Bland

Rating: 5/10 (16 January 2010)

TWILIGHT is an audience-directed film: the popularity of the ongoing teenager vampire/werewolf series of novels by Stephanie Meyer will most assuredly pull in all the readers to see what these characters look like. And that is what we get with TWILIGHT - a movie created by screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg from Meyer's novel and directed by Catherine Hardwick that stays pretty much in the 'twilight' tones of the Washington state overcast atmosphere. The actors are for the most part young newcomers (with the exception of some like Billy Burke as the father of the teenage star) and since they are given little to say or do other than wander around the school or blend into the shadows of the woods it is difficult to ascertain the quality of acting.
Kristen Stewart is the monotoned Bella, confused yet lusting after the 'don't come out in the daylight' vampire Edward (Robert Pattinson) who is equally attracted to but fearful of revealing his true identity to Bella. There are of course, in addition to the usual fellow students concentrating on the Prom, two vampire groups (one eats animal flesh, the other the more traditional human blood) and then there are the 'native American Indians who have secrets of ancestry of their own. We do get to meet the very young lead for the next episode - Taylor Lautner as an interesting variation on the werewolf type, and there are some interesting minor roles for Peter Facinelli and Elizabeth Reaser of TV fame. This is not a bad film at all and for those who are avoiding it because of all the money spent on PR hoopla, it is an entertaining diversion. Keep expectations low and you'll probably be surprised.
Grady Harp