Don't Go Into the Twilight--Movie Review

*This review does not reflect my view of the book, only the film based on itTwilight begins with a main-character voice-over, and a deer being hunted by a mysterious predator. You catch only a few glimpses of it, and it appears to be a man. The scene changes, and enter Bella Swan: slightly angsty, make that very angsty, teenager who's moving away from Phoenix, her mother, and into her father's custody. Daddy Swan is chief of police in tiny, rainy Forks, Washington. He's socially awkward concerning his daughter, not familiar with the teenager his daughter's become. As Bella's getting settled in, characters Jacob and Billy Black are introduced. Jacob is a solid looking and polite young man (Bella's childhood friend), who lives on the Indian reservation nearby along with Billy, his wheelchair bound father. The pair come bearing gifts. It's revealed that they've brought Bella a truck for her personal use around town. She's astounded by the present, but when she pulls into school the next morning, most of the school population whispers and is surprised in a different way. The school experience is mostly uneventful--Bella meets new friends Jessica, Mike, Eric, Angela, and Tyler--until lunchtime comes. Bella is intrigued by the infamous-around-campus Cullen family: eccentric Alice, uptight Jasper, cocky Emmett, proud Rosalie, and mysterious Edward. She's immediately curious about the group, but especially about Edward. They later meet in class, where Edward seems pained even sitting next to her. Later in the day, she arrives at the office and witnesses him asking to transfer to another class. His transfer request was rejected, and he stormed out of the office, leaving Bella upset. Edward skips school for a while, and Bella wonders where he's gone and why he seems to hate her so much. She'd planned to talk to him, but now her hopes were dashed. Meanwhile, a dead man is found in a nearby town, and Charlie, Bella's Dad, is assigned to the case. The dead man appeared to have been killed by an animal. That morning, Edward shows up to school, acting much more tolerant of Bella, even friendly towards her. Bella notices a sort of casual banter develop between them, and they continue talking. He seems a bit more comfortable with her now, and asks her about her personal and family life, stating that he's "trying to figure her out". During this conversation she notices that his eye color has changed from brown to a golden color. He dodges the subject, and turns abruptly down the hall, a stunned Bella left behind. While out in the parking lot that day, a near death experience jolts both Bella and Edward. Bella had gone out to her truck, when an out of control van swerved, and looked like it was sure to hit her. Suddenly, Edward was between her and the van, though he'd been across the parking lot the last time she'd seen him. Bella, startled, eventually realizes that Edward both stopped the van and dented the side panel when he'd held his arm out to protect her. She is taken to the hospital, where she meets Carlisle Cullen, a local doctor and Edward's father. When she's released, she overhears a strange conversation that Carlisle was having with Rosalie and Edward. Edward then confronts her about hearing his conversation, trying to convince her that she was imagining things when she admits to knowing he stopped the van. He departs, frustrated that she won't let the matter drop. The next day, Bella and Edward's biology class goes on a field trip, and Edward warns her not to get too close or attempt to be friends. She's confused by this and replies "why didn't you let the van crush me and save yourself all this regret?" Edward shoots down that insinuation, cutting off their conversation. Another meaningful interaction of the same nature occurs in the cafeteria, where Edward tries to present himself as a genuinely bad guy that Bella should avoid. Bella scoffs at the description, saying that he's only wearing a mask to keep people away. Deciding that they should start with something small, she invites Edward to La Push for the weekend, a beach on the Indian reservation where Jacob lives. Edward refuses and leaves, a bit agitated by something. At the beach that weekend, Bella declines to surf with her friends and instead takes a walk along the shore with Jacob, who happened to show up with a few of his friends. Jacob's friends had let something slip about the Cullens, and Bella insists he tell the story. The Cullens ancestors had hunted on the reservation land a long time before, though Jacob's ancestors objected. They made an agreement to not disturb each other, which included the Cullens and their descendants never entering the reservation land. Bella contemplates this story, and decides to look further into it, searching online. When she returns to school the next week, the Cullens have gone on an extended leave. She goes to Port Angeles with her friends to go prom dress shopping, though she takes a detour to an out-of-the-way bookshop that carries Native American-themed books, hoping to find something about the legend. According to her online source, that bookshop should have something on Jacob's legend. After departing from the bookshop with her new purchase, a few drunken locals run into her, trying to coerce her into staying with them. In distress, she has nowhere to turn, until a shiny silver Volvo speeds out of the darkness. It's Edward. She slides into the car, and Edward persuades the drunken boys to flee, accompanied by almost running over a few of them. He dramatically and dangerously pulls out of the parking lot, though it seems he executes the maneuver with ease. Still reeling from her close call, Bella nervously comments that Edward should put on his seat belt. As if he was talking to a child, he says that she should be the one to put her belt on. Later, both have calmed down, and they drive up to a restaurant where Jessica and Angela have eaten. They apologize for not waiting for Bella, explaining their extreme hunger, and Bella brushes it off. Edward volunteers to drive Bella home, and to stay until Bella eats. Bella's friends readily agree, sharing knowing looks. In the