Twilight Film Review
Twilight is based on the best-selling young adult (YA) novel of the same name by Stephenie Meyer and features the Romeo and Juliet-esque story of star crossed lovers. The film stars Robert Pattinson (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) as Edward Cullen, the sensitive and brooding vampire with a heart, and Kristen Stewart (The Messengers) as Bella Swan (get it?), the graceless new girl who doesn’t realize she’s beautiful and is uprooted from Phoenix to remote Forks, Washington, where she sticks out like a sore thumb.
(Bella ends up in Forks after her mother remarries and needs to relocate to Florida, thus leaving Bella the option of Florida or the dark, dank, rainy podunk town of Forks, where her father lives and works. She chooses Forks.)
Although she’s not one to strive to fit in, and she doesn’t seem to care too much what others think of her, Bella does manage to repel the one person she is intrigued by, Edward. And while he may appear to be a slightly paler average teenager, albeit with a chiseled, model face, Edward can outrun a mountain lion, stop a moving car with his bare hands, scale a towering pine tree in seconds, and fly like the wind. He’s also a “vegetarian” vampire (he and his “family” don’t drink human blood).
But when Bella discovers that the boy she likes is undead, of course she only wants him more. (Parents take heart– their PG-13 love never goes beyond kissing.)
Things aren’t easy for the pair, though, especially when three “wild” vamps, James (Cam Gigandet), Laurent (Edi Gathegi), and Victoria (Rachel Lefevre), come to town and get a whiff of Bella.
Twilight offers a fresh take on vampires, as there are no fangs to be seen, these vamps aren’t effected by garlic and they don’t burst into flames in the sunlight (instead, sunlight makes them appear even more beautiful than they already are).
The film is directed by Catherine Hardwicke (Lords of Dogtown, Thirteen) and adapted for the screen by Melissa Rosenberg.
It also stars Billy Burke (“My Boys”, “24”) as Charlie Swan, Bella’s father; relative newcomer Ashley Greene as Alice Cullen (in probably the best bit of casting in the whole film); Nikki Reed (Thirteen, Lords of Dogtown) as Rosalie Hale; Jackson Rathbone as Jasper Hale (I think he may have had one line in the entire film, and I’m pretty sure he thought he was playing Edward Scissorhands); Kellan Lutz (“90210”) as Emmett Cullen; Peter Facinelli (“Damages”, “Six Feet Under”) as Dr. Carlisle Cullen; Cam Gigandet (“The O.C.”) as James; Taylor Lautner (“My Own Worst Enemy”) as Jacob Black; Anna Kendrick as Jessica; Michael Welch (“The Riches”, “Joan of Arcadia”) as Mike; Christian Serratos as Angela; Gil Birmingham as Billy Black; Elizabeth Reaser (“Grey’s Anatomy”) as Esme Cullen; Edi Gathegi (Gone Baby Gone) as Laurent; Rachelle Lefevre (“Swingtown”, “CSI”) as Victoria; Sarah Clarke (“24”) as Renee, Bella’s mom; and the author, Meyer, who makes a cameo toward the middle of the movie.
While Twilight is definitely aimed at teens and ‘tweens, there’s enough entertainment via gorgeous cinematography, cool special effects and action to keep adults at least mildly entertained. For those who are fans of the books, the film does not disappoint. Plus the door was left wide open for, at the very least, a sequel.