Poorly done in an odd way

Rating: 6/10 (29 November 2008)

First, the good news: Scene location and set dressing was very good. Assistant Directing, as seen by the fact that the extras and bit players did an excellent job and the job of managing them is usually given to an AD, was excellent. Wardrobe was good as well. The make up was second rate but okay. Continuity was fair to good. The set designer did an excellent job.
Bad News: The musical score was horrid and poorly edited. The music suggested to me a cell phone conversation going on behind me for how it distracted. The screen play was rushed and out of cadence. It suggested that the screenplay was written by a pack of rushed and angry Girl Scouts, some of whom read the book. The entire movie had the feel of a poorly written Cliff Notes read at a slumber party. For instance, who chose that mid sized town? That was a BIG mistake. If you are going to alter the book, do so in a manner that compliments the visual medium of a 'film'.
The main actors had the potential to do well but, in my opinion, their miscues and poor cadence was a directing error and did the main actors no justice. Whomever coached or directed the extras and bit players should have directed the rest of the movie.
All in all, I was vastly disappointed with the film. Some might say, okay, tell us what you would have done! Okay, first, the washed out, falsely 'indie' nature of the initial scene in Phoenix could have lead to the slowly resolving clear, crisp greens of Forks (ala Wizard of Oz when Dorothy steps out of her house in Oz)as she falls in love. Hell, give me a reason she fell in love (missing from the visual media). The wings behind the vampire (white owl wings) suggested a movie filled with interesting metaphorical scenes (ala an old fashioned 'European' film) but that hope faded as well. Oh, and did I say the sound track was horrid? An after school club full of Junior High students with MP3 players and access to third rate instrument packages found in the toy section of Wal Mart could have done better. The only passable music came at the end.
The movie sucked all the life out of the book and left a dry husk to stumble about in front of a camera whose motions were directed by a disinterested person named 'director' for some reason. In that regard, the movie was pornography with the actors wearing clothing and the sex scenes as washed out and empty caricatures of the emotions barely perceived in the background.
I welcome rebuttal.