Has 'missed opportunity' written all over it

Rating: 3/10 (24 July 2009)

First of all, the way I feel about this movie may have much to do with the fact that the intended audience for this movie is quite a bit younger than that I am, since what bothers me might be less important for the audience intended (I'd say female, somewhere around 16 years old?).
I read the book beforehand, and it simply has too much details and things happening to have made this movie true to the book. In order to squeeze this into 1,5 hours of movie, many things were changed a bit and chronologically shifted, but its not affecting the story as it is meant to be.
The squeezing however also made this movie a torment to watch. There is NO tension buildup whatsoever and it is more of a row of things that happen than a story. You can really just watch the movie a bit, pause it and go for beer or the toilet, have a telephone conversation, and go on exactly where you were in the movie without having the feeling that you just killed your 'movie focus/feeling'. This is a crime for any movie, to my eyes.
The best illustration of the inadequacy of the director of this movie is the the scene in which James comes into the movie. The entrance is convincing, but everything that follows is just absolutely laughable in every way (literally: I actually laughed). Playing kittens are more frightening, really. Please go watch some horror or thriller movies, please, miss director, before trying to capture hostility and especially tension. This is a disgrace.
Then on to the behaviour of the characters. My biggest problem not concerning the acting (which I will comment on next) is the way the personalities were portrayed. Edward should have been completely on top of his game: he has lived for dozens of years and is a self-confident person; the nice thing about this is the extreme contrast to the clumsiness of Bella. There are moments in the movie where this is shown, for instance where Bella drops an apple and Edward catches it, but for the rest his movements (besides the cool way of walking, I liked that!) are ordinary and sometimes downright clumsy (take for instance when he leans over Bella against a tree: watch the indecisive left hand grabbling on the tree). As for Bella, she should be clumsy and insecure about herself. In the movie the first was portrayed by just letting Bella trip randomly now or then, the second wasn't portrayed AT ALL. But this might have something to do with the acting, which was horrible at some points, making the torment of the storytelling even more torturing.
In contrast to the excellent acting performance by Edward Cullen stands the horrifying performance by Bella Swan. The whole movie through she seems to be unable to close her mouth nor move the corners of her mouth in any other position than downward. In fact, the expression on her face (what expression?) did not change AT ALL during the whole movie, including the sound (tone, pitch) of her voice. In short: this performance was WAY inadequate and an insult to the acting of Edward Cullen. I do not understand anyone stating that the chemistry between the two was electrifying. The simply just wasn't any, although Edward tried his very best.
Then we have the fact that Jessica just cannot act. Period. Luckily she has a small role, but it cannot be hidden to the eyes and ears that she just doesn't have it. All of us can say a studied line and pretend we are acting. Not a big deal.
The casting of Jacob Black is probably another artifact of the audience this movie is intended for. It is just laughable. This is nowhere near the way Jacob Black is portrayed in the book: this is some boy-band baby-face semi-Indian straight out of some cosmetics commercial, not a self-respecting Indian from a reserve who is supposed to be a little 'blushing' from time to time. He is supposed to have a bit of a mysterious vibe to him. There just isn't any magic to the role in the movie.
To close my comment on the acting and casting on a more positive note: the performances of the whole Cullen family is above average and actually very good (with maybe the exception of Emmett (you might remember the boy-band Five, well, he could very well have been a member), but it is not annoying in anyway to the movie, so I won't comment on that). They are the sole reason for the three stars I still give this movie. Or well, maybe also the CGI, which is convincing to my eyes, although others here have found it to be inadequate (and this comes from someone who thinks 'Chronicles of Narnia' had very bad CGI).
So in short, to make this movie what it could have been: (1) recast Bella Swan, Jacob Black and Jessica, (2) replace the director with someone who knows how to do storytelling and display characters emotions and above all tension buildup.
If after reading this comment you still want to go see this movie, make sure you have read the book, because it will do two things for you: (1) make sure you understand everything that happens and (2) make you able to construct the story aspect yourself from your experiences reading the book.
By the way, for an acting comparison to Bella Swan (supposed to be the same age), see for instance the German movie 'Die Wolke'. GREAT acting and GREAT storytelling. This is how this movie should have been.