As some may have noticed, one of our favorite series of books is the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. So of course we went to see the movie. Well, this is one movie where the critics that I have read got it right. This movie is just not that good. What happened?
The movie is certainly true to the plot of the book. The problem is, Twilight is not a particularly glamorous book. Its main character, Bella, is clearly described as a normal (and awkward) high school junior. The movie is similarly awkward. The cinematography reminds me of one of my favorite movies, Dan in Real Life. But although the simple camera angles and ordinary scenes work in Dan, they don't work in Twilight. After all, these should be two completely different movies: Twilight is not an ordinary-life comedy; it is a portal into a beautiful, immortal world, which we learn in the books as we come to know the character of Edward.
The movie fails to make Edward and his family truly magical. It's partly a lack of proper special effects. It's partly in the excessively long (for a movie) exposition (and even then we don't get the real feel for the relationship between Bella and her mother, or her two girlfriends at school, or with the character of Mike Newton). It's partly that the interaction between Bella and Edward has to be awkward, since it is in the books, and awkwardness doesn't translate well to the screen. It's also partly in the movie's soundtrack, which leaves a lot to be desired. I believe most people had higher expectations for this movie. I think that anyone who had a chance to preview this movie while it was being developed (and certainly there were people keeping an eye on this movie as it was being produced) could tell that it was not the movie it could have been.
The only conclusion I've come to is that this had to be done intentionally! I think that the shimmering skin effect was made subtle intentionally. I think the exposition is long intentionally, but that most of that exposition is not providing anything especially valuable to the screen.
Maybe some of this will change for New Moon. I'm sure we're going to find out!
I should add, by the way, that I thought most of the casting was really well done -- especially Bella, Jacob, Alice, Rosalie, Carlisle, Esme, the three villains... I think these people can act and stick to their roles. The fact that I didn't like the movie much is not the fault of the acting.
3 comments:
I agree and I didn't even see the movie! But of course I would not see the movie anyways becauase I read all 4 books and thought they were all... pretty lame. Why did I keep reading all 4 books? I don't know I'm still wondering that myself. Glad you guys can still go to the movies. We have not been to the movies in at least a year and a half! I'm not sure there as a theater anywhere near in our future either. Miss you guys!
I must agree! I haven't read the books, but at the insistence of a friend I went and saw the movie last week. I was thoroughly underwhelmed - as you said, the actors weren't bad as a whole, but the poor plot compression and erratic camera angles were a major problem. The storyline seemed to have promise, but the movie botched it.
Given the lauds I've heard of the books I'm reserving my opinion of them until I'm able to read them in whole. I'm sure there's at least one young woman in my ward with a copy I can borrow...
Hey..where's your Maine trip post?? let see some pics! =)
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