Reviews
Twilight
December 19 2008
Catherine Hardwicke
Starring Robert Pattinson, Kirsten Stewart, Billy Burke
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Bella (Kirsten Stewart) is the ultimate angst-ridden American teenager; so much so that biting her lip seems to have manifested into a full-on facial tick. While Edward (Robert Pattinson of Harry Potter fame) has managed to avoid discovery for years despite having the pallor of a mime, noticeable fangs and a tendency to disappear at the first sign of sunlight.
Adapted from the first novel of four by Stephenie Meyer, Twilight follows Bella’s new life with her divorced father and her eventual infatuation with the ‘mysterious’ Edward. From Bella’s obnoxiously caricatured class mates to her divorced family, director Catherine Hardwicke hurls cliché after frustrating cliché at the screen hoping to strike a chord with those people in the audience who don’t already know the novel off by heart (the ones who aren’t 13-years-old and female). As the film gets into full swing, these clichés are replaced with sparse action scenes with special effects that wouldn’t be amiss in an episode of the Six Million Dollar Man.
This almost gives Twilight and endearing sense of naivety. But in the end it isn’t enough to redeem a fatuous experience.
Anticipation:
Enjoyment:
In Retrospect:
There is still a place for depth and originality in the mouldy old vampire genre – and that place is Sweden, transformed into a quirkily tender feeding ground in the extraordinary Let The Right One In. It is so good that everything else pales in comparison (and we’re not talking the kind of pale that suits the living dead). It’s out in the UK early 2009, through Optimum, and has already been optioned for a Hollywoood remake.
Written by Anton Bitel on December 20th, 2008 at 17:40
i’ve yet to see twilight but i can imagine enjoying it for what it’s worth.
anton is completely correct about let the right one in. i would say it was my fave film of the year. incredibly haunting but somehow so tender; sweet but unsettling.
oh and please say a remake ain’t so, if just to save journalists from using some kind of sucking the life out of the film cliche.
Written by Alexander on December 22nd, 2008 at 20:04
Dawson Creek meets Interview With the Vampire. One of the worst movies to attach itself to the genre, and I’ve seen Bordello of Blood.
Written by JP on December 23rd, 2008 at 09:20