These vampires are different

Rating: 7/10 (23 August 2011)

Not being anywhere near the target demographic I had no intention of watching this film but when it was on television and there was nothing else of interest on I decided to see what all the fuss was about. I must say that is was better than I'd expected; the story was pretty good, there were some child-friendly scares and a few laughs. 'Twilight' is the story of Isabella a seventeen year-old girl who moves from Phoenix, Arizona to the small town of Forks in Washington State. At here new school she meets a boy by the name of Edward Cullen; he and his family keep apart from the other children but he is drawn to her in the same way that she is drawn to him. He tries to keep away from her and to persuade her to keep away from him but that just seems to make her more interested. Eventually she learns the secret of his family; they are vampires! Unlike other vampires they only feed on animals and accept Bella even though she isn't one of them. They might not be a threat but other vampires are; especially one who has been killing people locally and has decided that Bella will be interesting prey because of another vampire's desire to protect her. Bella flees but is pursued; she is in real danger unless Edward and his family can kill the vampire who wants to kill her.
I was surprised that I rather enjoyed this; not enough to rush out and buy it on DVD but I expect I'll watch further instalments when they are on television. Kristen Stewart did a good job as Bella and Robert Pattinson was fine as Edward even if his hair did make him look too much of a pretty-boy to be taken that seriously as a potentially dangerous creature! The story was quite good and the characters were well established by the time of the final confrontation. Many people I've heard talking about this film criticise it for radically changing the vampire mythology; instead of bursting into flames in sunlight the sparkle! This change didn't bother me too much; the only real criticism I have is that it went on a little too long after the 'final' confrontation and it wasn't subtle in setting up the fact that there will be further films although that shouldn't surprise anybody given that it is based on the first of a series of books. I wouldn't recommend that everybody rushes to see this film but if it is on television it is worth watching even if you aren't in the target demographic.