Twilight (2008)

 

Our rating: 5 out of 5

Rated: PG13

reviewed by: Carissa Horton

 

Favorite Couple: Edward / Bella

Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson). He walks across the school cafeteria, almost oblivious to his surroundings except for that mysterious smile lurking on his lips, proclaiming to the world that he is so much more than he seems. This is Bella Swan’s (Kristen Stewart) first encounter with the Cullen family, a group of five adopted siblings to Doctor Carlisle Cullen (Peter Facinelli) and his wife Esme (Elizabeth Reaser). And against her own will, Bella finds herself invariably drawn to the somber and distant Edward. He is the boy who skipped school several days in a row after nearly snarling at her in biology class. He is the boy who saved Bella’s life in a car accident in the school parking lot. And, he is also the boy whose destiny is ultimately intertwined with her own. This is the realm of Twilight.

Edward’s strongest desire is to keep his distance from Bella, for both their sakes. Yet at the same time, his weakness is that he needs to be close, to always be near her. The only problem is that Bella refuses to stop asking questions. Why is his skin so cold? Why do he and his siblings never attend school on sunny days, what few there are in Forks, Washington? Why is he incredibly strong and why do his eyes change color? The answer is a disturbing one, yet Bella isn’t afraid. Her lack of fear is either extremely courageous or blatantly idiotic, as Edward himself believes. Can a vampire and a human have a lasting and meaningful relationship? That remains to be seen in this first installment of Twilight.

My advice to the Twilight fans, don’t go to the theater expecting the next Titanic or Gone with the Wind. This is your average teenage chick flick with a vampire twist. If that’s what you expect, then you won’t be disappointed. Yet, at the same time, it’s rather adorable. Robert and Kristen had genuine chemistry with each other, enough to make the audience experience several “awwww” moments. I had my doubts about Robert Pattison in the role of Edward, but he surprised me with his convincing portrayal. Kristen’s Bella is far more serious than the book’s version, a quality lacking from the novel and one which I was pleased to see employed in the film. It makes their romance stronger and more stable. The actors cast as the Cullen siblings, meaning Alice (Ashley Greene), Jasper (Jackson Rathbone), Emmet (Kellan Lutz), and Rosalie (Nikki Reed) were also impressive, particularly Ashley. I was most impressed with Peter Facinelli in the role of Carlisle. He was everything I imagined from the book, meaning he behaved in a gentleman-like manner, the kindness of a doctor, and the heart of a lover. More screen time for he and Elizabeth Reaser would have been lovely.

Unfortunately, the script occasionally wandered into sappiness, particularly the scene in the woods where Edward and Bella discuss vampires and his feelings. A beautiful scene from the book and extremely overdramatized for the film. It dragged down a movie which ran smoothly up until that point. The movements of the vampire, mainly the extreme speed, were also poorly done. They reminded me of the 1970s Superman films where Clark is running full tilt and convinces no one but himself that he’s actually running. A filming style from the television show Moonlight would have been a wiser choice. The poor CGI quality really throws of the audience because the movie was superb until that point. Violence is mostly limited to the climax fight scene. Mirrors are smashed, a girl’s leg is viciously broken by an enemy, a vampire is dismembered (we witness the head being ripped off from across the room), and a vampire is forced to suck poison from a human’s arm. At one point, there is a flashback to a hunting scene where antlers are ripped from a dead elk. These vampires don’t have fangs, but rather seem to use their entire mouth to bite down. Two men are killed by vampires, their deaths not actually witnessed. I thought the violence fairly mild, despite the head ripping, considering how far they could have gone with a PG13 rating.

You can’t have a vampire film without some sort of sensuality and it is the same for Twilight. Edward craves not only Bella’s blood, but also her company and her body. There is a scene where they begin kissing on her bed and she pulls him down onto her before he stops and wrenches away. Another scene has Bella curling up in his arms on her bed in the middle of the night. Some girls wear extreme cleavage baring dresses and shirts, although not Bella. Teens dance together, usually slow dance. A group of men waylay a teenage girl with ill intentions, brushing her hair and clothing with their hands, until she’s saved by a vampire. Overall, a reasonable amount of sensuality, although in the book I always got the impression that Edward wouldn’t sleep with Bella because of his morals. That line is a tad blurred in the film and it’s possible that he wouldn’t go too far with Bella because he could harm her. They could have expressed his reticence better. Still, Edward is from a different era and we know from future novel installments that Edward does not sleep with Bella outside of wedlock. Regardless of his watching her sleep and even snuggling with her in bed, I doubt it would have led to anything inappropriate.

This film is an excellent adaptation of an entertaining novel. The film improved some aspects of the book and shortened it. The audience is not subjected to a first person monologue, thereby making Bella a stronger personality with better self-esteem. For an unknown reason, Carlisle’s past was left out of the film, something I would have enjoyed seeing. Instead, we’re given knowledge of the enemy vampires sooner in the film, in preparation of the climax. Changes were made to the original plot, but not as many as I expected, so the main feel of the story is preserved. Jacob and his father wander through the plot, Bella’s dad Charlie is a sweetheart, and Forks is indeed, an unremarkable small town in drippy Washington. The setting is perfect. Twilight is a vampire movie and I do not recommend it for children or young teens. However, you could do worse than Edward Cullen as a role model for your teenage girls and their boyfriends. The Cullens fight their natural hunger, their sinful nature, at every turn. They are sometimes even forced to face their temptations head on and denounce that hunger. We, as Christians, face the same thing with our sin nature, our temptations almost every single day. There is a distinct similarity between the two, and it is enough of a similarity for me to recommend this film with caution. Parents, you know your kids. Don’t push them into the fire, but if they can handle it, I, personally, don’t see the harm.