Okay, I have shared my opinion of the
Twilight movie with friends and family, posted my views on walls on Facebook and even commented on fellow bloggers pages. Now it is my turn to post my official feelings for the movie
Twilight.
It has been 5 days since the release, so if you still haven't seen the movie be warned that I am going to talk about scenes in detail, so if you don't want to know then don't read this.
Also as a disclaimer for myself I want anyone and everyone that reads this to know that I am not the type of person that expects a movie to be exactly like the book. And this movie was no exception. I did not allow myself to get too hyped up about it. And since I love the books so much, there really was no way it could compare to the imagination I have created as I read them. Also I want to make it clear that even though this may be a negative posting I am not angry or mad at the turn out of the movie, just disappointed.
Now down to business...
Immediately they started the movie off on the wrong foot when the truck was brought to Bella by Billy Black and Jacob. At this point in the book Billy and Charlie were at an odds over the Cullens. They haven't been talking very much because of Billy's dislike of the Cullens. This was a minor oversight I must admit in comparison as to what happens throughout the movie.
I like the introduction of the Cullens in the cafeteria. The smirk that Edward gives after Jessica states that no one is good enough for Edward is exactly what I imagined. That was the Edward I was expecting throughout the movie. But once they get to Biology class and the fan blows Bella's hair, Edward covers his mouth and nose. I thought that was pretty silly and not what Edward did at all. I did however, like the staring her down part.
There was some inner dialogue from Bella that I thought would have been better if it was used throughout. There wasn't enough.
The relationship seemed too awkward between Bella and Edward. Edward was way too mean, and then abruptly is passionately in love with Bella. It's like "I hate you, I hate you, I love you". I was left thinking, "What just happened?".
The moment that I wanted to just walk out was at the meadow scene. Edward is being really mean and grabs Bella by the arm and drags her up the mountain and yells at her how he is a monster. I had to do damage control to my friends who haven't read the books because they were thinking that Edward was an abusive person. Which is so not who he is. The meadow scene for me was one of my favorite scenes. It was so tender and gentle and pivotal to the relationship. Edward was showing his true self and putting all his trust into Bella. It was a love moment where you saw their connection strengthening. In the movie it looked like she was falling in love with an abusive stalker. It wasn't his true character at all.
The skin effect, in my opinion, was fine. But did they have to use soundeffects??? My diamonds never make a "ching ching ching" sound when the light reflects off of them.
Why didn't they have Bella cooking for her dad. They kept going to that stupid diner that was no where in the book. That was just wasted film and money. Bella and Charlie have a strained relationship where it is difficult for them to show how much they love one another. By Bella cooking for her dad all the time is her way of showing him how much she loves him. It also shows how independent and parent like she really is, since she was so responsible for taking care of her mom. She is supposed to be different from the other teenagers because of the adult qualities she developed from having this responsibility, but in the movie she is just your average teenager.
They also didn't say anything about the lullaby that Edward wrote for Bella. In the movie they just show them sitting at the piano and he is playing for her. If you haven't read the books you have no idea the significance of this moment. Edward was getting depressed and he hasn't composed in a long time. Esme could have been developed here a little better in her role as "mom" showing her concern for him since this wasn't characteristic of Edward to neglect his talent. They play the lullaby throughout the movie, but if you don't know what it is it just sounds like background music. I think Rob Pattinson has a good singing voice and it would have been nice having him hum Bella to sleep at least once. I bought the Soundtrack as soon as it came out so anxious to hear the lullaby, that should have been a sign to me how off this movie was going to be. The lullaby was too choppy and not at all soothing. Maybe that is why they didn't have Edward humming it.
What was the point of the field trip? I felt that was another waste of money and time. Her friends were way too High School Musical in my opinion. Wouldn't it have been better to do the blood typing scene in class? Then they could have built more on the concerned and protective Edward instead of the stalking and abusive Edward.
I think they could have expounded more on the converstations that Edward and Bella had. On the drive home from Port Angeles they were silent, but in the book it was a flood of questions and getting to know one another. I'm not suggesting that they put the whole dialogue verbatim in there, but they could have had some good conversations that would have made their relationship a little more believable. Any time they had the opportunity to strengthen the relationship based on their personalities instead of the physical attraction was overcast with music playing and the viewer just seeing them chatting. There was no depth to the relationship, which led me to feel the chemical tension between them was awkward and not romantic.
I really loved the baseball scene. That was really well done, and the use of Muse as the background music was an awesome song placement.
The dress that Bella wore at the prom would have been fine and true to the story if they hadn't added those ugly grey leggings and a tennis shoe! What happened to the dangerous stilettos? Why didn't they have Alice&Jasper and Emmett&Rosalie danciing at the prom? They were supposed to be putting all the other high schoolers to shame. I would have liked to see them all dressed up all fancy and dancing.
Okay, now the end with Victoria at the prom was wrong in so many ways. Edward can hear thoughts for miles away, and he can't hear her thoughts that were probably screaming profanities and death threats at them. And Alice would have seen Victoria making the decision to go there. Several things I hae heard would have been a better ending would have been at Bella's birthday party ending with Jasper trying to kill her. The whole Victoria thing was a mystery in the second book and to have her at the end of the first movie takes away all the suspense and speculating.
I understand that this was done on a shoestring budget, but I think there are somethings they could have done without and used that money to focus on staying true to the story. Like being up in that tree, not in the book and that scene probably cost a pretty penny. It may have looked cool, but it was completely unnecessary. The acting was sketchy, but I think it could have been better under a different director. Someone needed to tell Kirsten Stewart that the head shaking was border line Parkinson's. And Robert Pattinson could have been a little more suave instead of awkward and unsure.
I saw this movie twice just to make sure I wasn't jumping to a quick judgement. But I can honestly say this movie did not meet my already low expectations. I feel like I need to read the series for a third time to purge my mind of the images from this ill made movie. I really hope that with all the money this film has made they can do a better job on the following sequels. That, in a very big nutshell, is my experience of the
Twilight movie.
