Twilight

Rating: 4/10 (19 November 2008)

I'm an avid Twilight reader and stalker (yes I went to Hot Topic tour.) I can't remember a time when I was SO anxious and excited to see a movie. I just saw Twilight at a screening in San Francisco on 11/17. I left the theatre feeling..indifferent.
First of all, I knew the movie was not going to be based exactly to the books but at the same time it kind of hurts me to say that it just wasn't good. ~sigh I felt that the director Catherine tried to bring her indie elements into the Hollywood style movie that just didn't work. The opening scene with the deer was alright, but I was just about to laugh out loud when the movie got to Edward and Bella finally acknowledging what Edward truly was. This was the biggest issue I had. I didn't think viewers were able to experience the intensity of Bella and Edward relationship. I wouldn't believe that Bella was ready to place her undying pledge to go vamp at the end. The scene was so choppy, where it felt like the scene was full of greatest hits of one liners all cram into this one scene. It wasn't the turning point as where it should have been. The movie was clearly not based on romance, which is the ultimate theme of the book. The movie hastily breezed through the courtship development to finally get to the lingering action sequence.
I like Robert but he just couldn't pull off a convincing Edward. His reaction to Bella in Biology class was just laughable. Again Catherine trying to pull the artsy camera cuts--- silly, silly. Jasper's reaction was humorous also.
Edward's showing Bella who he was in the sun was not remarkable. His body hardly glisten. Couldn't they get Britney's Swarovski body suit from her "Toxic" video? The movie nicely brought out Rosalie's dislike for Bella. Alice was very convincing and good. Carlise was attractive and fitting.
I was surprised by the diverse student body of Forks. I liked Jessica a lot. It was hard to see her as the small minded character as how she was written in the book.
All in all, this movie wasn't made for fans of the book, but to lure moviegoers into (hopefully) the film franchise.
Little things that could have been included in the movie to make the readers happy wasn't included. Such as why couldn't Bella wear the blue V neck sweater when meeting the Cullens for the first time? Why couldn't Bella attack Edward on the onset of their first kiss? Why couldn't Edward's couch be black? Why did James bite Bella on her forearm and not her hand?
As a Twilighter, I think I may go see it again just to see if my reactions change, but I wouldn't recommend this film to any non-Twilighters.