restaurant, Bella and Edward converse, and Edward reveals a bit more about himself, claiming to be able to read the minds of everyone in the building, except Bella. When he's driving her home, she accidentally touches his hand and is taken aback by how cold it is. On the way into town, she sees commotion at the police department and discovers that her father's friend has died. Shaken by all the information she's taken in, Bella arrives home and begins research with her new book. This spawns an Internet search that eventually leads her to a chilling conclusion. The next day at school, Bella departs into the forest outside of her campus, Edward following behind. He waits behind her as she confesses that she knows his true self: vampire. He then commences in showing her how different he really is. He sparkles in the sun, like thousands of fiery diamonds, has strength and speed comparable to no human, and tells her of the hunger he has for human blood, though his family only drinks the blood of animals. He admits to being a killer. Bella doesn't relent; she declares that she won't be scared away by his carnal nature. They arrive at school openly declaring themselves a couple, and later they discuss Edward's transformation into a vampire and his animal urges. Still overjoyed at their new relationship, Edward invites Bella to the Cullen house where she's formally introduced to Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper, Alice, Carlisle and Esme (the Cullen's mother figure) by Edward. Alice acts overly familiar with Bella, insisting that they will become good friends. Jasper tightly smiles at Bella, and it's revealed that he's beginning to convert, like the rest of the Cullens, to a purely animal blood diet. Rosalie shows open contempt to Bella, while Emmett seems to accept her. Esme welcomes Bella warmly, and Carlisle does the same. Edward and Bella retreat up to Edward's room, where they timidly dance to a classical track. Edward then surprises her and takes her up to the top of a large pine, overlooking a gigantic lake. Later, Bella is invited to a Cullen baseball game, oddly enough during a thunderstorm. It is soon explained when she hears the immensely loud crack of a vampire swing. She is resigned to playing as umpire, for vampiric speed and reflexes are too great for her to compare to. One swing sends the ball particularly far, and Alice senses something amiss. Three forms emerge out of a gathering mist, and Laurent, James, and Victoria ask to join the game. The Cullens are unsettled, as they fear how the newcomers would react to Bella, though there's no time to usher her away. They disguise her the best they can. The competition is friendly until a breeze comes through and James scents Bella as a human. Edward rushes Bella off to safety, while the rest of the Cullens are left to resolve the situation. It's soon established that James won't let Bella go, and is a great tracker, to his advantage. Bella panics and realizes her father could be hurt by James. Edward and her decide on a plan that will keep Charlie safe. Bella pretends to be upset when she arrives home, creating a scene and hurting her father's feelings in the process. She packs her things and leaves. The plan worked, and James steers away from Charlie's home. Edward takes Bella to the Cullen home. Laurent arrives to warn the Cullens of who they are facing, and then disappears. Bella now knows that mysterious murders committed with animal like ferocity near and in Forks were the work of this dangerous trio. Alice and Jasper volunteer to take Bella to Phoenix where she can hide, and Rosalie grudgingly takes Bella's jacket to lead James away from the actual Bella. James isn't fooled for long, however, and makes his way to Phoenix. Alice, Jasper, and Bella hide out in a Phoenix hotel room. Alice, who can see the future, unconsciously sketches a drawing of Bella's old ballet studio, Bella knows that James will be there. James calls and makes threats against Bella's mother, claiming that he has her, and gives the phone to Bella's mom so that she can plead for Bella's help. Bella escapes notice of Alice and Jasper, taking a taxi to her old studio, reciting the voice-over that appeared at the beginning of the film. She enters the ballet studio and cautiously peers around for her mother. She hears her mother's voice and opens a closet; her stomach sinks. It happens that her mother isn't actually with James, and that he'd used an old camera recording to trick her into coming to the studio. James attacks her and tries to get some of it on tape as a souvenir. Edward swoops in and occupies James. The studio begins falling apart due to their efforts. During the struggle, James manages to bite Bella, and she is now dying from a large slash to her leg and turning from the vampire venom. Carlisle, Alice, Emmett, and Jasper then arrive. Carlisle tends to Bella as the other three subdue James. Alice eventually snaps his neck and throws his body into a fire that Emmett and Jasper have built. Edward panics, even though James is dead, because he fears that Bella will die and change. Carlisle tells him to make a decision, and Edward takes Bella's wrist and sucks the vampire venom out of her, withdrawing just in time so he doesn't kill her. Bella blacks out and awakes in a hospital, her mom by her bedside. The Cullens have taken care of Bella's story, painting the incident that landed her there as a clumsy accident. Bella is later released from the hospital, and returns to her father's. Prom night rolls around, Bella's leg is still in a cast, and she timidly wears a borrowed dress from Alice. Before entering the prom, Jacob appears and warns Bella to stay away from Edward. Edward stiffly takes in Jacob, and then whisks Bella away. They take part in the festivities for a short time, and then dance in a more private pavilion, outside of the noise. Edward hints at what life would be like if Bella had changed, though she insists that she still wants it. It seems that he will bite her, but he withdraws and they continue dancing. From inside, a corner window shows a bitter Victoria, vowing revenge. She descends a staircase, smiling, and the screen fades to black.

