Keeping True To Hollywood Adaptations (Twilight [2008] (DVD))

Member Name: Andy.mack

Product:	Twilight [2008] (DVD)
Date:	29/09/09 (33 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It stays close enough to the original story

Disadvantages: The direction, acting and lack of characterisation

Having decided to give her mother and step father some space, 17 year old Bella Swan has decided to move back to Forks, Washington to live with her Dad for a bit. Expecting to slip into small town live in relative silence, she becomes the centre of attention as the new girl from the south. There are a small group, who Bella learns are all family, the Cullen's, who pay her absolutely no attention and one of them Bella is sure particularly dislikes her. They have a secret that no one can know, but Bella is determined to find out why Edward Cullen seems to be trying his hardest to get away from her.

Since reading Stephenie Meyer's first book in the Twilight saga I've been trying to bring myself to watch the film. I always worry with films based on books when I've watched the film first and my main worry was whether the film would be as good as the book. It seems that my fears were totally justified and that was a real shame. There is potential in the book for a decent film, but for me the film just didn't seem to work in this adaptation.

It's the first time I've come across director Catherine Hardwick and to say I was less than impressed was a bit of an understatement. Her shooting style reverts this into a teen school drama rather than remaining true to Meyer's original books. There are small alterations to the story with a few details changed but by and large it runs parallel with the book and while it misses bits and changes them it just seems to give the story a different feeling. Whilst reading the book I found myself interested in the characters but with the film I couldn't have cared less about them.

Usually directors get criticised for straying too far from the original but in this case they seem to have tried to cram everything in from the book and that lets the film down. At 122 minutes it seems about the right length but the characterisation that Meyer gets right in the book is totally missing. We don't really get to hear Bella's back story that makes you interested in her during the book. The settings don't seem to work and the atmosphere the book creates seems to be missing from Hardwick's interpretation.

If the direction didn't work neither did the casting choices, well from my point of view anyway. There seems to be a lot of fuss from an awful lot of young women over Robert Pattinson as Edward and while he may be pleasing on the female eye, he seems to have trouble actually acting. His portrayal of Edward is clumsy and really doesn't give the impression of the original character in Meyer's book. I didn't feel any connection between his character and Kirsten Stewart as Bella and again this misses the whole point of the book.

The lack of characterisation of Bella Swan is what really put the mockers on Stewarts performance. She seems to capture the key points of Bella from the book but because of the lack of detail in the film her performance doesn't quite work and her character would have benefited from more background information. This is a problem the whole cast has as firstly there isn't enough background on the characters and unfortunately the performances all seem incredibly wooden and lead to this film being such a disappointment.

Overall despite how much I enjoyed the book I'd find it incredibly hard to recommend the film. The book was good and the film just doesn't do it justice. From average direction to poor acting performances it just doesn't work on any level. There was the potential to make a decent movie, but the film seems to fall into the stigma that surrounds the book and aims itself at the teen market, which just doesn't work for it. If you're over the age of about 16 and male you might as well avoid this film, I think most women and girls would enjoy it, but apparently that's only because of Pattinson and not because of the film. A missed opportunity that I'm incredibly glad I didn't pay to see.

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Summary: The first big screen adaptation of stephenie Meyer's books