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Dir. Catherine Hardwicke
Rating: 6.0 | 0 User Reviews | Send to Friend
The release date for the long-awaited Twilight movie could not have come soon enough for teenage girls around the world. If you haven’t heard of the best-selling book series by Stephanie Meyer, or the cult following of tweener girls surrounding it, your probably over 20 and/or a boy. The film opens as Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) moves from sunny Phoenix to live with her father, Charlie (Billy Burke), in a town called Forks, somewhere in Washington state. At her new school, she quickly catches the eye of a beautifully pale, intimidating boy named Edward Cullen (Robert Pattison) who just so happens to be a vampire. The good news is Edward and everyone else in his "adoptive family" have adopted a controversial philosophy that embraces a non-human diet, allowing Edward to court Bella without risk to her arteries. Standing in the way of their developing relationship, however, is a trio of "bad vamps" who don't follow the Cullen family's diet plan and begin to jeopardize the Cullen's cover as normal citizens. Despite the presence of the undead, the film largely stays away from blood and gore and, instead, focuses on the unlikely couple and their, um, undying love. Unfortunately, the first third of the film, which drags along somewhat mechanically, finds Stewart doing little to prove she can live up to the Bella that readers have imagined; most of her acting seems relatively forced. It isn't until Bella and Edward give into their mutual attraction that Stewart finally takes control of the character, who is too busy falling head over heels in love to properly weigh the risks. Freudians, if any are still out there, might roll their eyes, but fans can thank Stephanie Meyer for overseeing the creation of the screenplay (credited to Melissa Rosenberg) and keeping it relatively accurate to the book -- with the exception of a few, added clunkers ("You're my own brand of heroine"). Director Catherine Hardwicke’s precision with the camera works well to capture the swift movements of the vampires who, naturally, can run at super fast speeds. Never more true than near the film's climax, when the Cullens play a unique game of baseball that gets interrupted by the bad vamps, a scene that basks in the combined magic of digital effects and slow motion. When all is said and done, the movie version of this new age love story ties together just enough action and romance to make it work, though it might be a close call for anyone not already infatuated with the novels.
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