Twilight - Biss zum Morgengrauen

This is awesome part of franchise "Twilight" because gteat atmosphere, cool soundtrack.

This movie deserves an 8 purely for the soundtrack - one of the best movie sound tracks EVER (in my opinion) and beautiful scenery and cinematography. sure, the acting isn't great, nor is the script writing, however this movie is an enjoyable watch and a romance classic

NOTE: This review is the fair and unbiased opinion of someone with extremely little knowledge of the Twilight series. I watched the movie with a few die hard fans who I talked to after the movie, and I will work some of their thoughts into the review.

Another much loved book series has been brought to life in the form of Twilight, which despite having nothing in common with the Harry Potter series, will undoubtedly draw comparisons because of the furor and craze surrounding it. The main difference between the two, however, is that the Harry Potter films are generally good and solid films. Twilight, despite having done a couple things right, is not.

As a story, I will admit, Twilight is very catchy and interesting. Now I see what all the hype is about. If I was a young girl, I would go nuts over this stuff too. It's not just a vampire and a human falling in love with each other, but because of the two leads, it's one of the best on screen romances of the decade. This, however, is severely hurt by the fact that Twilight boasts easily some of the worst writing and editing I've ever seen. Let's not forget about the horrid VFX and pasty makeup, either. It's one of the cheesiest films of the year, and can definitely be put in the category of "so bad it's ALMOST good". Yes, I just invented that category.

The 'allure' of the film appears to be the character played by Robert Pattinson, who ironically was previously known for his role in the Harry Potter series. Pattinson succeeded there and he more than succeeds again, as he more than fit the bill for what he needed to do with the character. Most actors would believe the only requirement of the character is to be good looking, but Pattinson takes it a step further and makes Edward Cullen very likable, trustworthy, and in the end, a good hero for the audience. Kristen Stewart is sort of the queen of not showing facial expressions, so she's perfect for the role of the awkward teen Bella Swann. However, there were sometimes where her lack of emotion bothered me.

Our supporting players...Well, none of them are noteworthy like Pattinson is. The villain of the film is lame, cheesy, and played by an actor I can't take seriously. Nikki Reed is probably the best as Rosalie, Edward's 'sister', and the antagonistic vibe felt from her adds a different side to the movie.

Okay, I don't really know what possessed the writer of this screenplay to make it so horrible (was it the source material?), because the dialog is just so bad that I laughed at serious moments. There's a lot of intentional humor, mostly in the beginning when Bella and Edward feel like awkward teens in love. I guess the movie moved along okay, because I wasn't bored at all. I was either laughing at how stupid the dialog was, laughing at some of the mildly funny jokes, or getting pulled in by the electric chemistry between Stewart and Pattinson.

That, folks, is the reason most people will be able to sit through this movie. The chemistry between the two leads, romantically and sexually, is amazing. In this respect, Pattinson and Stewart are perfectly cast and it makes me wonder if they could end up together in real life some day. I was very surprised by how much I liked seeing their one on one scenes, as cheesy and bad as the VFX and editing are.

As far as these visual effects go, I've seen a few vampire movies in my day. I'm going to assume director Catherine Hardwicke has seen a few. Well, she needs to watch a few more. Her fight scenes are horribly choreographed, terribly shot, and lack the intensity required to successfully rouse her audience. I could almost notice the wires the actors flew across on. I noticed a ton of errors with the editing as well, such as basic stuff like mouths moving and no words coming out, and words coming out when no mouths were moving. The fight scene at the end has wicked bad editing too, as the sound mixing also suffers as well.

All in all, with Twilight, as bad a movie as it may be, I couldn't help but stay interested in it because of the electric chemistry between the leads. That alone kept me in the seat the whole time. It is technically one of the worst films of the year, but the entertainment factor in the above respect keeps it out of the company of movies like Disaster Movie and College. I was actually lucky to see it with some of the fans of the book, and all of them (5) described the movie as a 'disappointment' and that the film went 'half way' with some subplots, either starting and dropping them, or randomly starting them halfway through an individual subplot. They were not happy at all with this movie, but agreed on one thing: Robert Pattinson was the perfect Edward Cullen. I'll agree with them on all those points and say that Twilight is exactly what I thought it would be: so bad it's ALMOST good.

After the enormous flurry of attention Stephanie Meyer's literary series attracted (a unique hybrid of Romeo and Juliet style teenage angst and hormonal lust and supernatural horror), a cinematic adaptation seemed not only inevitable but almost expected, providing sultry visuals to the tale of starstruck lovers and proving the definitive date movie for months to come. However, the curse of mainstream literary adaptations proves inescapable, with excitement surrounding the release leading to the film being somewhat unreasonably over-hyped. And while Twilight is hardly a complete failure of a film by any standards, there remains the inescapable sense of its existence being geared to match up to a set standard rather than simply aiming to succeed as a film, making for the overall result being uniformly disappointing, whether for fans of the source material or those unfamiliar with the novels.

Few Hollywood productions have the concern of appealing to both the demographics flocking to romances and supernatural action films, and as such, the impression is frequently given of Twilight biting off more than it can chew. This indecision between concentrating on the supernatural or romantic facets of the film leads to one of the more glaring flaws of the picture - the sense of neither being devoted enough focus to truly excel. While the climactic battle is gruesomely effective, for the most part, the film's special effects appear rushed, under-budgeted and just plain sloppy, coasting by on horrendously unconvincing slow motion to represent vampire super-speed and making moments which should have been filled with wonder and awe instead evoke unintentional laughs and groans. However, Meyer's revisionist take on vampire lore is intriguing, and the viewer wishes the film had delved into the technical aspects of immortal vampire lifestyles further - a sequence where protagonist Bella slowly begins to suspect the true identity of the mysterious boy she has found herself involved with is impressively eerie and chilling. Such moments are aided incalculably by the tremendous musical score of Carter Burwell, whose bold mix of brassy Gothic themes and eerie, chilling motifs perfectly compliments the intensity of the film.

