Stunning dark and intense fantasy romance

Rating: 9/10 (3 January 2009)

Bella Swan's (Stewart) life changes when she falls in love with vampire Edward Cullen (Pattinson) Based on Stephanie Meyer's series, Twilight was the eagerly anticipated teen film of 2008 after the move of Harry Potter 6 to 2009.
The 4 novels have grossed millions worldwide and is no surprise with the heart stopping romantic fantasy about an ordinary girl and a vampire who want to be together and after fulfilling teenage girl's fantasies, this film had a massive weight on its shoulders and thankfully it has managed to stay grounded and do justice to the first novel and will undoubtedly fulfil fan's requirements.
The imagination of the book to take a love story and put a fantasy twist right at its core was genius by Meyer and this adaptation is far darker and more action packed than the novel, which is a great thing. If there was one thing the novel lacked it was a strong middle. There was a lot of repetition that dragged but here we see intensity and a strong hold on to Bella's tale.
The story never lacks and whilst die hard fans may feel disappointed by scenes missing from the book, it is a wonderful adaptation that generates that same strong feeling of love and lust.
If there is one film out there that has the most attractive cast then this is it. Everyone is slim, groomed, interesting and no doubt what teens want to see.
Kristen Stewart (Into the Wild) continues her rise to Hollywood with a wonderful representation of Bella but it will be Robert Pattinson's (Harry Potter 4) portrayal of the vampire that will get the fans talking. Dark, mysterious and attractive, he is the eye candy of the film and simply IS Edward Cullen right down to the bronze eyes.
There are great performances all round by an excellent supporting cast which in particular has a dark turn from Cam Gigandet as evil vampire James.
The settings help justify those from the book and there is a fantastic moment when Edward takes Bella up a tree to look at the lake below, which is romantic brilliance.
One stand out factor of this film was Hardwicke's choice of direction. The continuous use of extreme close shots of the character's eyes helps generate that feeling of intensity which ultimately gives the film that tense and exciting feeling.
Twilight is a fine adaptation with an attractive well performing cast that just about betters the best selling novel.