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Rating: 3/10 (30 October 2009)

This movie to me was laughably bad. As if we needed another vampire movie let alone another vampire novel!
The only thing that kept me watching this movie was that I was laughing the entire time. The acting was generally substandard and the scriptwriting was a poor adaptation of an already mediocre novel. The only good acting job I had found was Peter Facinelli as Dr. Carlisle Cullen. His part (the classic role of the patriarch vampire teaching those he had turned) was played very well in the whole pursuit of, "making the fantasy believable," that has always been a primary concern for fantasy writers.
Another element that I did not mind and that was Cam Gigandet's portrayal of James, which was a throwback to the Lost Boys. This is also likely credited to the director Catherine Hardwicke.
I thought visually, Pattinson was a good choice for the role of Edward, but I found Edward to be not only passé, but a very weak character (the compassionate vampire who thinks and acts like a depressed teen, and not the 80-90 something year old vampire he is supposed to be)in the movie. It appeared as though what was supposed to make us believe he was that old were simple visual strategies of books and graduation caps in his home, while the acting seemed very one dimensional. Whether it is the writing or the acting that failed to deliver is still unclear to me, but I am leaning towards the writing. My reasoning is it seems Stephenie Meyer ripped the character "Louis," from Anne Rice's novel "Interview With The Vampire," turned him into a boy and created "Edward."
Bella was played by Kristen Stewart, who seemed to be playing her part. The anxiety riddled teenage girl who deals with her nerves by retracting socially and showing little emotion. The only problem is that when you do connect with someone like that, they open up and often beam with personality, and when she was connected with, she still didn't open up. There is an extreme duality in a person like that, and Bella appears to be more of a psychopath than an anxious and confused teen. This is apparent to myself in the scenes where she is interacting with Edward and emotions are addressed directly but not expressed in other than words and transparently forced gestures.
The fact that they are adapting the sequel is a testament to the notion that even bad movies and okay novels can be successful if you market them correctly. I would not be surprised if the sequel were to flop.