So the lion fell in love with a lamb...

Rating: 9/10 (18 March 2009)

That's my first comment, so you're allowed to show some mercy. I first saw the movie, then read the books. Also, I tend to watch a movie with a "clean slate" and afterwards take away points for the stuff that I didn't like. So, Twilight. (here there be spoilers) It's a movie based on a 500+ page book. A book about a clumsy teenage girl that falls in love with a 106-year-old, 17 years-of-age, vampire. A book told from the girl's point of view. But the vampires of Twilight are different than the ones of the Blade/Queen of the damned/Interview with vampire franchise. They don't die from sunlight, don't have longer canine teeth like a rottweiler, are impervious to silver, garlic, wooden stakes and holy water. And they also can love. Take away the fancy vampire stuff and you have a story about love. Passionate, chaste, overwhelming, restrained, irreversible, binding, unconditional and irrevocable love. Love so strong as to turn a small cold, rainy and foggy town in a garden of Eden, where a lion and a lamb can love each other. Acting was very good for my layman's eyes. Robert Pattinson was great as the dead gorgeous Edward Cullen with his inner conflict between his thirst and his love for the fragile Isabella "Bella" Swan, played by Kristen Stewart. Maybe a bit more subtlety on his part would have made this film even better. The rest of the cast are very well picked, with the smallest personal reservation on the part of Keelan Lutz(You'd expect Emmet Cullen to be much more muscular and bear-like); a bull's eye for picking Ashley Greene as tiny elf-like Alice Cullen. Directing - I liked the combining of characters, the interpretation of the book, while still staying true to it. The music was great, the visual effects not extreme. The makeup is mildly irritating initially, but afterwards you forget about it, once you're immersed in the story.
As for those who complain about the lack of character, please remember: It's always difficult to adapt a book with a 1st person narration, rich in thoughts and feelings, to a movie seen from third person. Other than that, the movie can grab you, especially if you are allowed to actually see it without being disturbed by hormone-frenzied teenager girls gasping and sighing every time the young handsome males from the cast enter the screen.
And a few words for those other reviewers whining about something they did not understand. Baseball - vampires play it during thunderstorms, because it's the only time the noise of the game cannot reach the ears of the unsuspecting humans. James bites Bella's arm right where the veins are located(and sucking of the blood is easy)
Conclusion - Don't try to compare the book to the movie. Keep your prejudices at pole's length and turn deaf years to the throngs of girls and young women and you can feel the magic and the love of the Twilight.