Some of the ladies, however, might even find this love story a little shallow because the director Catherine Hardwicke and screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg do not inject it with the key ingredient of passion. Hardwicke, who previously directed the much better Thirteen in 2003, does a decent job of setting up Kristen Stewart's Bella as a teenager who has just moved away from her divorced and remarried mother to live with her father (Billy Burke), is more than a little troubled, and seems more engrossed with mingling with otherworldly beings since she clearly is antisocial in this one. But, as far as I can read about her reason to be attracted to Edward, there is little more than that. Sure, he has saved her life a couple of times, too, but she looks more enthralled with the near-death experiences she has had than she is grateful for him having saved her life. (She herself says at one point, “Death is peaceful, easy. Life is harder.”)
Pattinson’s Edward, on the other hand, has been stuck at the age of 17 for over 100 years and is afraid that if he kisses Bella, he will not be able to control his urge against the pheromone scent of her blood. There is another element of how, for some reason, he cannot read her thoughts when he can read everyone else’s. Fair to say, despite his strong-willed resistance to actually cave in to his primal urges and his passing curiosity about what she is thinking (which, as some others have pointed out, does make a nice allegory on the virtues of abstinence and also leads to the longest almost-kissing scene between a couple I have ever seen), this is not a romance built on any kind of real personality.
Oh yeah, there is also what happens when Edward actually stands under direct sunlight, which, for me, was the most unintentionally hilarious scene in the movie. No, his skin does not burn but it literally starts shimmering like there are diamonds all over. The teenage girls may swoon over (and in the theater I saw it in filled obviously with a lot of teenage girls, most of the audience seemed quietly entranced) but I honestly was having trouble containing my laughter at the cheesy visual effects on display and just the awfully sappy contortion into which they have forced the vampire mythology.
That is about the scene midway through when the movie really just falls apart in the second half. The whole sequence in which Edward finally reveals himself to Bella as a vampire is played with dialogue that sounds like a "greatest lines" medley out of a bad Harlequin romance novel. It also does not help that, despite the movie's mostly effective, chilly blue and gray visual look, the visual effects are so laughable when we see Edward whooshing from tree to tree or just looking like a goofy monkey when he is rapidly climbing up a tree with Bella on his shoulder. Also, the final fight sequence between the good vampire and the truer, I mean, the bad vampire (hey, there are some bound to actually live by their true nature of wanting human blood, right?) is so repetitive and anticlimactic that it almost feels like it was shot as an afterthought. I know Twilight was made as an independent film with a small budget and my suggestion for the next time the filmmakers work with a small budget is this: Work around the constraints and just rely on clever editing for the tree-climbing scenes and perhaps have the vampires try to read each other’s minds and outwit each other rather than merely bashing through walls.
Article comments
1 - Anonymous
one point that was missed- he doesn't fall for her BECAUSE he's more attracted to her blood than anyone else. he falls for her because he likes her qualities-brave, selfless, doesn't like attention, kind, etc. while the movie could have done a better job explaining it, it was mentioned. the real story-her scent gets his attention, her closed mind (to him, he's the only one that can read minds, the "bad vampire" can;t-it's in the movie, no excuses), her closed mind holds his curiousity, makes him try to figure her out and that's when he notes her attributes and falls for her. i agree with you on the meadow scene, tho
2 - Ana Paula
Sou estudante de Medicina Veterinária. Vc já ouviu falar em herança genética, genótipo e fenótipo? Pelo visto, não. Se te interessar se informe.
3 - coffee
seems likely that they will come out with a Twilight sequel pretty soon, there's a crazy lot of ticket sales at stake
4 - m@rc
The movie is great!!! Kristen, Alice, Rosalie, Esme and Victoria are beautifuls. I'm waiting from the others movies!!!