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TWILIGHT
Movie Review

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TWILIGHT
Movie Review
Directed by Catherine Hardwicke
Starring Kristin Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Billy Burke, Ashley Greene, Nikki Reed, Peter Facinelli
Review by Eli Manning

SYNOPSIS:

Bella Swan is a clumsy, kind hearted teenager with a knack for getting into trouble. Edward Cullen is an intelligent, good looking vampire who is trying to hide his secret. Against all odds, the two fall in love but will a pack of blood thirsty trackers and the disapproval of their family and friends separate them?

REVIEW:

Based on the popular teenage novel series, Twilight the movie version has little terror/suspense moments and plenty of teenage angst, with two people dealing with their inner emotions for each other.

The first version of this series (and there's definitely more to come) is really more romance than horror or thriller. And there's nothing like a teenage romance, is there? Twilight isn't your average romance as it's essentially a tale of a vampire who falls in love with a common girl.

We follow Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) almost like a 3rd person novel is written in Twilight. What she sees is what we see. What she learns is what we learn. And what she feels is what we feel. Shooting the film like this keeps the viewer emotionally involved throughout and it's the main reason why this is a successful film.

We are never a step behind or ahead of Bella. We stay with her form the opening frame to the last shot as she is in every single scene. We understand why she's attracted to the vampire because she feels like an outsider just like him. And it's actually ironic because Bella is more lonely than he is. She has a family who loves her, yes, but they are not your touchy feely

like about your emotions family. Bella is alone with the living, until she meets a guy who is not really alive. Then she becomes alive because of it!

There's a lot of contrast in how they made Twilight. It's shot almost like a 16mm independent film ala the original Friday the 13th, but the story is mainly a drama of two people falling in love. So I was constantly expecting to see a lot of murder and terror, while I received none of it until the 3rd act. But I am not complaining because I was completely into following Bella's trials, tribulations and feelings.

There's one thing I can't pin down with Twilight though. I have not read any of the books, so I am just a person who watched this film with virgin eyes and I don't know the exact tone of the novels. But in the film version of Twilight, there is a definite tone of cheesiness that can't be denied. There are many scenes that are just corny. The plot is set up in such a cliche and obvious way, you can't figure out if they did this on purpose or not. It's too on the nose or they were cheesy by mistake. And the vampires look like vampires in this common town, so why isn't anyone pointing this out?

An example of this was the first time we see our male protagonist Edward (Robert Pattinson), he walks into the high school cafeteria with a pile of makeup on. So I'm still trying to figure out if this was done on purpose, or if the makeup girl put on too much eyeliner and the directing team didn't notice.

I really enjoyed the cheesiness of Twilight. This is after all the birth story of a vampire family, so it really can't be taken that seriously, can it?

Bottom line, the film sets up a great beginning for a franchise film. The two main characters have an extreme amount of chemistry and they are both very good actors. The direction is solid and I quite enjoyed all of the secondary players, especially the emotionally stumped father of Bella.

What's missing in Twilight ironically is good for the series. They established all of these great characters in Edward's vampire family and I wanted more of them. They were just really interesting people who all had their own distinct personalities, and I can't wait for the sequel so I can get to know them more.

3 stars out of 4!

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