Very average with a few below average parts

Rating: 5/10 (8 July 2010)

Firstly, I feel I should mention I'm a 19 year old guy and so having absolutely no interest in Robert Pattinson I can give an unbiased review (I haven't read the books either).
Ooh OK, where to start? The story. For those of you who don't know it's about a girl who moves to some small town and then falls in love with a bloke. Unbeknownst to anyone the bloke happens to be a vampire...although wait for it...he doesn't drink human blood. Nor affected by garlic. Nor affected by daylight, crosses etc. I suppose that's actually a plus for me because most vampires movies simply regurgitate what Dracula did but just add CGI, anyway, it is an interesting and different view. There is not much substance to the story, no twists, not much gripping; it's just another teen love issue.
The acting is horrid. Absolutely terrible! And |I blame the direction of Hardwicke for that as much as the actors themselves. There is no engagement with the already quality limited material but their lack of emotion and ability simply compounded matters. Standouts? Billy Burke did well as did Peter Facinelli. Actually thy did very good and the only scenes I genuinely enjoyed were ones with those two in them.
Bottom line is that at the end of the movie I felt as if there was no real aim of it. Was it just something that pre-teen girls could scream at? Probably because it didn't have good actors, a good story or good directing. It was just bland and the camera work was atrocious! I'm actually getting angry and irritated now because I am thinking back to it and realising just how bad the bloody thing was!
In summary, the acting is awful. Really, really, really awful (apart from the aforementioned standouts). The story is clichéd and has no meat and the directing and camera is garbage. However, there is something, for lack of a better word, gripping about it. It's a nothing sort of movie but I did watch the whole thing and actually enjoyed a few scenes it. You wouldn't waste your time watching it but there are hundreds of other movies I would have rather watched. I would say watch it just so you can say you did because apparently people will be utterly gob- smacked when they hear you haven't seen it. Twilight in a word? Average.