Twilight movie review: what worked, what failed miserably, and how the movie measures up to the book

November 22, 5:57 AMBook ExaminerMichelle Kerns

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        Twilight: heart-thumpingly good or D.O.A?

Well, well, well. It's been a long time since I have been so eager to see -- and dissect -- the film manifestation of a popular book. That, of course, is one of the joys of reading books and then seeing their metamorphoses onto the big screen: not only do you get to talk at length about the book, you can talk at length about the movie too. And let me just say, the Twilight movie is going to give fans enough to talk (and argue) about to last several vampire lifetimes.

So let's dissect the corpse of the Twilight movie, shall we? Warning: SPOILER ALERT If you haven't read the book or seen the movie yet, proceed into the following with extreme caution.

What worked:

1. The visual transformation from Phoenix to Forks in the first few minutes of the movie

The visual difference between the Phoenix Bella leaves behind (gold, brown, sunny, dry) and the Forks she arrives at (rainy, dark, cloudy, gloomy) is striking and exceptionally well done. An example of how, in less than 15 seconds, a movie can convey things that, in a novel, can sometimes require a whole lot of description.

2. Bella receiving her truck

Although this scene is nothing like the book, I thought it did a great job introducing Billy and Jacob Black and showing Bella's pleasure with her new/old truck. In addition, I thought both of the Blacks were well-cast.

3. Charlie

In my opinion, Charlie's performance was the best of the entire movie: he perfectly embodied that complicated mixture of reticence, protectiveness, and awkwardness that so characterizes single fathers. I liked how he never appeared on screen without one (or more) of the following: a beer; a gun; his uniform. Visually, these all combined to reinforce the feeling that he is a man used to living the life of a confirmed bachelor, and who is happy but at a loss how to deal with a teenaged daughter he barely knows.

4. Mike and Jessica

In Twilight's book manifestation, Jessica reminded me so much of the harmless but brainless girls I knew in high school, I felt like I was 15 again; her portrayal in the movie was dead on. Mike's character was also well done: nice, but just a bit dopey.

5. Edward Cullen

Overall, I thought Rob Pattinson made an admirable Edward. In the first half of the movie, he makes his discomfort at being around Bella palpably obvious, and later, he manages to look at her with the perfect mixture of longing, reserve, and sadness. In my opinion, the holes that pop up in Edward's portrayal are due more to shoddy and clunky screenwriting, not to a lack of talent on Mr. Pattinson's part. Despite the screenwriters shortcomings, however, Pattinson managed to deliver many of his lines with the same confusion over his conflicting feelings for Bella that I imagined when reading the book.

 

6. Edward and Bella in biology class

Again, not completely faithful to the book (to be frank, little of the movie is) but excellent in showing how Edward and Bella are incredibly uncomfortable around each other. Both Kristen Stewart and Rob Pattinson have excellent facial expressions in this bit; one of the few bits of the movie that people laughed when they actually WERE supposed to be laughing.

7. The near-miss mugging scene

This was more frightening visually to me than it had been reading about it in the book (it did also involve more skanky guys though as well). The hand-held camera method of filming worked well here.

8. The Cullens

I thought the casting for the Cullens was exceptionally well done, particularly Alice who not only acts but looks exactly like her literary counterpart. OK, Jasper weirded me out a bit, but with just a bit of a tone-down of the wide-eyed-staring look and some dialogue from the book (any dialogue at all from Jasper would have been nice) he'd have been just fine.

9. Bella meeting the Cullens

Yes, yes, I know that the house in the movie is nothing even remotely like the Cullen house in the book; however, I felt that in spirit and feeling, this scene was really very good. The good intentions of the Cullen family (excepting glass-bowl-shattering Rosalie) are evident and successfully replicates the feeling the book gives of Bella's first visit to their house. And the Edward/Bella Clair de Lune dance bit in Edward's room was sweetly romantic. Although I did not like the leaping through the trees bit that followed it, the piano music that Claire de Lune segeways into when they are in the trees, then back at the house with Edward playing the song on the piano is quite nice.

10. The baseball game

Frolicky good fun.

11. The prom

Although many of the details of this scene were altered, the overall effect is, again, sweetly romantic without being sappy. It was also nice to hear much of the dialogue that was in the original story used here.

What didn't work

 

1. Bella's voiceovers

Technically, I understand why they chose to include these: to quickly orient the moviegoers and to give a nod to the first person narration of the books. However, they just did not work for me -- they did not add enough emotion, depth, or insight to really shed any light on Bella personally and I think the movie would have been just as well without them.

