Bad, but better than the book

Rating: 2/10 (26 November 2008)

I found Twilight to be one of the worst books I had ever read. In addition to just bad prose, lame dialog and sloppy editing, it also contained an awkward, naive, meek, hero-worshiping and foolish heroine - the antithesis of the modern, emancipated and confident woman I want my daughters to become. Besides, the plot was really thin and predictable and in the book all the nail biters are actually just hear-say, as Bella (the narrator) doesn't participate in them: Bella is in the hotel while the Cullens chase James and is out cold when they defeat him in the Ballet Studio.
So when my kids told me they had to see the movie just to talk intelligently about it in school I wasn't exactly thrilled. But I agreed with their reasoning and tried to convince myself that the movie could only be superior to the book.
In some ways the latter was confirmed. The chemistry between the two protagonists came across better in the movie than in the book and I was spared some of the silly details of Bella's homely life. They also added the chase and fight scenes that the book only thinly narrates.
But, boy could this have been a better movie with the right writing and directing. Why not take the main ideas that make this story new and make something thought-provoking and fun out of it? So, vampires live among us and they are strong, fast and beautiful and of course have many decades of life's experiences. They can opt not to be bad, but it's a tough choice. They can fall in love, even with a human. The monumental struggle and life-altering decision-making process in such a partnership, peppered with external adversities from narrow-minded humans or the carnivorous branch of the vampire species could have been very meaningful and entertaining.
But instead the director cashed in on the book's main draw for the mostly female teenage audience: A gorgeous male lead with superhuman powers and a riveting background who falls unconditionally in love with a 'normal' girl. This girl is envied by her peers for making such a catch and is cherished, guided and protected by her 'hero'. The intelligence of the dialog never gets past the levels of "I love you", "I want to be with you forever" oh, yeah and "you are so beautiful". Additionally, there are many films with much lower budgets and less known actors but better directing, acting and editing.
I am sure Catherine Hardwicke actually made the right economic choice by staying close to the book's premise, as the current box office results suggest. But the large studios will hopefully not see the success of the movie as an accomplishment of the director or even the author, but rather as an indication that they have so far under-served the film's main demographic group: You can still lure female teenagers with Cinderella stories, the more fantastic the better - just make sure you cast a stunner as the prince.