. so drop by and let me know! I'm dying to know what you all thought!  Until then, here is what my girlfriend, Tonya, who sat 4 seats away, thought of it...

Comments

[San Pedro Storage]

Yes, it's strongly geared to the teen audience, but don't hold it against the filmmakers and go in with any preconceived notions and you'll find it a fun opening chapter of a new franchise.

[Anchorage Website Design]

Perfect review! I think I feel the same. I didn't expect it to be this good as I didn't find part 1 good. But to my surprise, it turned out to be amazing. I really liked it. And yes, the twist was really amazing!

[HaleyW]

I put off reading your review until I was able to go see the movie. Finally made it there last night. I am a total Twilight junkie - and I was so excited to see the movie. My husband is reading Eclipse right now, so he was happy to tag along. When we left, we both agreed that the movie was rather "amatureish," and that was disappointing. I did allow myself to just get lost in the movie and not worry about those things - although it was really hard watching the scene when Edward first entered the Cullen house with Bella. That was totally CAMPY. But all-in-all, I tried not to let it bother me too much. I'm hopeful that since the studio is making TONS of money on this first installment, maybe they can spend some more money on New Moon - from writing to special FX to final editing! We can hope! But I'm with you - THE BOOK IS ALWAYS BETTER. Thanks for the review!

[michelle carrillo]

I have to agree with you WHOLE HEARTEDLY. I love,love, LOVE the Twilight series, but I wasn't impressed with this movie at ALL. The story had such potential, as we all know... but, just cuz I LOVE the book series does NOT necessarily mean that I will love the entire franchise that is built around that. I liked the idea that they DID use unknowns for this movie, but it would have been nice if they found some that could act the part properly. Like you, I felt like I was in a weird high-school musical reject movie. Even my brother made the comment that it wouldn't have been out of place if some of the characters had stated singing at some point (and YES, HE's a fan of the books, too). The spacial effect (aka "motion blur") bugged me SOOOO much. Look, i KNOW it was a low-budget movie and all, but nowadays, who DOESN'T know someone in the industry who could have done a better job... i mean, heck, they could've gotten a college class to do the effects as a class project or something. I dunno... the acting was sub-par, the makeup was bad, the script was stunted, the editing was bad (random shots here and there of waterfalls to "set the scene," and lots of mistakes I found (edwards eyes change colors in couple scenes, seriously, amongst other mistakes.) if they want to make a second movie, i really really hope it is handed off to someone else to do. If it continues as another version of this teen-angsty thing...count me out. Ill still wear a TEAM EDWARD shirt, but have some tagline on there like "the ORIGINAL" (with a disclaimer about being true to the BOOKS, not the actors intended to bring those books to life, so to speak...)

[Roxanne]

Hey girl, You are so sweet to ask about me!! Thank you : ) I was sick Thursday night. Couldn't keep anything down. Made it through the night and felt better Friday. Well enough to go to the movie that morning. But about 30 minutes before it was over I started feeling bad again. I made it throught the movie and then home. But that was it. It was down hill from there. By 5:30 I was in some bigtime pain. The dehydration from being sick had caused an awful migraine. It turned into a vicious circle and was not stopping. My sweet husband dropped everything and took me to the ER with the kids in tow. It was viral and the migraine just added to the mix.... I thought I was gonna die! : ) LOL
ANyway, after some great meds and a good nights sleep and some down time yesterday, I am much better. I Like the movie.... what I can remember about it :) I will have to see it again. I agree with you about wanting the courtship to be longer.. It was good though. I bet the budget will be a bit bigger on the next one so maybe it will have more detail and effects... You think? (I hope so)....
How are you guys? Is it still snowing? I have a great friend that I grew up with in Alabama. She nows lives in Hamilton, Ontario. She hates the cold and snow... She would rather be on the beach anyday. You and she remind me of each other : ) She cusses everytime it snows LOL
I hope that you guys have a great Sunday....
Thank you for checking in on me : )

[cheri]

Haven't seen it yet. Just finished reading #4 on Wednesday. Kelli and a friend went Friday after school and LOVED it! I am sure she will see it again with her dear old momma!

[Claudette]

I liked it but didn't love it. I think everything was too rushed, kept out a few key ingredients.

Overall it was a good movie. Nothing is ever as good as the book...but that's ok, it did what it was suppose to... it "entertained us"

R, do not let anyone say negative things about your review...you are entitled to your opinion! This is your blog and this is how you see it.

Take care girl!
Aloha!

[Tami]

If you were a TRUE Twilight fan then you should have been completely engrossed in the movie. Apparently you were too busy giggling with your girlfriends. This was an AWESOME movie. It left me breathless. It left me in their world. It had me wanting more and really wanting Edward. The scenery, the makeup, the music was perfect. You might as well sell you Team Edward T-shirt on E-Bay tomorrow because you did not "GET IT". Such a shame.

[Tami]

I can't believe that you are serious. I don't know what you watched. But, I came out of that movie breathless and in another world. It was so awesome. I thought they did a great job. I loved that they used new actors and it is only going to get BETTER! I think all YOUR REVIEWS are what is really disappointing. You might as well sell your t-shirt on E-bay because you are so not Team Twilight if that is what you thought. It is a shame.

[Maria]

This was so very fun to read! Thanks for sharing! My daughter went to see it with a friend and I still haven't seen it, now I think I'll just read the book and pass on the movie.

[adrienne]

I agree! It was still a good movie and I'm going back to see it again tomorrow with Jaelyn. And they are already working on 2,3, and 4!!!! so YES more twilight movies!

[Lynne]

I couldn't have said it better Ronalyn, your review is right on. I wanted to laugh during the baseball field scene with the other vampires. It was so funny when they were all grouped together, slowly moving in case of attack, I thought they were going to break out in a dance, snapping their fingers like in West Side Story.

I completely agree with you for those that haven't read the series. I'm sure they would be lost and think the movie even more ridiculous. Oh, I loved Alice too, she was exactly like I had imagined.

And, yep, I'll watch the second movie because I think the 2nd book was my favorite. Wasn't that when Edward went to Europe to end it all?

[lisa]

thanks for the review ro. I still can't wait to see it for myself. I'd already set myself up for disappointment because the previews were shoddy. Plus I expected lots to be left out because of film time. Usually the movie never does the book justice. I guess what I was looking for was whether or not a person who had not read the book could become a fan. As a person who has not read and loved the harry potter series, I could take it or leave it. It's sounding like that could be said for this movie for a non- twilighter.