Not the best movie ever, but not the train wreck I was expecting.

Rating: 6/10 (16 September 2009)

Ah, the much debated vampire movie based on that ever popular book series. Now, I'll be up front and totally honest with you: I had no desire to see this movie. Based on the previews, the plot and the, let's be honest here, overall demographic of fans (insane preteen/teen girls) of this series, I didn't think it was for me.
But there's this guy I was working with at the time who assured me it wasn't nearly as girly as it was made out to be and I should give it a shot. So I did and, frankly, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Do I still get all the hoopla? Not really. I understand the Harry Potter craze (and still easily prefer the boy wizard over this stuff), but I just don't get the craziness surrounding this.
The movie was entertaining and and well done for the most part, but if I were so inclined, I could probably rip it to shreds. But I found myself drawn into the story and the acting was decent enough, so it didn't bore me to tears for two hours.
My main problem was actually that there didn't seem to be much conflict until the end when it was as if the movie decided "Hey, we're making a movie about vampires here, we better have some bad guys fight some good guys", and seemed a bit rushed. Of course, this is just part one of a larger story, so I'm sure that plays into it, but I was just viewing it as one movie, not a part of a larger whole.
Anyways, the movie was enjoyable enough that I'll probably check out the sequel but not mind blowingly awesome that I'll check it out the moment it hits theaters.