After reading the over-hyped Stephenie Meyer book of the same name, I expected the movie Twilight to capture all of the raw emotion that had teens across the country crying over vampires. The Twilight book series pleasantly surprised me with the epic love story between the fearless Bella and the smoldering vampire Edward. Sad to say, however, the saying holds true: the movie is never as good as the book. Twilight was released November 28, 2008 with thousands of teens across the country anxiously waiting for the curtain to rise.
First off, the acting was not executed well. Kristen Stewart attempted to pull off her emo-rock band personality as Bella, which ended up disappointing many “Twi-Fans”. The sexually tempting Edward, played by Robert Pattinson, came across not only as creepy, but as an obsessive stalker as well. He did a much better job in Harry Potter in his role as Cedric Diggory.
Also, various characters in the movie did not match their descriptions in the book, which exposes the poor casting. One could see the book as a heroic love story; conversely, the movie portrays it as a vampire putting a trance over an innocent human girl for his guilty pleasure. This attempt to capture the strange love story manifested itself awkwardly. I caught myself noticing the audience’s reaction to scenes that should have been romantic and tear-jerking, but were instead receiving laughs because of the terrible acting. To a person who had not read the book, this movie probably turned them off the of the Stephenie Meyer series completely.
The makeup for the movie was poorly executed as well. There were many scenes where I could see the white lines on the vampires' faces and the lipstick on their “bloodstained” lips. Hopefully, for the next movie of the series, the producers can afford better makeup so the audience doesn’t have to see an actor with too much baby powder on attempting to act like a vampire.
Article comments
1 - LM
Wow, when was this written? Sorry, but have you noticed the fans' reaction to the movie? I, for one, had not even heard of the books before seeing the movie, but wanted to read them afterwards. Also, think the actors in the movie portrayed a more tender, unselfish version of love than the books' characters. Edward in the books is far more controlling and hard on Bella, even critical at times, where Pattinson's initial curtness comes across more clearly as part of his own internal struggle. The behavior of the books' Edward verges on abusive and creepy at times. Still enjoyed the books, very well done, but so was the movie. Sorry, but think you're way off.
2 - stacia
I have to agree w/the first poster. I'm not sure when this article was written, but the Twilight movie became a worldwide phenomenon, and there would be no New Moon film (which is out nov. 20 by the way and does look 10x better) without the Twilight movie first. And I have to admit, I saw the movie first a loved it. (and I'm a buffy, true blood fan here, where the vamps dont sparkle) But the movie is what propelled me to read the books. And yes, they are better, but we're talking about 500 pages and a two hour film. No comparison. In the end, both New Moon & Eclipse will probably break box office records, just like Twilight, thanks to the rabid fanbase.
3 - Charissa
Well, I thought the movie really sucked when it first came out. I had no desire to read the books after that. Finally in August I read the book on a dare and had finished the saga 3 weeks later. My husband(!) did the same. Then we watched the movie together and were disappointed throughout. We are looking forward to seeing New Moon in theatres soon. I'm hoping with a bigger budget it will be a better film. As for Rob's acting, "Little Ashes" and "The Haunted Airman" are worth checking out.