Twilight Movie Review

Rating: 5/10 (23 November 2008)

Honestly, I was pretty disappointed with Twilight. First off, I think Catherine Hardwicke was a really bad choice for a director. The first half of the movie was bad because she kept changing the story. I understand that it's BASED on the book and isn't word for word, but she left out too many important details. The most important would be the beginning of Edward and Bella's relationship, and how it developed into what it is. Twilight was meant to be a love story, but instead it lacked a lot of the romance that it was supposed to have. The acting was somewhat mediocre, aside from a select few. I like Kristen Stewart as Bella, but I think she overdid it with some of the scenes. The worst acting in the movie was all of Bella's friends at school. Not only was their acting horrendous, their lines were awkward and others were all thrown together at the same time. It was just chaotic when they were around, I felt like I was watching a bunch of little kids with no experience trying to act out a funny scene. I did, however, like the way Hardwicke moved scenes around a bit in the beginning to save time and to fit her budget accordingly. One unexpected but pleasant change was that she made Twilight into a bit of a romantic comedy. It would've been good if she didn't add too many opposing themes; funny and light at the beginning, but extremely serious and dramatic at the end, with absolutely no transition. What I really didn't like was her need to throw in a bunch of sloppy and "artistic" camera angles. They were too fast-paced and also took the focus off the main characters at the most critical times. The second half of the movie was a lot better because there were so many major things going on that she didn't focus on trying to make the scenes complicated looking, and she followed the script without any alterations. The soundtrack was good, but half of it was added to the film very poorly, while the other half was perfect. Twilight was supposed to be about Edward and Bella, but you couldn't really see or feel the intensity behind their love until later in the movie. It would be very confusing for someone watching it who has never read the book or understood the dynamics of their complicated relationship already. This movie had so much potential, but Hardwicke diminished the possibility of it being a hit. She tried too hard to make it look like a very modest indie film, when in fact, it isn't. The special effects weren't very impressive either, for instance when Edward walks into the sunlight. I was skeptical about watching the movie at first because I had a feeling it would ruin the original story. It definitely didn't do the book any justice. I think if someone else besides Hardwicke had directed, someone who knew what they were doing, Twilight would've been a huge success.