Twilight - The Movie Review

OMG.

This movie was so awesome!

I could just leave it at that, but I'm going to tell you just why Twilight is so awesome, and why it just made $69 million on its opening weekend.

1. It remains faithful to the novel, while streamlining the narrative and imposing a more straightforward dramatic structure on the story. For instance, the bad vampires don't just show up 3/4 of the way through, as in the book. Their mayhem reinforces Edward's dangerousness and sets up the film's climax.

2. It is very well cast. While it was crucial for the leads to have chemistry and be right for their parts, and Kristen Stewart and and Robert Pattinson certainly are, the supporting cast is equally good, particularly Ashley Greene as Alice and Billy Burker as Charlie. Even where director Catherine Hardwicke (Thirteen) made some some of the secondary characters more multi-cultural, it works for the most part. While I had pictured Laurent as an effete Frenchman when I read the novel, his character works equally well as a Jamaican guy.

3. It has more action than the book. Whereas, in the novel, most of the violence takes place off-screen, so to speak, the film in much more in your face. Which makes sense, as it is a film, and should be more in your face than a book. Both the treetop scene and the climactic battle of the vampires aren't in the book. But Hardwicke improves upon the text by showing, not telling.

4. It's funnier than the book. Screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg injects much-needed humor into the dialogue, and it's best carried off by the deadpan Burke and by Anna Kendrick as the clueless Jessica.

5. It's a movie! Books are great, don't get me wrong. And anything that gets the younger generation to actually read a book is OK with me. But, as Terry Southern maintained in his essay "When Film Gets Good...," movies have it all over the novel when it comes to capturing life, conveying emotions, and telling a story. Twilight's pretty good on the page, but it's even better on the screen.

While it has its flaws, Twilight succeeds at what it sets out to do, which is to bring the novel to life. While at times it looks very much like an indie (which it is), there is also some magnificent cinematography which captures the feel of the book's setting perfectly. While there will be some fans who will criticize certain choices made by the filmmakers, the majority of them will love it, and like my wife is doing right now, see it again.

And again.