Twilight - The Movie Review

Overall 4.12 of 5 view all 153 reviews

wildcatkatie
Chicago, IL

Did I really just spend $10.50 to see Twilight in theaters?

a fan of clever plots, in a relationship, twenty something

Pros

better plot development than the book, better characters than the book

Cons

Kristen Stewart, exact replica of the book, low budget

DEC

2008

Twilight - The Movie —

Take one: Twilight the movie is a page-by-page enactment of Stephenie Meyer's popular novel. Really. You could see the movie and skip reading the book!

Take two: If you read my review of Twilight the book, then you already know how I feel about this melodramatic vampire story. (I gave the book two stars.) You might be wondering why I decided the Twilight movie deserves a better review than the book. It's rare when I find a movie that I enjoy more than its literary counterpart. Does anyone else remember the silverscreen disaster that was The DaVinci Code? Yeah, ouch.

Well, here's why the movie Twilight is more entertaining than the novel (without giving anything away):

- The plot development makes sense. Events occur in a natural progression. There's an actual storyline with depth.
- The characters are remotely believeable. To put it bluntly, I thought the characters in the Twilight novel were stupid. I am a hopeless romantic, but I'm also practical. I don't believe in love at first sight. The Twilight movie developed Bella, Edward and the rest of the characters a little bit better than Stephenie Meyer did. I thought Bella and Edward's romance was more believeable - but not by much. After all, the movie is still based off of the ideas in the book.
- The presence of the "bad guys" is more realistic. I won't say much more than that, but I thought one of THE WORST parts of the Twilight book was Stephenie Meyer's random inclusion of the "bad guys" 75% of the way through the story.
- I'd watch it again. I'll never, ever read Twilight again. In fact, I'm not sure whether I want to finish the series. Strangely, I am content with watching all of the movies to find out what happens to the characters. After all, if Twilight is any prediction, the other movies will be word-for-word copies of the books. I will see the move again - but only if my boyfriend and I are bored on a Saturday night.
- The ending. I'm appreciative of the ending of this movie, even though it is a clear "sequel set-up." It's a teeny-weeny bit different than the book, which is the only other major difference between the movie and the book aside from the inclusion of the "bad guys."

Of course, there are reasons why this movie doesn't deserve a five star rating. Here's my opinion:

- The cinematography was pure amateurism. I didn't think that this movie would be an Indie film. Don't most thriller movies include special effects, epsecially futuristic or fantasy ones? The only obvious special effects in Twilight were used to make Edward appear as fast as a gazelle and during the baseball game. Not impressive.
- I think Kristen Stewart is annoying. I've never liked Kristen Stewart. I can't explain why. Her acting just grinds my gears. She was way too emo and depressive to play Bella. I think I would have loved this movie much more if a different actress had been cast in Kristen Stewart's place. Keira Knightley, Natalie Portman, Amanda Bynes and maybe even Mischa Barton would have been better in Kristen's place. Although I'm not a huge fan of Mischa Barton either.
- The script was non-existent. OK, there are tweens across the world who can recite Twilight word-for-word, too. Did they have to do it on the big screen, too? Was it too much to ask to bring a bit of originality to the script? Apparently so.

Take three: All in all, this is just an average film, and I would not recommend spending money on a movie ticket for it.The Twilight movie gets three stars from me. It's definitely better than book because of the plot and character development, but I was disappointed because it was a replica of the novel that I loathe.

Twilight - The Movie is not recommended by wildcatkatie

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Comments about wildcatkatie’s Review

In response to krislynn's comment from Dec 14, 2008 at 1:39AM:

Yeah, I was definitely disappointed w/ the Twilight movie and book. I wanted to give the book a chance because SO many people (tween or not) had read it, and I'm one of those people who keeps up w/ pop culture. I'll never understand the Twilight phenomenon!

In response to jasyjen's comment from Dec 14, 2008 at 4:05PM:

House Bunny was bad? Man, I'm disappointed. I've been wanting to rent it. I think I still might. It will pass the time while on vacation. Plus, I'm a sorority girl! Haha.

Oh, I hate it when I pay money to see a movie and I'm not thrilled with it. The last one that got me was "House Bunny". Ugh.

I've heard that the movie was word-for-word of the novel. Your review answered that question. I think the Twilight novel and movie are for the tweens. I will pass on the Twilight movie. Thanks for sharing your view on the movie. =) ~Krista Lynn