Review of TWILIGHT movie
Transcript of Review of TWILIGHT movie
INTRODUCTIONAuthor Stephenie Meyer
Cover
artist
Gail Doobinin
(design)
Roger Hagadone
(photograph)
Country United States
Language English
Series Twilight
Genre(s)Young adult,
Fantasy, Romance
Publisher Megan Tingley
Publication
dateOctober 5, 2005
Media type Print (Hardcover)
Pages 498 pgs
ISBN 0-316-16017-2
Followed by New Moon
Twilight is a 2008 American vampire romance
film based on Stephenie Meyer's popular novel of
the same name. Directed by Catherine Hardwicke,
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the film stars Kristen Stewart and Robert
Pattinson. It is the first film in The Twilight
Saga film series. This film focuses on the
development of the relationship between Bella
Swan (a teenage girl) and Edward
Cullen (a vampire), and the subsequent efforts of
Cullen and his family to keep Swan safe from
a coven of evil vampires.
The project was in development for
approximately three years at Paramount Pictures,
during which time a screen adaptation that
differed significantly from the novel was
written. Summit Entertainment acquired the rights
to the novel after three years of the
project's stagnant development. Melissa
Rosenberg wrote a new adaptation of the novel
shortly before the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of
America strike and sought to be faithful to the
novel's storyline. Principal photography took 44
days and completed on May 2, 2008; the film was
primarily shot in Oregon.
Twilight was theatrically released on November
21, 2008; it grossed over US$392 million
worldwide. It was released on DVD March 21, 2009
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and became the most purchased DVD of the
year. The soundtrack was released on November 4,
2008. Following the film's success, New
Moon and Eclipse, the next two novels in the
series, were produced as films the following year.
CASTMain cast
Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan, a seventeen-year-
old girl who moves to the small town of Forks,
Washington from Phoenix, Arizona and falls in
love with a vampire, Edward Cullen. Her life is
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put in danger after a sadistic vampire, James,
decides to hunt her.
Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen, a 108-year-
old vampire who was changed in 1918 and still
appears to be seventeen. He is Bella's love
interest and eventually falls in love with her.
He has the ability to read minds, with the
exception of Bella's, along with superhuman
speed and strength.
Secondary cast
Peter Facinelli as Carlisle Cullen, a
compassionate 300-plus-year-old vampire who
looks to be in his early 30s. He serves as the
town's physician and is the father figure of the
Cullen family.
Elizabeth Reaser as Esme Cullen, Carlisle's
vampire wife and a mother figure to the Cullen
family.
Ashley Greene as Alice Cullen, a vampire who can
see the future based on decisions that people
make.
Kellan Lutz as Emmett Cullen, physically the
strongest vampire of the family.
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Nikki Reed as Rosalie Hale, a Cullen family
member described as the most beautiful person in
the world. She is incredibly hostile toward
Bella throughout the entire film.
Jackson Rathbone as Jasper Hale, a member of the
Cullen family who can manipulate emotions. He is
the newest member of the Cullen family, and thus
has the most difficulty maintaining their
lifestyle of feeding only on animals instead of
humans.
Billy Burke as Charlie Swan, Bella's father and
Forks' Chief of Police.
Cam Gigandet as James Witherdale, the leader of
a group of nomadic vampires that intends to kill
Bella. He is Victoria's mate and a gifted
tracker, due to his unparalleled senses.
Rachelle Lefèvre as Victoria Sutherland, James'
mate who assists him in finding Bella.
Edi Gathegi as Laurent Da Revin, the most
civilized member of James' coven.
Sarah Clarke as Renée Dwyer, Bella's mother who
lives in Arizona with her new husband, Phil.
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Taylor Lautner as Jacob Black, an old childhood
friend of Bella and a member of
the Quileute tribe.
Christian Serratos as Angela Weber, one of
Bella's new friends in Forks.
Michael Welch as Mike Newton, one of Bella's new
friends who vies for her attention.
Anna Kendrick as Jessica Stanley, Bella's first
friend in Forks.
Gregory Tyree Boyce as Tyler Crowley, another
one of Bella's classmates, also vying for
Bella's attention. He nearly hits Bella with his
van.
Justin Chon as Eric Yorkie, another one of
Bella's classmates who vies for her attention
PLOT
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Isabella "Bella" Marie Swan moves from
sunny Phoenix, Arizona to rainy Forks,
Washington to live with her father, Charlie, to
allow her mother Renée to travel with her new
husband, Phil Dwyer, who is a minor league
baseball star. Even though Bella never had many
friends in Phoenix, she quickly attracts attention
at her new school in Forks, and is quickly
befriended by several students. Much to her
dismay, several boys in the school compete for shy
Bella's attention.
When Bella sits next to Edward Cullen in
biology class on her first day of school, Edward
seems utterly repulsed. Edward is stunningly
attractive, and inhumanly beautiful, yet he is an
outsider too. He moves as far away from her as
possible. He even attempts to change his schedule
to avoid her, which leaves Bella completely
puzzled about his attitude towards her. Shortly
after he disappears for a while, Edward begins to
talk to Bella, having seemingly forgotten their
unfriendly first encounter. One day, Bella looks
at Edward, who is far away, in the parking lot.
