Chick-lit continued its war against the integrity of the vampire myth with the Twilight saga, which saw them become vegetarian hippies who just want to be loved. This first film adaptation is essentially a teen love story, with some vampire stuff thrown in here and there. There's no doubt that its existing fanbase will be pleased with this, but for the non-ardant there isn't much to get excited about.
The plot, sees Bella (Kristen Stewart) relocate to a wet and windy Washington town to start a new life with her father. Upon starting her new high school, she befriends and later falls in love with Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) a mysterious and solitary boy who is in fact a creature of the night, AKA vampire. And that's that. This film is essentially the Notebook for the Goth crowd, with the sickly and naive central romance bound to irk the more worldly viewer, but to the teenage girls who bought the novel in droves it will be exactly what they wanted. On the positive side, you get the impression that the actors do their best with what they had and both Stewart and Pattinson manage not to be annoying. This, considering the strength of the script and the overall mawkish sub-Buffy tone of the film, is nothing short of astounding. Given that so little screen-time is given to anything outside of the romantic thread, everything else feels shortchanged. The Vampire tracker villain James is so burdened by lack of screen time that he almost feels like an afterthought, which is a shame because he has some 2D bad guy potential. Similarly, Bella has a remarkably friendly group of friends who buzz around her all the time even though she seems to do nothing but ignore them. I guess Washington is a friendly city. The relationship between Bella and Edward seems a little forced too, with both seeming awkward around each other and although their performances were solid, their chemistry was non-existant. Given the romance is what the movie sold itself on, this must go down as a failure then. But to the hoardes of fangirls, I'm sure little things like quality don't matter a bit.
Overall, a teen romance in a horror movie's clothing. One step further in the wimpification of Vampires. Diamond skin indeed.
The plot, sees Bella (Kristen Stewart) relocate to a wet and windy Washington town to start a new life with her father. Upon starting her new high school, she befriends and later falls in love with Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) a mysterious and solitary boy who is in fact a creature of the night, AKA vampire. And that's that. This film is essentially the Notebook for the Goth crowd, with the sickly and naive central romance bound to irk the more worldly viewer, but to the teenage girls who bought the novel in droves it will be exactly what they wanted. On the positive side, you get the impression that the actors do their best with what they had and both Stewart and Pattinson manage not to be annoying. This, considering the strength of the script and the overall mawkish sub-Buffy tone of the film, is nothing short of astounding. Given that so little screen-time is given to anything outside of the romantic thread, everything else feels shortchanged. The Vampire tracker villain James is so burdened by lack of screen time that he almost feels like an afterthought, which is a shame because he has some 2D bad guy potential. Similarly, Bella has a remarkably friendly group of friends who buzz around her all the time even though she seems to do nothing but ignore them. I guess Washington is a friendly city. The relationship between Bella and Edward seems a little forced too, with both seeming awkward around each other and although their performances were solid, their chemistry was non-existant. Given the romance is what the movie sold itself on, this must go down as a failure then. But to the hoardes of fangirls, I'm sure little things like quality don't matter a bit.
Overall, a teen romance in a horror movie's clothing. One step further in the wimpification of Vampires. Diamond skin indeed.
Rating: 5/10
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