A film that is fashionable to hate

Rating: 7/10 (3 July 2010)

This film has, on this site, attracted a negative reputation. But I'm not really suppressed by that, after all the previous two titles in the series also garnered a considerable degree of criticism. However, I'm not sure this criticism is warranted. I suspect many of the people who have written poor reviews and given the film a low score are jumping on the bandwagon. It seems that films like Twilight, and its offspring, have been branded as chick-flicks, ney, teenie-chick-flicks; and thus open to any criticism and without merit, by male viewers (or as I suspect in many cases individuals who have judged the film based on reputation as opposed to viewing).This view is not warranted, if you willing to remain open-minded and ignore that various male prejudices regarding the plot, the bulk of which are both juvenile and in many cases rather chauvinistic, the film is actually quite reasonable.
That is not to say that the film is not without genuine problems. For example, the primary female character Bella is an entirely two dimensional entity that fluctuates between bitter fluctuating reflection of her relationship with Jacob and morbid obsession with Edward. This results in pallid pouting through out the duration of the film. But then again, I have met self-obsessed teenagers that the film reminds me of, and in fairness Bella is equally vapid in the books. I also found the film rather patronising in places, providing sign post commentary for the most basic of observations and, rather than leave an explanation of various obvious plot developments to the intellect of the audience, instead chooses to excruciating to spell it out. But, again, the book does that too.
These issues aside, the film was actually rather good, aesthetically impressive and backed by an apt sound track. The film also kept a reasonable pace through for the duration despite being drawn from a novel in excess of 600 pages. Given the fact that the film is in excess of two hours, the achievement of retaining a good pace without condensing the plot into incoherence was most welcome. I was also impressed by the actors portraying the three main characters, given the rather bland characters Meyer provided them to work with, I thought they did a lot. There is also something to be said for the films gender politics. On the one hand I am not a fan of Meyer's literary attempt at an advert for 'Purity rings', but it is hard to blame the film for addressing the central underlying theme of the source material. On the other, however, it is good to see a Hollywood franchise attempting to cater for a female audience by placing male flesh on display; as opposed to the typical routine of filling films with breasts and bottoms in an attempt to add appeal for teenage boys. For too long film makers have seen the female body as a commodity, and at last they have begun to broaden their horizons. But most of all the film was, despite its various flaws and vapid characters (all of which can be placed at the door of the author), was actually entertaining and I left the cinema not feeling as if I had been cheated. While I did not have quite the same admiration for the film as many of the rapturous individuals in the packed screening I attended, both myself and my girlfriend, who is not a fan of the series I should add, both enjoyed it.
So all in all I thought this film was a flawed, if, fair effort and that much of the criticism surrounding it is simply because it is Twilight film, and that such an enterprise will always attract a negative, and unwarranted, reputation.