It surprised me...

Rating: 7/10 (1 July 2010)

We all need to remember that it is a Twilight Series film that we are reviewing here. It never has, and never will be, a great piece of art. By giving this the rating I have I am in no way comparing it to silver screen legends. It will never stand the face of time, and this rating is purely based on how enjoyable I found the experience of watching it, keeping a comparison of the previous two in mind. Remember that there is only so much a director and screenwriter can do with the material they are given (which in this case, as anyone who has read the novels will know, is pages upon pages of lovelorn fluff and faux danger). To me, anyone that could make something remotely entertaining and enjoyable from this source material is a sheer genius.
That being said, I don't think David Slade is one. Very rarely could I see his true cinematic tact and I did feel that he held back a lot in creating this one. This was definitely not his true artistic vision. However, of all three directors who have taken the reigns on these projects, his work is by far the superior of the three. Melissa Rosenberg also surprised me in this one. Despite never really being a fan of her work and still believing that she is probably the worst thing that happened to these movies, the fact that she included many humorous and tongue- in-cheek moments within the goofy dialogue actually made watching the film slightly less cringe-worthy than the previous two.
Perhaps these factors, mixed with the inclusion of probably the closest idea of a real plot line that the series will ever have, actually surprised me in creating what I would say is a fairly enjoyable film. I am not going to lie, there were still strings of dialogue that literally had me cringing in my seat, but they were much fewer and farther between than we saw in New Moon. The storyline felt as if it was constantly in motion; it never sat stagnating on the screen. Just when a sequence became a little too drawn out, it would move right along nicely. Most important of all, I actually felt that these characters, for the first time, truly felt for one another - particularly recurring non-main characters like Alice and Jasper.
Look, its obviously not the best film I've ever seen, but it did keep me fairly entertained for two hours and I did find myself, in a series first, actually engaging with the characters. Twilight and New Moon felt oddly detached and indifferent to me, but this one seemed to stick. I actually smiled and laughed and FELT for them where I previously hadn't. I've never sympathized with the characters and watching this I felt just a glimmer of a connection. Just a glimmer, mind you. It should honestly be much more than that.