Twilight review

How did you hear of this Twilight phenomenon?

Jon: I heard of Twilight through co-workers talking about the books. Sadly, I don’t keep up the fiction the way I used to, unless it’s from Chuck Palahniuk, so I was clueless. But hearing friends talk about it with such passion, really got me curious. I had a gut feeling that these books were aimed at the female populace, even then I was curious. By the time the film was announced, Comic Con went crazy! I still had no idea about the fan base. Then the midnight showings were selling out as well as regular day screenings, I thought I better check into this.

Donny:  I heard about it from my sister-in-law, and from the web buzz.  Around the time it hit Comic Con I was starting to get curious, but then Ann (sister-in-law) told me how much she loved the books, I decided to check out the books and see what all the hype was about.  So I read the book, and I dug it for what it was.  It’s a book that’s aimed at teenagers, and it totally succeeds for that target market. 

Jon: I got burned out of that type of fiction, but maybe I’ll pick it up one day…probably not.

Are you a vampire fan?

Donny:  Does a bear shit in the woods?  I love vampires!  I remember watching the old Universal Dracula with my Dad.  That was the beginning of my love affair with the undead. 

Jon: Yep, although recently it hasn’t been all that interesting of a genre. But I’m thinking Let the Right One In could change that.

Quick thought’s on Twilight’s trailer?

Jon: Despite all of the things I’ve mentioned prior, I thought the trailer looked painfully generic. I couldn’t see the excitement everyone else had.

Donny:  I thought the trailer was pretty cool.  It looked like the filmmakers were going to stay pretty faithful to the book.   I know I’m going to get heat for this, but I was kind of excited about seeing it.

Jon: Yes, you were excited for it. I really wasn’t, but a good, trustworthy critic is an open-minded one, so I looked into it and saw it obviously.

What did you think of the film?

Donny:  I think the film did a good job of interpreting the book, but at times was a little choppy in the way that it was edited together.  Overall I didn’t think that the movie was all that bad.  I enjoyed the dynamic relationship that Bella and Edward shared, and I thought that the family of vampires was also quiet entertaining.  Also, Nikki Reed is smoking hot as Rosalie; her ass is perfect (Donny forgets that teen girls are reading this-Jon).  But I didn’t enjoy the way the villain was handled in the movie, even if it was close to the way it was handled in the book. 

As a traditional vampire movie, Twilight falls short, but as a teenage love story it hits its mark.  I enjoyed the book for what it was, and the movie was alright for what it was as well.  I didn’t hate the movie, but I don’t have a yearning to see it multiple times.  It’s a good teenage love story about a girl and her boyfriend’s hair, and a decent adaptation of the source material.

Jon: You’re too soft, Donny. It’s not that good of a movie. I’m not relating this to the books, so spare me the hate mail, but as a film, it’s a bit boring, especially in the middle. Hardwicke frames everything like a TV movie, making matters worse, the effects looked cheap, especially the running Edward does. I’m all for a reinvention of these creatures, but it’s Anne Rice-lite, an emo version of Buffy. I don’t see the hype. I’m sure the books are good, but as a film, I felt while the two leads had great chemistry, the film lacked any real punch of the romance. It felt more like puppy dog crush than something that would span more sequels.

I really couldn’t get invested in the characters. Kristen Stewart is endlessly cute, I like her girl-next-door personality, so I was following her, but I can’t buy she’s hanging with some of the cool kids. She needed to be a loner, that’s the attraction to Edward, so is he. I hope they invest more in the sequels. I can’t bother sitting through this one again. It just isn’t that good of a film. I’m sure some girls are going to eat this up, and I know I’m not the target demographic, but it isn’t written good enough to be universal more newbie’s to join in.

Catherine Hardwicke has given us a bland vampire film, which is most unfortunately mostly to the fans I think. I talked with some die-hards and those willing to put the book love they have to the side and judge the film as a film, agreed. Feel free to tell me why I’m wrong.

Grade?

Jon: **

Donny: **1/2

Rating: