I felt like I should clarify who the review is by since Charlie did indeed attend the viewing of this movie too. Now, he'll claim it was by force, but he was invited out of politeness and he said yes. Bizzy, my sister, also came by her own accord, however, she would guffaw and say other things. But she actually volunteered to go too-as long as Charlie went. Silly girl, of course Charlie would go-he's nice.
Night Out with Twilight: It went down like this: Bill and I were planning to go the opening weekend as big fans of the books. Because Bizzy and Charlie thought it was funny to tease us all the time-we enjoyed giving them a hard time about them going too. But, not really intending to have them go with us. Then, Bizzy offered to go with us seriously if Charlie went. Again, silly idea. I told Charlie this and he said, sure, I'm in. So, they were "roped in" to go. And, because they were so opposed to the books and the movie, we felt it was our duty to torture them a bit: Bill ordered us t-shirts (his: Team Alice / mine: Team Bella) and for them, buttons-which of course was a big secret. (I still owe you for my stuff Bill!). We surprised them with the tshirts and buttons when we got to the theater. Luckily we went to a smaller art-y house type theater on a Sunday evening so there weren't many other Twerds running around. The theater was less than half full. And, one of their biggest complaints is the audience is Tween aged...well, there were maybe 2 groups of teenage and tween girls-everyone else was our age or older. So there. Jerks.
My version of a review: Overall the movie was okay. (Which is leaps and bounds better than I expected). I agreed with Entertainment Weekly's "B" grade. I would say for someone not familiar with the books, it would probably only get a "C" since it provides a lot of exposition and montages and not a lot of actual anything. Now, the book doesn't have a lot of plot either. But, you can kind of get away with that with a book because you're following the characters and how they're developing, etc. Here, you're not even in their heads, so it's just like, um, what's going on? But, as a fan of the books, I was able to forgive some of the conversation montages a little bit since I had an idea of what was happening in those scenes.
What I liked: The actors were generally pretty good. The scenery was beautiful. Bella came off less bratty-and fit the visual picture in my head (mannerisms yes and voice no), while Robert Pattinson was not the Edward in my head, he was still a very good Edward. As a a fan of the books, it was fun seeing the vivid descriptions of Forks, Port Angeles, and La Push by Stephenie Meyer come to life. Also, I appreciatd that they generally stayed true to the story line. Generally. I also did like Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson together-I think they were believable as a couple. There were also 2 flashes of a vision/dream of Edward biting Bella that were awesome-very old school Dracula/Nosferatu-like. It was a nice high five to those types of movies. There were also 2 loose funny moments that I appreciated and wished there were a lot more of: The first one is after Edward and Bella have devoted their hearts and lives to each other and are walking together into school, Bella is all uncomfortable and says everyone is staring at us. Edward is a lot more comfortable and has a total swagger and says, "Nah, not everyone. That guy's not. Oh wait, now he is." There's another moment when he pulls Bella onto his back to go for one of his quick runs and calls her a Spider-Monkey before telling her to hold on. It was just cute and not so intense. I like that Edward much better.
What I didn't like: The special effects were sooooo cheesy! I felt very Butthead (of Beavis & Butthead) and was ready to yell, "these effects are really special." I have to say, I think Interview with a Vampire demonstrated preternatual movement the best-by not really showing anything. But, newer vampire fare does not get that. They try to show what it would look like (see True Blood as well). Just don't show the movement. The point is they're SO fast we can't really see them move. Also, the sparkling skin was just weird. Bizzy said it looked like he was glistening with sweat. When I got my Entertainment Weekly the next week there was the same comment from someone there. So, I guess we got consensus-sparkling apparently equates to sweating. yum.
My biggest beef with the movie was the cutting of the small moments. I know they had to cut things to get it down to 2 hours. But, ultimately it's those small moments that make their relationship. The movie just hopes you'll believe they really like each other from looks and smell. Again, yum. They montaged the freakin' conversations, etc. I was definitely singing the South Park, "We're gonna need a Montage! A Fallin' In Love Montage!" If I was not a reader of the books, I would not have believed they liked each other, let alone loved each other. Also, while I appreciated Bella not being bratty, it kind of made their relationship lose some of the passion they had in the books-they would get all worked up and argue about dumb things-but it made for something interesting in the reading. And, that leads me to the Meadow scene. This is a big moment in the book. This is the moment Bella is deciding if she wants to risk her life with a vampire and they decided to make it Edward's big moody moment. Which, happens in the book-but after they bond and she decides okay, he's worth it. Edward is just kind of obnoxious in the movie. In the book he's more conflicted and afraid. So basically, they made Bella more interesting and Edward far more bratty. Which, I guess is good since the book gets a lot of grief for being anti-feminist (which I stil have to finish my 3 part series about the books-which will focus on that grief).