2. Bella's character

Watching the movie made me positively nostalgic for the books. The Bella of the books is self-confident, stubborn, assured, independent, sarcastic, and careful to hide her feelings (especially any sadness) from both of her parents, as well as being a good cook (it was a real mistake to leave her cooking for Charlie out of the story.) The Bella of the movie, however, is incredilby fragile and clearly unhappy from the first glimpse of her on the screen; in that respect, she bears little to no resemblance to her literary twin.  The screenwriters seem to have confused the portrayal of a deep, nuanced character with vocal monotony and perpetual gloomy seriousness. Frankly, I don't place the blame on Kristen Stewart who, when given a bit of leash (such as in the hospital scene when she becomes nearly incoherent at Edward's suggestion that he go away) shows she can put on a good show. I think it is primarily the fault of the screenwriters that Bella generally comes across as a blood-drained corpse.

3. The meadow and mountaintop scene

Anyone passing outside of the theater during these scenes could hardly have been blamed if they thought that Twilight was supposed to be a comedy -- the entire theater erupted into helpless laughter during these horribly handled scenes. Awkward and overly dramatic dialogue, sappy music, and a tendency towards prolonged shots of Edward and Bella staring into one another's eyes were supposed to heighten the feeling of romance between the two, but all they acheived was a lovey-dovey scene that failed so miserably it was truly painful to watch.

4. The running, jumping, flying bits, and pretty much any of the other "special effects"

Honestly, I think I would have rather they left these bits out than put such shoddy special effect work on screen. Much of the movie is truly visually stunning, particularly the beautifully green forest settings. It's difficult to appreciate the scenery however, when you are busy shielding your eyes from yet another leaping scene that is as excruciatingly painful as vampire venom coursing through your veins.

5. Jasper Cullen

While I thought the rest of the Cullens ranged from fine to great, Jasper was a complete disappointment. He somehow managed to metamorphose from the soothing, caring, and kind vampire of the book into a wide-eyed freaky looking dude. If I were Alice, I'd start looking for another guy. 

 

6. The bedroom kiss

I was really disappointed by the addition of this scene. I feel like it does violence to one of the things that fans everywhere liked about Twilight -- its distinction between love, caring, and protectiveness for another person and sexual interest. Isn't that one of the big draws of Edward? It's a pity that the screenwriters did not simply reproduce the first kiss scene from the book. I think that would have translated very nicely to film without Kristen Stewart having to cavort about in her panties. At the very least, give us Rob Pattinson in his underpants, am I right?

7. The vamping around at the baseball game

I liked the baseball scene until Laurent (aka Bob Marley), Victoria, and James showed up and everyone started hissing and (for lack of a better word) vamping about. There were more than a few audible laughs in the theater at this point, which doesn't lend itself to a suspenseful buildup very nicely at all.

8. Alice and Jasper leaving Bella alone at the hotel in Arizona

So we're supposed to believe that while Bella is in constant danger now from James the tracker that Alice and Jasper would walk off into a different part of the hotel, leaving her completely alone? I think not.

9. The flashback scenes

Every single one of the film's flashback scenes -- Jacob telling Bella the history of the Cullens, Edward remembering Carlisle turning him into a vampire, Carlisle turning Esme into a vampire -- weren't just unneccessary, they were terrible. They looked hokey and, believe me, the audience reacted accordingly (insert snarky laughter here).

 

10. Parts of the ballet studio fight scene

While I thought a lot of the fighting bits were great, I wish to God that the Edward/James hissing match hadn't been included. Also, Edward's fear and reluctance when he is trying to decide whether to suck the venom out of Bella is exceptionally well-portrayed by Pattinson, but it takes on a slapstick-ish air when, as he is sucking out the venom, he starts on an extended flashback that includes everything from deer running in the forest to falling snow. I have to add that reading about Edward sucking out the venom was much more moving than seeing it on screen; perhaps it was just poorly filmed, but it looked to me more like he was getting ready to bite into a Thanksgiving drumstick than anything else.

The verdict

Twilight is a moving story that, for one reason or another, lost practically all of its charm in the conversion from paper to big screen. Despite a promising cast and some really stellar performances, particularly from Bella's father and Edward, Twilight fizzles at best and is laughable at worst. Whether it is due to shoddy screenwriting, laughable special effects, or off-color performances, I'm not sure. One thing that is certain however, is that if Summit really does plan on filming all of the rest of the books in the series, they would do well to spend some serious time figuring out where Twilight went badly wrong.

Interested in taking part in a Twilight movie debate? We need 3 debators for each side (Team Loved It and Team Disappointed); there are still slots available, especially for Team Disapppointed.

Take a look at Take Part in a Twilight Movie Debate for the list of qualifications and how to apply. Huzzah!

Until then, take a look at what other Twi-hards think at Twilight movie reviews: read what the fans are saying.