The Script and Screenplay Were Foul

Rating: 4/10 (8 January 2009)

While the film makers didn't exactly have that much to work with (let's face it, Stephenie Meyer didn't give them much of a plot or character development,) she laid out exactly what the characters' looks were, and mentioned their apparently interesting characteristics quite often(each character has their flaws or physical appearance mentioned almost non-stop throughout the book; as if we couldn't surmise for ourselves that Bella is clumsy from the dozen times she trips, she has to tell us this herself... and I think Edwards honey/topaz/golden/whatever-color eyes are mentioned to the point of being excessive as well.)
But, while reading Twilight, I was able to create some nice pictures in my mind and could, at times, relate well to Bella's character. The movie however, often had me cringing at its stupidity. To each his own I guess, but the script is often my favorite part of a movie. And the script for this movie was, for the most part, laughably bad. Granted, Stephanie Meyer didn't really give them much interesting dialog to work with, but honestly, I think monkeys were mentioned at least twice in the movie as an affectionate term (did somebody who worked on this movie have some kind of monkey fetish? I never once read about a spider monkey in the book and I definitely don't remember any being mentioned in the baseball chapter)and the infamous forest scene used in the trailer had some of the most unnatural sounding dialog I've ever heard. Stephenie Meyer has mentioned that she prides herself on trying to portray realistic characters and reactions in extraordinary circumstances. Kristin Stewart's hollow list, during which she let's us know that Edward's "skin is pale white and ice cold...(he's) impossibly strong...and fast..." to be capped off with the hilariously over dramatic "Say it!"...."Vampire!" was just waiting to be mocked when the first trailers came out online. (The spoof on youtube is highly entertaining, I'd recommend it.)
I know everybody's bashing the acting and all, but I thought Robert Pattinson did a pretty good job. He sold me, which surprised me, because I didn't initially find him attractive, but I still believed him to be the character. And Kristin Stewart did pretty well as Bella, I thought. Really, the parts that made me laugh had more to do with the way they were told to act: Jasper's pained expression was odd to me, and Edward's first smelling of Bella in Biology was so blatantly shoved down our throats (his hand went right to his face and he got this pained expression like he was about to vomit, really, in the book he is described as looking angry and grips the desk in order to control himself. As if a well-conditioned vampire would cover his nose and mouth like in such a wimpy fashion!)
And don't even get me started on the useless bits added in that were not in the book and did not add to the movie at all. They certainly could have filled these useless portions with more development for the love story, greater character development, or just more views of the beautiful scenery, which I thought was done quite nicely. The leafy Washington landscape had just the murky, wet feel that I expected and made me really want to take a trip there. And while we're on the subject of artistic direction, let me say that the cool closeup of Robert Pattinson's eyes was pretty spectacular. I mean, with the many mentions Stephanie Meyer makes of them, I guess they'd better look awesome.
I give it 4 stars for its look and decent acting. I can forgive many of the actors not being as I pictured them, but I cannot forgive such lousy screenplay, script, and whoever it was who told the actors to exaggerate the way that they did (I'm assuming it was the director?)
I've come to a concession. Those who give the film 10 stars seem to be either very generous and forgiving, know nothing about what makes a decent film, blinded by Robert Pattinson's looks, just plain obsessive or crazy, or a combination of all of those. Honestly, calling it the "Best Movie Everrr!!!" is going a bit far, even if you really liked it. Anyone who looks at it objectively can see that it's got its problems. Even if you're willing to forgive those problems, you can't exactly call it a cinematic masterpiece, can you?