Twilight Movie Review

This was inevitable. Warning, movie SPOILERS ahead!

*****

Ok, so tonight Nate did a late showing of Twilight, which is now technically open along the East Coast.

Going into the movie, I understood [due to previous reviews] that the movie was overall great, but the special effects needed some work [which, hopefully, if there is a sequel, it is something they can work on].

That being said - I didn't realize, not being in film really, that when a girl asked Catherine Hardwicke why she directed it more in documentary style as opposed to more typical camera styles that Hollywood blockbusters use, she said it was to make it feel more intimate.

Now I really like Kristen Stewart. I especially liked the movie Speak. If any of you haven't seen it, you can actually view it on YouTube in ten minute segments. Great movie about a girl who is raped and then starts her freshman year of high school, hated for ruining a party...

But I digress. If you watch Speak, it has a very intimate feeling to it, like you're really getting into her head, and it's like Catherine said - documentary like - from the main character's point of view.

This is how Twilight was done, and I think it really worked nicely. In the beginning of the novels, Stephenie Meyer writes the prologue, and in the movie, Bella does an overvoice of that prologue, and throughout the movie there are little voiceovers, which I think work very nicely, and really put you into Bella's shoes.

The parts I did have an issue with were, as I knew going in - the special effects. Most of them were okay, but when Edward was running through the forest, with Bella on his back? It was like his torso was in standstill and they were fast-forwarding his leg movements - it was totally fake and awkward. When we see James coming after them, you really only get a view of his torso, no legs, and yet you still get the feeling that he was moving very quickly.

Also - when people jump, their body usually moves in the form of an arc. Not really a straight up, over, then straight down kind of arc, but a half circle kind of arc. I found that the wirework in the movie was too horizontal, it needed a little more of an arc to make the 'jump' look real - because we all know that the vampires don't fly, but they can certainly jump very far.

When I brought this up, Nate just laughed at me. Having not read the books he asked me, "So, after all of this, the arc of their jumps is what bothers you? Not the super speed, or the blood sucking, or the VAMPIRE part??"

And I said, "No, because that is the world that Stephenie Meyer created. She told us what was not human about them. But it is just weird, when you know that when someone jumps, it's in the shape of an arc, not up, then across, then back down again, in the shape of a box."

The only other trouble I had with the film is that while I really liked Kristen Stewart's performance, I felt, for me, it was hard to believe her when she was stating that she couldn't live without Edward. I didn't feel like I really saw the connection on her end - like there wasn't enough in the film before - maybe because in the books it's in her POV, and she talks about him SOOO much - but it just seemed... fake, when she said that, because I didn't believe it yet. Nate, on the other hand, found that it was convincing. So maybe, maybe that was just me.

Georgiana has been dying to see this movie, so I'll go see it again with her tomorrow night. I'll let you know if I've changed my opinion the second time through.

Definitely worth seeing, just remember that it's not a blockbuster movie, and has the feel of a cult fan film, but in a great way.

Let me know what you guys think once you've seen it!