Jeff's Reviews

Thoughts on every movie I've ever seen.

Twilight (2008)

Directed by Catherine Hardwicke

Starring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Billy Burke, Sarah Clarke

Author

If any guy was as creepy as Edward, any healthy girl would run the other way. But Bella is not healthy, and this is a movie. So just like that, we have romance.

Stewart is not a good actress. She’s a cute girl, but her reluctance to sustain eye contact with anybody surrounds her with a nervous energy that’s a little hard to watch. Since she is playing a girl with obvious emotional issues, it’s not a big deal, but it does make it a little difficult to become engaged with her and her story.

I can see why all the girls like Edward. He’s a perfectly manufactured sex symbol, with the sharp features, brooding eyes, fashionable dress. His orangey hair and topaz eyes give him the same exotic, alien appeal that guys had for Leeloo in The Fifth Element. There’s something about the supernatural that’s sexy.

Edward plays the piano. He’s got all the lines. And of course, his undying love for Bella would make any young girl swoon. But for a 109-year-old vampire, he’s a little selfish and immature. While it’s superficially romantic to watch two single and good-looking young adults passionately and haphazardly throw themselves at each other, it’s hard get into it when the two characters driving the story are immature and irrational.

Like most vampire fiction, I’m sure this story appeals most to the lonely and immature, to the impulsive and emotionally unstable, to the disconnected and “misunderstood”. It doesn’t surprise me one bit to hear that this story is making young girls suicidal in the hopes of meeting their Edward.

What is well done is the photography. The whole movie is filmed with a bluish cast that successfully makes everyone seem cold and undead. It’s a tad overdone with Stewart, but it certainly works for the vampires. Special effects are adequate.

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