For Twilight-Fans: Yes, but not for the rest of the world

Rating: 4/10 (5 December 2008)

All in all the film was very disappointing. First, I believe that Robert Pattinson is a good actor, but unfortunately he could not really show what he's got because Hardwicke seems to have thought that plain close ups of his face to simply present him like a super model would be enough. Too bad, I believe he would have been able to convey what Edward is described as in the book - if someone had let him. Concerning Kirsten Stewart, I don't want to get into it much, I do not think she is a good actress and that was confirmed seeing her in Twilight. The dialogue was confusing, sometimes it seemed like the characters were just babbling, it was trivial (which was not like that in the book) and did not seem to be helping the audience understand what was going on. Also, the film as a whole is very confusing for people who have not read the book. A lot is left out or cut short (which is worse then leaving things out), so the scenes do not seem connected but rather loose and this held the viewer away from getting into it, or "diving" into the story. The cinematography was also weird and at times did not fit either. Some techniques just did not make sense. It did not help underlining special moments at all but rather seemed exaggerated as well as out of place.
I read the books and liked them, but I am not that much of a Twilight fan. I was disappointed by the film and trying to see it as objectively as possible I came to the conclusion, that I do not recommend it to people who do not call themselves "Twilighters" or "Twi-hards". I think the real fans love the books too much to not like what has happened at the attempt to visualize them. It was easy for me to follow & understand everything but again, only because I read the book. I was disappointed and felt bad for Robert Pattinson who is probably getting a lot of acting-concerning criticism now for what are actually the directors mistakes.
All in all it can be said that "Twilight" is a film for the die hard TWilight fans and Robert-Pattinson-Lovers and there are definitely a lot out there, which explains why this film made so much money. Concerning the rest of the world I think it might not be THE film 2008 for its lack of cinematic quality. Besides, people just don't get what is going on. I know from friends who did not read the book that they could not understand the part with the "Tracker" or the conflict between Edward and the Quileute - just to name a few.
My personal highlight of the film was the baseball scene btw. And the soundtrack does a 180 compared to the film. Its a helluva soundtrack. Thumbs up for that.