Did the Twilight movie seem...OFF to you?
@youngsweetheart (772)
United States
January 9, 2009 6:52pm CST
I jumped on the Twilight bandwagon pretty late, I'll admit - just a couple of months before the film hit theaters. By the time I saw the movie I had finished the complete series, which I loved, even if it was a bit syrupy and cliched.
Ah, but where do I start with the film? Part of the book's charm was all of Bella's commentary on what was happening, which was interesting and helped move things along nicely between big events. None of that in the film - things that came across so well in the book just looked odd (or worse, plain ridiculous) in the film. Case in point? When Bella walks into science class and Edward looks like...well, like he may puke. It shouldn't have been nearly as funny as it was.
I've heard a lot of complaints about the baseball scene, which was actually one of the only parts I really enjoyed. However, it DID feel out of place, because suddenly the tone of the movie did a COMPLETE 180...for about three minutes. Then it was right back to being vaguely depressing.
But the things that really ruined it for me was Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart. I didn't dislike them by themselves - I disliked them as a pair. Rob was overacting a bit, which was actually a bit in character, if you think about it, because if you've read the books, let's face it, Edward is a HUGE drama queen. Kristen, however...barely reacted to anything that happened at all. She seemed expressionless, and the tone of her voice rarely changed. That is NOT how I pictured Bella AT all - I had perceived Bella as a bit emotional; not necessarily a drama queen like Edward, but definitely not the cardboard that Kristen portrayed her as. When you paired Kristen's underwhelming delivery with Rob's overacting, it made them each look worse, instead of better - and you're always supposed to make your costar look better! I was left with the feeling that some of Rob's overacting was even Rob trying to compensate for what Kristen wasn't putting out there.
Overall, the movie was okay - it followed the book fairly well, but without most of the magic the book had, and with WAY too many unintentionally funny moments. I'll be interested to see what the new director can bring to the table. How about you?
1 person likes this
6 responses
@JanMags (724)
• Philippines
10 Jan 09
my husband has read the book twice (huh, go figure) and has seen the movie twice. he says pattinson was not able to capture the surreal beauty which he was supposed to have as written in the book (i find it weird that my husband, who is a grown man is into all this. at first he read the book out of curiosity because people were raving about it. now, he has some book report-ish comments to share with me. hahaha.)
@youngsweetheart (772)
• United States
10 Jan 09
That is both funny and admirable, lol. I'd say that in regards to Pattinson, the fault was not his as much as either the director, cinematographer, the special effects team, or a combination of the three. I think most fans of the book would have been disappointed somehow in ANY actor cast as Edward, since Edward is essentially perfect...you know, if you can forget about that whole blood-sucking thing.
@mommyboo (13174)
• United States
23 Mar 09
I think I like the books better than the movie - but the movie was still good. I am not sure if I would have liked the movie AS much if I saw it without having read the book first. Unfortunately, you see more of the flaws if you've read the book - because there are some differences that are obvious. Like you said here, there is no commentary from Bella really in the movie. If you follow what's happening, you figure it out, but if you don't have that to fall back on, you might be lost. If she had done some voice overs while scenes were happening to help flesh out or describe what she was thinking or feeling, that may have helped some. That said, I have seen some excellent fan-made videos based on Twilight and different aspects of the story. YouTube is a priceless place for talent.
Because I knew what was going to happen in science class when Bella walked by that fan, I EXPECTED that moment. A few things that I missed - bella's cooking, because that was a BIG part of the book. In the movie they spend dinnertime at the same diner nearly every night. Bella reminds Charlie she could cook but he's kind of hesitant to accept, probably based on being a lonely bachelor set in his ways lol. I also missed the scene where Edward blocks the school parking lot and Tyler Crowley asks Bella to the prom and then in the next few months goes about claiming to everybody that she IS going to the prom with him lol. Of course the blood typing scene in science class that was cut... some little 'history lessons' with Carlisle when Bella finally meets the rest of the Cullens... and the airport scene where Bella sneaks away from Jasper and Alice.
I enjoyed the baseball scene actually, it was fun.
I didn't have any issues really with Bella or Edward, Bella was actually just as I expected her to be. Edward wasn't EXACTLY my vision of Edward, but had I not read the book, he would have been. The way he behaved was spot-on. It was the way he looked that was a little off from what I expected based on MY interpretation of what I read. Alice and Jasper were exactly right, Rosalie was not. I'm trying to think of who would have portrayed her better. I don't know, she just wasn't quite as glorious and perfect as you are led to believe in the book.
I am not hard on my entertainment. When I love something, I genuinely love it and I don't care if there are flaws. Picking it apart would rate it down and I don't want to do that.
@Trace86 (5030)
• United States
10 Jan 09
The movie just seemed to be missing something integral. It was quite a bit too mellow and calm. It totally skipped things I considered important and changed other things, like in Edward's room. A lot more blah than the book and rather disappointing to me.
I agree that the baseball scene was the best. Too bad the momentum didn't last.
@owstalaga (4707)
• Philippines
16 Jan 09
Well i guess the faults are so obvious because it's a low budget film... however i do agree that the the movie is not that great but has it's own ok moments... haha. =)
Hopefully with the new director and a bigger budget New Moon will be much better.
@britt_200 (1226)
• United States
10 Jan 09
i love reading! but for some reason i didnt like this book. it was SO hard for me to read. i ended up just putting it down! idk why but it was just not my type. i thought the movie was OK but the acting could have been better. the acting was cheesey at some points and just BAD. i wanted more from the actors. overall i thought the movie was good but i needed better acting...
@harshrosicky (626)
• India
22 Mar 09
One word that describes the movie best is "lame"....there were other tons of movie which i wanted to see but my room-mate forced me to download this one...The name sounded a little interesting....saw the trailer on youtube and it looked good....The protagonist was cedric diggory....i said okay....Saw the movie got shocked.....Still hate my room-mate for that. I had seen the movie three weeks ago but i m still in shock..the picturisation was good.....Acting okay....But what it missed was the concept....i was so dissapointed by the movie that i respond to every twilight disscusion and write the nearly same stuff and still don't get bored or tired of it..
