Before I begin with my review I just wanted to mention that I’ve never read any of the Twilight books, so I am unable to judge the fidelity of this film from its origins. As some of my regular readers already know, I am a huge fan of any story featuring vampires, but opted to skip this in theaters because it seemed more like a chick flick than an actual vampire feature.
To start, I’m calling Twilight your average teen romance. I felt that Twilight set the tone for its upcoming features, and after watching the first of five films (assuming they release one per book), I’m actually looking forward to its sequel. This franchise has the opportunity to put out some excellent films in the future, and it ultimately rests in the hands of director Catherine Hardwicke the producers (thanks NDO for the update) to make everything come together.
The sticking point for me was definitely the forbidden love relationship between Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) and Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson). There are few films that cast members with chemistry as good at these two, and I think that their pairing was an excellent choice. Pattinson definitely is THE draw for the films female fanbase and is without a doubt the biggest part of this films success. I do acknowledge that Stewart is as important in her own right, but lets be real here, without Pattinson, its hard to imagine this film performing as well as it did at the box office.
Back to the story, I really liked how they portrayed the vampires as much more than just blood lusty monsters. The Cullen family portrayed as “Vegetarians” was an interesting take on vampire lore, and vampires living in daylight (and glittering in the sun) rather than being restricted to the nightlife was a nice twist. I’m curious to know if there are any actual weaknesses for these immortal beings, because it really seems like they have nothing to fear but being murdered by their own kind.