Twilight - Biss zum Morgengrauen

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

There's an atmosphere to Twilight and that much you simply cannot deny. I can't help but be engrossed by the way that this movie captures the beauty, dreariness and nature of the Pacific Northwest. A memorable score and soundtrack heighten Catherine Hardwicke's broody, yet still enchanting tone. Elliot Davis' cinematography under her direction replicates the indie flair prominent in her other features, this is what separates it apart from the commercially realised sequels that followed. It's a hot and cold, gothic romance with just enough high stakes to enchant you until the very end. If it's raining, you can best believe that I'm slipping into something comfortable and putting Twilight on.

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

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.