Rating of
2/4
Twilight is very dim entertainment.
goodfellamike - wrote on 01/21/09
Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart), a junior in high school and the victim of divorced parents who live across the country from each other, moves to the Pacific Northwest town of Forks to live with her father (Billy Burke), the Chief of Police. Being the new arrival in town, she sparks immediate interest from the rest of the students at school and quickly makes a bunch of new friends. Bella is a rather shy, almost awkward teenager (like most are), but her good looks make her the object of affection for the near anti-social gothic hunk Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) who looks like he could eat her alive. As it turns out, he’s actually a vampire.
The basic premise of the movie has very little backbone: a human and a vampire fall in love, and at about 80% into the film, a pack of rabid vampires target Bella and a small chase to Phoenix ensues; these sequences promise much more than they deliver, as one of the vampires realizes he's on the wrong blood scent and decides to call her cell phone instead. There’s very very little suspense to accompany this film. In fact, the most suspense this film can generate is the oncoming excitement of its closing credits. It’s a weak story punctuated by a couple of nice moments when Edward gets to display his super speed and awesome strength, but hardly enough to carry an entire motion picture.
Had the acting by the two leads been a bit stronger, as it’s obvious Stewart and especially Pattinson were chosen more for their looks than their talent (although Stewart has been much better in other movies), Twilight might not have been so lackluster. As it stands, there’s very little for them to do other than skulk around, give each other bedroom eyes and lash out in teenage angst once in awhile. No one else makes much of an impact, and most exciting thing about Edward’s family of vampires is they like to play baseball during thunderstorms.
And to be honest, these vampires defy just about every rule associated with vampires: they aren't bothered by sunlight, crucifixes, holy water or garlic, they cast reflections in mirrors, and some of them don't even drink human blood. Why not call them something else entirely?
If you don’t already have a built-in, vested interest in Twilight, or are not a teenage girl succeptible to any romance story that comes down the pipeline, then this vampire love tale is probably not going to be very interesting to you. In the fictional world, vampires suck blood. But these vampires just plain suck! Final Grade: C-
