Should Have Been Sharper (Twilight [2008] (DVD))

Member Name: JayHall1991

Product:	Twilight [2008] (DVD)
Date:	06/06/09 (23 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Some Visual Fun, Good Performances, Faithful Adaptation

Disadvantages: Slow, Doesn't Really Improve On Novels Flaws

Bella Swan is shy so moving from her flaky mother in Phoenix to the rainy small-town Forks where everybody will notice her is hardly an inviting thought. She has to experience the humiliation of the first day of school and dodge the advances of her male school mates, something which goes against her sweet nature, as well as try and form some semblance of a relationship with her absent-minded father. She seems to consign herself to a life of boredom when Edward Cullen, a mysterious and enigmatic teen, whirls into her existence forcing her to fall in love as well as pushing into a dark world of the supernatural and danger worse than she could have ever imagined.

The Twilight novel wasn't high quality literature but it did hit on a few elements which were genuinely compelling and crafted a central romance which has led it to become one of the best selling books of all time; it was sweet and sincere and so committed to the ridiculous world which it created that it was weirdly absorbing. And by following the source material so closely Melissa Rosenberg and Catherine Hardwicke create a film which is romantic and exciting, as well as surprisingly artistic, but fails to jump over the book's most obvious flaws. At times the Twilight film is genuinely engaging with more than a few visually and emotionally gripping sequences, but it insists on throwing in cheesy special effects, horrendous bits of dialogue and a few truly bizarre set pieces. Its a mix of amazing and terrible, much like the novel which inspired it, which is a shame because there is real potential here for a film with sharp fangs and a fluttering heart. Where the book was just serious enough to make the central relationship feel life-or-death tense, the film comes off as more than faintly ludicrous by piling stupidity onto an an already questionable premise. There are moments when the badly executed action sequences subside and the romantic elements shine through - but there is no escaping the fact that this adaptation of Twilight lacks bite (pun very much intended).

One of the most striking things about The Twilight Saga's original cinematic outing is it's surprisingly indie and artistic aesthetic; it has a pleasingly low budget feel which makes the whole thing look like a personal drama rather than a Hollywood franchise (although the low-budget makes the special effects look hammy, dated, pathetic and highly distracting). There are some highly unusual, and memorable, visual quirks and the whole project takes on a fairly effective grey palette which correlates with the sparse story line pretty well. This can largely be credited to Hardwicke's passionate but uneven direction; she obviously loves the material, has an eye for gothic arts and seems at home when the screenplay focuses on Bella and Edward's tumultuous relationship but she is hopelessly inept at creating tension, falters considerable when the film turns to action and stops the film from actually meaning something by keeping it so impersonal. Everything about the film is constrained, which works in the book as the reader is given a blow-by-blow of Bella's emotions, but here it just feel emotionless. It's as if the audience are watching the action from behind a smoke screen and consequently is is exceptionally hard to become emotionally invested in anything that happens. It is a bizarre mis-move on the part of the crew and one which truly hurts the overall effect of the film; what could have been schultzy but moving turns into shallow and silly.

It feels as if the cast and crew wanted to make the Twilight movie into something which the source wouldn't allow, it hints at being a quirky little drama about a girl finding love but losing herself in the process (I have serious questions about the message which Twilight tries to present to teenage girls; if Edward and Bella's relationship isn't abusive/co-dependant/against all advice of modern relationships then I don't know what is), but then suddenly shifts into fifth gear and becomes a frantic yet oddly funny action drama. The film lacks any elegance or continuity, it never knows what it wants to be and so never actually finds its groove, in trying to please everyone by throwing every genre into the mix it ends up satisfying no-one fully. It's as if Melissa Rosenberg tried to dilute the strands of the novel which did not appeal to her and so both the romantic segments and dramatic seem to clash in a way that they did not under Meyer's fairly steady literary hand. The screenplay may be the weakest aspect of Twilight; it makes unnecessary changes in narrative and never effectively overcomes the problem of turning the novels first person narrative into a coherent protagonist. Rosenberg tries to 'fill the audience in' with obtrusive and irritating narrations but it really doesn't work. The screenplay should give the audience more, something to hold onto and engage with but it doesn't come until the final ten minutes, which are admittedly pretty great, and its too little too late.

Twilight's casting is strange and kind of wonderful but sort of horrid; all of the performances have great elements yet fall flat in others as if the actors are in limbo, only shining when they are allowed to. Kristen Stewart is a bold, appropriate yet strangely irritating choice for Bella. She fits the physical description perfectly with pale skin, interestingly beautiful face and snow white skin and she brings the mix of strength and vulnerability which the role demands, but she seems almost resentful of the dialogue, which you can hardly blame given the turkey's she is given, and doesn't seem all that interested in the twilight universe or inner workings of her character. Bella as a character is intrinsically irritating, at one point in the series she almost kills herself to see a mirage of Edward, but Stewart extremely cold and unemotional portrayal seems to zap some of the humour from Ms. Swan. However, she brings a stirring independence and quite grace which is oddly haunting and she manages to bring more maturity to the role than many of her counter-parts would. There were moments where I loved the complexity and quiet force she brought the role but at others I was complete put off by her irritating and crazy lack of commitment to the project. I have equally opposing views of Robert Pattinson's interpretation of Edward Cullen; he doesn't look how I imagined whilst reading the books and is less charming/more sinister than I had constructed in my mind but he also brings a new, slightly more tense, energy to the role which works quite well. He brings a touch more of the freak to Edward than I was expecting, with a fidgety, violent edge which is quite engaging. His power grows throughout the film, at first sort of uninspiring but eventually quite amazing, and his slightly scary and cold twist is fairly efficient.

Some moments which stick out in the novel fail absolutely; the 'baseball' scene, which in the novel offered the god-like Cullen's some sort of humanity and likeability, is absolutely pathetic here with stupid effects and fairly horrendous camera work and Bella introduction to Edward's family is more forced and stupid than the book ever suggests. Meyer's writes in a very cinematic way but the scenes never really jump off the page (apart from Bella confrontation with a vicious attacker and a prom sequence that will please teenage girls around the world, both of which come near the end where the film hits its stride) and the whole thing seems better suited to television than the cinema screen. It just isn't enough; the emotions aren't strong enough the capture the audience, the characters aren't fleshed out enough, the narrative not significant enough to command the running time. Twilight, despite the vampires and various dramatic revelations, is a simple, quiet, sweet story about a girl who finds love in the most unlikely of places and in a novel that is fine because the reader is allowed an intimacy and connection that a camera lens simply does not allow. In the literary world Bella and Edward's fight to be accepted in a world filled with judgement seems significant and poignant but when condensed and magnified onto a cinema screen it feel infinitely more flimsy. Their fight doesn't become ours, we aren't given enough of a reason to root for these two angst ridden lovers and so the fall pretty much falls flat.

The Twilight movie just didn't give me what I wanted; I wanted it to find something fresh in material which has been analysed to the point of absurdity. I wanted emotional weight without cheese, I wanted something lively and exciting and maybe a little sad; but what I got was a limp flick which shows many moments of promise yet fails to string them into one entertaining project.

Summary: An Okay Adaptation