Review: Twilight

Rating: 7/10 (5 December 2008)

As soon as the credit rolled, I completely understand what made girls around the globe went crazy for this book series, because Edward is the kind of guy who doesn't exist in real life. He's moody, secretive and utterly handsome young man (who happened to be vampire). For girls, he's an absolute dream guy. And Bella, a naive young girl who fall for his charm, is a character that every women on this planet wish to be in her position.
Well, I adore the concept of "Love Conquer Everything" in cinema. I love every moment happened in Baz Luhrmann's body of work. His masterpiece Moulin Rouge!, for me, is an ultimate love story that will take you for an epic journey of passion. As well as his directorial debut Strictly Ballroom, the movie that didn't really mind for any cause, reason, motive or whatever that will make it at least believable. And yet it worked out just fine and made me root for our heroes every second on-screen.
But that's just me. I know these kinds of films often fall into the category of "cheesy" or "cliché" or "melodrama". So what's wrong? Maybe people confused between good kinds of melodrama and bad one. But what is good or bad anyway? Well, as far as I know, there is no qualification for it. And I think that's great thing about this genre, it's entirely based on your feeling, whether you hate or love them. It's not like an action movie when crappy stunts tend to make you know that it's poorly done.
OK, I haven't said anything about Twilight yet (and it's already three paragraphs). Well, let's just say that I "feel" love for this film. There's a lot of passionate feeling floating around the town of Forks. Everybody in this film seems to know what they should do on-screen. I think what the director, Catharine Hardwicke, achieved was she knows what to offer (and what's not). Every unmentioned gestures, every character's tendencies, made me realize how determined she was.
You simply can't avoid using corny dialogs when you turn this kind of book into film. But with the situation on-screen and their determination, it kinds of made me moved. I didn't fall head over heel like some girls in theater. But considering that those lines are guaranteed cringe-inducing for most heterosexual male, I think they accomplished for whatever they did.
I'm glad to say that two leads are surprisingly effective, Rob Pattinson does not only have the look, but he also embodied the titular character so perfectly. Edward is not real person, and he understands it. His ethereal manners will indeed make most of the girl swoon. His counterpart, Kristen Stewart is also believable. Her narration wasn't deadpan like I expected. Many people complain about why she madly in love with the hunk so easily. Well, if you felt this way, maybe this story is not really for you afterall.
Waitaccording to my review so far, you guys must think that I will bestow it as best film of 2008, right? Well, no. Because even though I have a good feeling about it, I don't really think that it is an exceptional great movie. Important scenes like meadow scene was astonishingly bad (poorly edited and that "diamond skin" effect made me feel depressed). And Baseball scene was not as spectacular as it was described by everybody (Have I told you that I haven't read a book?).
And the most important of all, a missing ingredient that made this film fails to be placed with other classic melodrama, is CHEMISTRY. Pattinson and Stewart are looking great individually. But together, they gave some audience (like me) a hollow feeling. It's not like they've a zero chemistry going on between them. But they're just left me want for something more. Anyway, since this thing can be fixed (Sequel is ensured by 70m opening), so I'm eager to see what they will do in the next film.
Make no mistake, maybe it's not quite good (and everybody seemed to know), but this is the film that will shot through your heart (if you're into this kind of thing). For me, the quality of this film will make no different. People will either absolutely love it or loath it. As for me, well, I'll let my review do the talking.