Not a teen chick-flick, surprisingly enough!

Rating: 8/10 (30 November 2008)

Okay, so to give you guys a little bit of perspective here, I am a 15 year old girl that loves the vampire genre, anywhere from Underworld to Buffy to True Blood to the Amelia Atwater- Rhodes vampire series. But I was not one of those "Oh, Edward Cullen is so hot" girls, and I dismissed Twilight as an overrated teen chick-flick, and in spite of what anyone told me, I was against seeing it.
Yet curiosity got the best of me, and I saw the movie. And boy, was I wrong.
Strongest point? Bella! She's played wonderfully by Kristen Stewart as well as not hard on the eyes (keep in mind I'm Kate Beckinsale's biggest fan, and am also fans of Sarah Michelle Gellar, Anne Paquin sensing a pattern here?), and she pulls off the role pretty well. Her reactions are pretty realistic (as realistic as a movie about vampires can be), and she behaves like most normal girls would.
Weakest point? The chemistry. Sorry girls, but Edward Cullen & Bella did not cut it for me. Not that his looks or acting was particularly horrendous, but it's just that the chemistry between Edward and Bella didn't kick in until about halfway through the movie, when the action begins and overshadows the relationship anyway. All the time spent into building up the relationship was, in my opinion, wasted.
Plot Definitely a strong one. It's kind of an old one by now  human falls for vampire, vampire falls for human, and chaos ensues. The story seems pretty similar to the Underworld movies, and some elements from the True Blood series are mixed in as well. (And, for the record, the Sookie Stackhouse stories were published a full four years before that of Twilight) It is pretty original, however, in that Edward quickly shows his human side, instead of the way it was in Underworld (which took a full movie) and True Blood (Bill shows a short glimpse at the end of the second novel), and this proves to be rather refreshing. Without giving away too much, there is definitely a point to the story, which was what I was afraid this movie would be lacking.
So where's the personal touch in this review? I came into this movie thinking, "Oh my God, this will be a monumental waste of 122 minutes of my life that I will never get back." Then again, I thought the same thing about Hancock and was pleasantly surprised there, too. Same here.
The movie is in no way a bland teen movie, and definitely not a chick-flick. There is enough action and storyline to go around, and some romance if that's what you're looking for. I have not read the books yet, but I am certainly looking forward to reading them now.
So in the end, the equation is (if every element is 2 points): Vampires + plot + characters + kept my attention for 122 minutes + makes me want to see it again  chemistry = 8.0/10.0 ---- FINAL VERDICT ---- Definitely worth checking out!!