Review 36: Twilight

I’m not the right person to review this film but I found myself oddly drawn into Twilight’s supernatural world of teen angst and vampire, Gothic romance.

Based on the novel Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, Seventeen-year-old Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) doesn't expect much when she moves to Forks, a small town near the Washington coast, to live with her father, Charlie, after her mother is remarried to a minor league baseball player. There she attracts the attention of the mysterious and handsome Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson). But after Edward saves Bella from an accident, she's determined to find out his secret, she latter finds out he's a vampire but he and his adoptive family are ones who don't eat humans. As their worlds and hearts collide, Edward must battle his inner bloodlust as well as a coterie of undead that would make Bella their prey.

The plot is, very much like the book, a dark romance that seeps deep into the soul.
At its core, Twilight is basically a modern retelling of Jane Austin's Pride and Prejudice; it's a classic story about finding true love.
Twilight is a story about life, not death and love, not lust: Bella and Edward want to be together and they won't let anything get in the way, we grow to care about the two of them and hope their relationship will turn out well in the end. It also deal with similar themes to Pride and Prejudice e.g. Class: Edward and Bella are separated, in this case, one simply cannot live without the other. Bella and Edward are not born a great match. It is through their interactions and their critiques of each other that they recognise the faults of their romance and work to correct them. Edward must muster a lot of self control in order to prevent himself from harming her. The film seems to be fully aware of how risqué their relationship is so they must compromise.

Twilight also deals with the uncertainty of maturing and the decisions you have to make: As high schooler, Bella is dealing with the typical teenage problems like social alienation due to the fact that she's moved from Arizona to Forks, Washington and is starting a new high school with teens she doesn't know as well as a family of vampires thrown in for good measure.
She's also starting to develop feelings for boys and it just so happens that the boy she's attracted to is a vampire.

As Bella settles into, she quickly, wether intentionally or not, acquires a little posse of friends consisting of Jessica (Anna Kendrick), Angela (Christian Serratos), Mike (Michael Welch) and Eric (Justin Chon), who although capable and likeable are mostly interchangeable. Ah well, I guess that's what comes from being the chief's daughter in a small town.

Pitty the same can't be said of the villains, eventually Bella and Ed's budding romance draws the unwanted attention of Nomad vampire James (The O.C.'s Cam Gigandet) and his buddies Victoria (Rachelle Lefevre) and Laurent (Edi Gathegi) who stalk Forks with their presence looming a shadow. They didn't exactly make for the most compelling of villains James gets his jolly’s from hunting very difficult prey, a merciless sadistic tracker who's also drawn to the sweet smell of Bella's blood 

 are a trio of scary villains playing James, Victoria and, a trio of Nomad vampires who stalk Forks. They are predators They come across as quite primitive vampires compared to the Cullens; they simply live to drink good blood and it just so happens that the Cullens get in their way when they’re passing through the area. 

Eventually, Ed introduces Bella to his adoptive family, Carlisle Cullen (Peter Facinelli), his wife Esme (Elizabeth Reaser) as well as his siblings Alice (Ashley Greene), Emmett (Kellan Lutz), Rosalie )Nikki Reed) & Jasper (Jackson Rathbone) 

Edward and adoptive siblings are said to be frozen at their respective ages and have been for over a hundred years which does beg the question as to why they still feel they need to attend High School; Surely there’s new left for them to learn by now? According to Edward, it’s a private family joke as they will never grow old. Ah well, whatever keeps the family together.

What Twilight ultimately boils down to is a film about young adults dealing with typical teenage problems. The supernatural overtones serve as metaphors for what teenagers go through in High School. If  there were no vampires in Twilight, it would be a typical High School movie.
 
This film exists in its own world and we must embrace said world in order to enjoy it.
This film is also very clearly aimed at an audience consisting of young girls who embraced the source material who then passed it on to their moms and are potentially trying to get their boyfriends turned on as well. Does Twilight get the job done? - Yes, I suppose it does.

Director Catherine Hardwicke finds a good balance between the syrupy romance, the scary thriller and drama of the story. The cinematography is beautiful and captures the rainy, dank atmosphere of Forks, Washington as well as reflects vampires cold exterior. The special effects are effectively low key and used sparing, the score by Carter Burwell is appropriately haunting, the production design is terrific (the Cullen's house in particular is a resplendent environment filled with lots of different architecture, polished wood floors and glass banisters, the costume design is excellent, the make up is rich and the ending was excellent.

 
The acting is superb, particularly from Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson who play their roles effortlessly. Furthering parallels to Pride and Prejudice, Bella and Edward (wether Stephanie Meyer realises this or not) are stand ins for Elizabeth Bennet and 

Mr. Darcy, Romeo,  respectively.

What's intriguing about the character of Bella is that there's nothing inherently special about her, she doesn't have a define heritage and she's not some "Chosen One" with a great destiny. She's pretty much a normal/typical teenage girl and those typical teenage anxieties are the layers that start to unravel as the film progresses.
When we meet Bella at the beginning of the film she's directionless and board. When she meets Edward for the first time, she's oddly drawn to this look of hatred but at the same time it's almost like a need.

As Roger Ebert, rather eloquently wrote in his review, "Bella, like many adolescents, is a thanatophile."
I saw an interview with screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg who described Bella as having “an internal strength that makes her courageous” and self sufficient, she's not needy or looking for love or adventure.

Stewart has described her fascination with Edward as sadomasochist. Bella is attracted to Edward primarily for Bad Boy attitude as well as his looks.

Robert Pattinson, whom you may recall as Cedric Diggory from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, delivers a conflicted, charasmatic performance as Edward Cullen, capturing his daredevil attitude, the sense of longing for a soulmate as well as same bad boy James Dean attitude the Hayden Christensen brought to Anakin Skywalker. Edward isn't just attracted to Bella physically, he's drawn to the delicious smell of her blood. Like many teenagers, he’s in love but cannot express it.

But he's a benevolent "vegitarian" vampire who doesn't eat humans, so he's forced to constantly keep himself in check whenever he's around her. It's this gentlemanly restraint that fuels the tension between them. The feeling that he could snap at any moment is 

As a teen turned Vampire who’s been around since 1918, he's clearly lived a very lonely existance; He was on the road to death and had come to terms with that and then woke up in this sort of purgatory like state which he hates and doesn't necessarily see any point to life. Meeting Bella allows him to living world.

Carlisle Cullen is the patriarch of the Cullen family, a doctor by trade who is centuries old and has unshakable compassion which is why he and Esme and adopted Edward and his siblings.

 

Elizabeth Reaser is a lovely albeit underutlized presence playing Ed's adoptive mother Esme. What sets her apart, is that she posseses an unparalleled capacity for love. She also has a strong maternal instinct which makes her a warm pressence for what is essentially a bit part.

Reed and Greene are the standouts among Edward's siblings playing his adopted sisters Rosalie and Alice resptively. Greene, notably, bought a cheeky charm to role while also channeling the childike energy that comes with knowing you're going to be great friends with your "brother's" new girlfriend.

Out of all the Cullen's, Rosalie is the only one who is openly hostile towards Bella, she clearly has had quite a troubled past and Reed expertly captured the bitterness and resentment she harbours towards Bella but also giving us the sense she deeply cares for her family.

Billy Burke round out the films impressive cast playing Edward’s adopted family and Bella's father Charlie as do

 

Twilight is a well made, stick to your ribs adaptation that should satisfy fans of the source material, 4/5.

The Anonymous Critic