That leads me to my general consensus of the movie: One pretty montage that sets us up for the next movies. The book is basically the same thing-BUT, you can get away with a lot character development in writing. It's not so easy on screen. Especially when you montage all of the freakin' conversations.
That makes it sound like I didn't like the movie. Which, I have to say with time, I've liked it less. I was so relieved it wasn't totally awful that I was more forgiving while watching it. With time to think about it, I'm getting more disappointed because they had total potential. And they just sort of went for it. Hopefully the next one will better-they have a bigger budget and will have a new Director.
Here are some general comments about the characters, since they are so important to the series:
Bella: Physically I think Kristen Stewart was really good as Bella-she looked like what I had in my head and she was just generally awkward. Charlie pointed out that she never closed her mouth-she's a total mouth breather! Or that's her version of shock and awe? I don't know-but that girl had to catch several bugs! Other than that -I was actually pleasantly surprised by her. I've liked other roles she's done-but she's very moody. She actually wasn't totally somber and morose as Bella-which is what I was expecting. She was kind of just cute sometimes.
Edward: Robert Pattinson was not my vision of Edward-but he was still pretty good. When he would or was allowed to lighten up a bit-he was very cute and charming. I think they focused on him being too broodish-so he was kind of a downer sometimes-and obnoxious. But, he's lovely as can be-so it's forgiveable.
Jacob: I think Taylor Lautner had Jacob down for the first book. The character changes so physically by the beginning of the next book, I'm not sure how they're going to tackle that. But, for this movie, Jacob's just supposed to be sweet and likeable and young-and that's how he was played. He and Kristen Stewart played off of each other really well. They seemed like buddies. There were things left out about him that will be somewhat important next time, so we'll see how they fix that.
Charlie: Billy Burke actually made that character much more interesting. I actually found myself liking him more than I did in the books.
Billy Black: He really wasn't around a lot-but I think he'll be good for the future movies. He and Charlie worked off of each other really well and it made them interesting. Whereas in the books they're kind of dry.
Rosalie: The actor who played Rosalie was so much better than I expected. I really didn't see her in that role at all-but she nailed it. She made the character more interesting too-in the book she's just kind of awful-and here she's just kind of awful-but in a way you like to watch.
Carlisle: Way hotter than expected. I expected the wig and skin tone to be a tragedy on him since the actor is so dark-but movie magic made it much much better. His character becomes more important in the future-but they cut some of his stuff for this movie-but you still get a good idea about him. I really liked him and hope he sticks around for future versions.
Jasper: Total freakshow and he had all of 2 lines. All of his scenes in the book were basically cut. And, I've read that some people think he was "really good" at showing facial expressions. If by looking constipated and like a deer in the headlights is really good, then yes. yes, he was really good. And his wig was wretched. The actor is uberhot-and they made him look so awkward. Movie magic failed him.
Alice: The actress was cute enough, but seriously, she needs to shop. They cut a lot about what makes Alice so interesting and sweet. Hopefully we'll get more of that in the next round-b/c she becomes quite important in New Moon. And, her wig was also so bad. She's supposed to have this really cute spiky short haircut-this was some flippy bob.
Emmett: Kellan Lutz was much better than expected (he's kind of bad on 90210-but doesn't have much to work with there either). Wanted more of him even though he's not really in the book much either. He definitely looked the part physically and had the goofy attitude down.
Esme: As in the books, she was basically useless-just kind of there b/c she's in the book. She had very few lines as well. But, she's not really in any of the books either. She's kind of useless. So, the actress really had nothing to go on.
School Friends: Mike, Eric, Angela, Jessica, Tyler/Taylor (whatever his name was): They all were fairly minor in the movie-but they made their characters much more likable. Jessica is described as a lot more awful in the books and Bella kind thinks she's annoying at first. Jessica in the movie is just a lot more normal. Eric also is a lot less annoying than in the book. I was bummed that they cut Tyler/Taylor's storyline about continuously asking Bella to the prom b/c he felt bad about almost killing her-and then he shows up @ her house the night of prom. It was funny and added some lightness to everything.