Twilight never really wastes time introducing anything before launching into the weirdness. However, Edward's exaggerated intensity throughout his first few scenes gets tiring. Yes, the audience is aware that he's having a large internal struggle, but his reactions seem utterly human, and none of the vampire he later boasts. It's something like watching a nervous twelve year old planning how he'll ask a girl on a first date. Bella's retaliations are logical, though the beginning is mainly uneventful. Edward's vampire jokes that only he seems to understand are cliched and a little more than predictable. When something exciting does occur, it seems oddly out of place. The murders that the vampire trio committed had been pushed to the back burner through the whole film, though you see random flashes of each incident. In my opinion, the buildup to Bella discovering Edward's true self was too drawn out, and once it happened, the climax fell flat, even though it took half the time and a lot of effort to foreshadow. Edward's vampire self was essentially presented as human at that point because he displays all of his fears and urges. Bella is being the strong one in this instance, her confidence overwhelming Edward's surprising weakness. Edward only shows a few moments of strength and dominance throughout the film, only when free to be a vampire, when he uses his skills. Neither are particularly sturdy characters. The vampire aspect of the film was really tuned down. Vampires can go out in sunlight without being hurt in the slightest bit, fangs aren't ever shown (though there's a grand amount of hissing), and there aren't many opportunities to see the supernatural aspect of the movie. The romance is present in every angle of the film, but the writers seem to skimp on the supernatural, cutting it out as much as they can to either show a tortured Edward or a confused Bella. Bella's school friends all but disappear in the second half of the movie, and her father only appears to fill the voids. Bella's mother only takes time to talk about Edward with her daughter. Jacob and Edward develop a rivalry, and this story is pushed to the backseat as well. Jacob only comes in three times, the last being the weirdest and most out of place.
The only real scene that explores the Cullen family members' personalities is the baseball scene, which lasts a measly ten minutes at most, which is interrupted by the vampire trio. Immediately, you're suffering from whiplash as the scene launches into panic among everyone. No overly long build up there. The end battle scene was pretty anti-climactic; James didn't put up much of a fight after reinforcements arrived. Sure, he's great against a human and a single vampire, but he disappears after three seconds when more vampires come in, without even putting up a fight. Bella's mom shows up at the hospital just to create more drama in the scene, which is truly established by Edward who makes one last feeble attempt of trying to push Bella away. The deal's sealed buddy; you're stuck with her. Not like the last hour and fifteen minutes of the movie didn't tell us that. When the prom rolls around and it seems like he's going to change Bella, you're going, "Finally!" until he re-negs again and Bella (along with the audience) suffers from Edward's mood swings and his little outbursts. She's left to contemplate life in bittersweet contentment, and it turns out that Victoria didn't actually run away. Life's probably about to get more interesting. As if Bella and Edward's drama spats weren't enough. Twilight's positive aspects are the talented cast, the soundtrack, and the displays of supernatural abilities. The baseball scene lightened up the whole congested feel of the movie, and the battle scene provided the first taste of real action. This film has amazingly good pacing, though the drama has the whole value of the movie on its shoulders. Overall, Twilight was a good first effort, surprisingly so for a new franchise in a hurry to find its way. However, I would expect more from its sequels.