However, Twilight's main concern lies in its script, which boasts some particularly gruesome patches of dialogue apart from the general lack of characterisation one has sadly grown to expect from the teen romance genre. Similarly, despite director Catherine Hardwicke appearing to be the perfect candidate to helm such a film (with directorial debut Thirteen demonstrating a keen knowledge of the teenage girl mentality), her handling of the source material is unfortunately shaky.The film repeatedly falls prey to the "Harry Potter syndrome", feeling somewhat clunky in its almost robotic adherence to its source material, giving it the sense of jumping awkwardly from plot point to plot point and lacking the necessary cohesion and narrative flow.

But most importantly, for a film revolving around its central romantic attraction and sexual tension, the audience is never really given the chance to FEEL the romance, to be drawn in by the mutual lust and entrapment of the two leads for one another. In an oddly rushed sequence, the budding romance between protagonists Bella and Edward is reduced to a couple of nonchalant sessions of hanging out, mostly demonstrated through montage, after which Bella's (largely unnecessary) narration declares her unequivocal love for Edward. This rather abrupt transition would toe the line of appearing satirical of teenage romance were it not for the fact that the viewer realises the moment is meant to be completely heartfelt. What was likely far more effective in literary form, with the chance to understand Bella's emotions and mental process making the romance far more credible does not translate into film. As such, with this crucial central romance lacking the necessary spark which made the novel such a success, Twilight, for all of its periodic cinematic potential, just feels somewhat unnecessary.

The film's casting is perfectly passable, supplying a sufficient variety of up and coming pristine teenage beauties capable of essaying their character types, yet for a book which was driven by such genuine intensity and passion, one can't help thinking of all the performances as somewhat listless and flat. While Kristen Stewart makes a passable romantic lead as headstrong Bella, she lacks the necessary charismatic spark to truly make the viewer warm to her, making her teenaged-angst interludes harder to empathise with. Robert Pattinson does his best as teenage dreamboat vampire Edward, sharing strong chemistry with Stewart, even if his "sultry, moody glances" delve into the melodramatic to the point of verging on comical at times. The rest of the cast give rather bland but serviceable performances, the standouts being Cam Gigandet who is mercifully given the chance to gleefully chomp on scenery and generate sufficient menace as sadistic villainous vampire James and Ashley Greene who essays the ideal balance of being sweetly charming without being overly chirpy as Edward's kind-hearted sister Alice. However, despite his best efforts, Billy Burke is forced to wade through "stern but absent father" clichés to the point of being almost invisible as Bella's emotionally stunted parental figure, and Taylor Lautner fares little better as mysterious prospective love interest Jacob.

While Twilight is hardly a failure on all fronts, with a sporatic peppering of effective moments, the word which most ably describes the film as a whole is 'passable', lacking the necessary intensity or impact to truly hit home. It is easy to envision the adaptation being far more satisfying if done as a smaller, independent production outside the shadow of Hollywood, one which would not shy away from capturing the true passion and intensity of the central relationship without baulking at the prospect of a simmering yet sexless teenage relationship. As is, Hardwicke's film is content to succumb to cliché and sloppy, complacent storytelling, making it far too 'bloodless' to truly satisfy.

-4/10

There is no point in pretending it – I'm a man in his thirties and I'm not target audience for this film. So the fact that I rented it is just a "bonus" few pounds in the pockets of the makers since they clearly weren't aiming this film at me. Who they were aiming it at appears to have been the army of teenage girls who have been reading the Twilight books religiously – again. I'd never even heard of the books so this is really something off my cultural radar. Regardless I decided to give the film a try without really knowing the plot or what it was meant to be. What I found was the first part in a longer story about a human teenager who moves back to her small town and falls for a boy who turns out to be one of a group of teenage vampires who feed off the blood of animals rather than people.

I have no problems with the teenage aspect of the story but somehow it really failed to engage me as it was not only too superficial but didn't even really do that particularly well. The film plays like it has been written around events without a great deal of depth, complexity or characterisation in it, which is a surprise considering the fertile ground the world of teenage love and acceptance is. Sadly it comes off all too bland and obvious for my tastes and I rarely could bring myself to care about what was going on. The direction is a bit too serious at times but it also lacks passion and the breathlessness that the material suggests it must have once had if it did captivate a teenage audience. Of course I could be just missing the point because perhaps the cast are a big part of it working and this is lost on me.

Certainly the appeal of much of the cast is lost on me totally. Stewart has something about her but cannot translate it into something meaningful here, leaving her character feeling a bit one-dimensional. However compared to Pattinson she looks like one of the finest actresses of her generation because he is about as dull and vapid as he could have been without trying. OK maybe his immortal, unsleeping character has to have something weirdly "dead" about him but this should not be a detrimental part of his performance as it is here. I shan't bother to list those below them because nobody really captured my interest in terms of their characters or performances.

Twilight is not a bad film, it is just a very bland one that lacks passion, heart or excitement. Maybe the target audience will strongly disagree (I'd be shocked if they did not) but having watched this for myself I fail to see what not only the fuss is about – but why anyone would really consider this to be a good film.