Having said that, I was fully prepared to be disappointed in the film adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight. The first in a 4-book series, Twilight begins the story of Bella Swan, a high-school girl who moves from sunny Phoenix, Arizona to rainy, overcast Forks, Washington.
Pop Quiz: Which is Phoenix, which is Forks?
So once she arrives, Bella soon meets and subsequently falls in love with Edward, a member of the locally-famous-for-their-weirdness Cullen family. Edward, as luck would have it, turns out to be a vampire, as are all of the Cullens. Having adopted their surrogate father's sense of morality, the Cullen family have assumed a "vegetarian" lifestyle-that is, they don't feed on humans, although Bella lays siege to Edward's resolve to maintain this human-friendly diet. This relationship lays the groundwork for the rest of the movie's events, which I won't spoil for anyone who reads this.
As an adaptation, Twilight is surprisingly faithful to the book. As one very suspicious of movie adaptations (Eragon was a debacle, and the Bourne movies, while entertaining and well-done in all respects, were so completely removed from the books in so many ways, they should not have been considered adaptations), I was pleased to find so much in common with what made the book so enjoyable. The plot followed that of the book very carefully, only making revisions when time constraints made it absolutely necessary. These changes did little to remove any of the feelings created during a reading of the book. Indeed, the loss of discovery and character development that plagued The Da Vinci Code in its adaptation were absent here-the screenwriter did a good job keeping the characters as fully developed as those in the book.
Sadly, this same attention to character detail results in various characters (primarily the vampires) acting in ways that are confusing or seemingly pointless to the uninitiated. Had I not read the book and been previously acquainted with the Cullens, I would have been confused at some of Edward's reactions, and would have written off actor Jackson Rathbone as doing his best Edward Scissorhands impression throughout the film. So without previous experience with the characters, much of the movie will seem disorienting and lackluster to some.
With few exceptions, though, the acting was well executed. Whether I have this opinion because I went into the theater expecting a straight-to-CW experience or not is irrelevant. Kristen Stewart did an excellent job conveying Bella's lack of confidence and her inability to relate easily to her high school peers, and Robert Pattinson played a nearly flawless Edward, conveying the vampire's confusion regarding his feelings for Bella, as well as his loathing of the monstrosities he knew he was capable of. While a select few moments had me thinking that I would have directed them differently, the acting throughout was a plus.
My only real qualm with Twilight were the not-so-special effects. I really, really wish the studio had put more than ten bucks into the effects used throughout the film. The vampire's actions were unnaturally blurred to convey great speed, even though much of the intended effect was left lacking-the vampires often looked blurry, not fast. The idea of traversing the forest at inhuman speeds was completely enthralling in the book, but the movie made it seem like Edward was capable of flying, and I found myself looking for the suspension cables in the tree-climbing sequences. And on a final note regarding the lacking special effects: I went into the movie not knowing how they would recreate the effect the sun would have on Edward, and just as I suspected, they weren't able to pull off the effect.
Technical issues aside, though, I thoroughly enjoyed Twilight. Perhaps some think that its high school cast or love story without sex (OMG!! No sex! How unrealistic...in a movie about Vampires!) means that it isn't worth their time. Not true. Just as in a book, good entertainment comes from good character development. If one can be made to care about the characters (Jasper and Emmett need a little TLC for the sequels), investment in the rest will come by default. Twilight did a good job with this, and I have every confidence that high earnings will yield a bigger budget and production values more equal to the great story being told here.