Oblivious to her, a student (Tyler Crowley) had
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lost control of his vehicle, and it was rapidly
progressing in her direction. Bella realizes this
at the last moment, thinking she is dead. However,
Edward appears and stops the oncoming car
completely with one hand, leaving a dent, and
shocking Bella with his speed and strength.
During a trip to La Push, Bella tricks a
family friend, Jacob Black of the Quileute tribe,
into telling her the local tribal legends and she
finds out why, although the Cullens have lived in
Forks for two years, they have never really been
accepted by the townsfolk. Jacob mentions the
Cullens, and says that most of the reservation
believes that they are vampires, though he doesn't
think so. During a trip to Port Angeles, Edward
rescues her again, this time from a band of serial
rapists and killers. Bella asks him if what Jacob
said about his family is true. Edward admits that
he and his family are vampires, but says that he
and his family only drink animal blood to keep
themselves from turning into the monsters that
many other vampires are.
Edward and Bella's relationship grows over
time, and they fall passionately in love. Their
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foremost problem is that to Edward, Bella's scent
is a hundred times more potent than any other
human's, making Edward struggle to resist his
desire to kill her. However, despite this they
manage to stay together safely for a time.
The seemingly perfect state of their
relationship is thrown into chaos when another
vampire coven sweeps into Forks and James, a
tracker vampire, decides that he wants to hunt
Bella for sport. Edward's family plan to distract
the tracker by splitting up Bella and Edward, and
Bella is sent to hide in a hotel in Phoenix. Bella
then gets a phone call from James in which he says
that he has her mother, and Bella is forced to
give herself up to James at her old ballet studio.
Upon meeting him, Bella discovers her mother
wasn't at the dance studio and was safe all along.
James attacks Bella, but Edward, along with the
rest of the Cullen family, rescue Bella before
James can kill her. To Edward's horror, Bella
begins to feel like her hand is on fire; James had
bitten her. The only thing that could be done to
save her life was to suck the venom out. Edward is
the only one who can do so as the others would
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find it too hard to finish. To his, and Bella's
amazement he is able to stop after sucking the
poison out.
James is subsequently ripped apart and burned
by Emmett Cullen and Jasper Hale, Edward's
brothers. Bella is then taken to a hospital in
Phoenix, where she recovers from the attack. The
story they choose to give Bella's parents is that
she fell down two flights of stairs and through a
window in a hotel, using her clumsiness to cover
up for what really happened to her.
Once returning to Forks, Bella goes to the
prom with Edward, where she expresses her desire
to become a vampire, which Edward refuses to let
happen. The book ends with neither of them
refusing to budge, but as deeply in love as ever.
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OPINION ABOUT TWILIGHT MOVIE
Twilight's a mix of the good, the bad, and the
truly ugly. Fortunately for Twilight fans who've
been working themselves into a frenzy over the
film's anticipated release, what works in.
Twilight heavily outweighs what doesn't. Director
Catherine Hardwickeand screenwriter Melissa
Rosenberg do a great job of not only capturing the
tone of Stephenie Meyer's teen vampire romance
book but improving it with dialogue grounded in
reality and a batch of action scenes to fill in
rocky storytelling spots. Twilight's cast also
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should be commended for nearly living up to
Meyer's unobtainable standards.
Robert Pattinson (and his extraordinary head
of hair) and Nikki Reed had particularly rough
jobs as their characters are described with such
hyperbole in Meyer's books that no human on the
planet could possibly look the part. And let's
face it – no one in the cast looks exactly how
every reader pictured the characters. We all have
different visions of Edward, Bella, and the
Cullens floating around in our heads. So kudos to
Pattinson and Reed for tackling roles that got
them picked apart in pretty nasty reports when the
initial word of their casting surfaced.
Pattinson's and Reed's performances as Edward and
Rosalie should silence all the naysayers.
The Story
Through a minimal amount of voice-over we
learn Bella's leaving Arizona – and the sun –
behind to live with her dad, Police Chief Charlie
Swan, in Forks, Washington. Her first day at
school she makes friends with Jessica, Angela,
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Eric and Mike, and spots…cue drum roll please…
Edward Cullen. Be still our beating hearts – his
already is.
If you've read the books, you know Bella falls
quickly for the strangely cold, strangely detached
17 year old who occupies the same table at lunch
every day with his brothers and sisters. The
Cullens stick together and their fellow high
school students tend to leave them alone. They're
not ostracized, but they're definitely not the
first to get invitations for sleepovers. But Bella
sees something everyone else apparently misses or
wisely chooses to ignore.
The film puts Edward and Bella together
quicker than the book, which is fine because the
most interesting parts of Meyer's story focus on
Bella and Edward by themselves. Edward has to deal
with balancing his desire to bite Bella with his
longing to kiss her, which makes for one angst-ey
vampire. And all Bella knows is that she's found
the guy she wants to be with; the fact he's a
vampire is pretty much a non-issue.
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The Cullen family is the exception to the
vampire rule, opting to feast on animals rather
than people. They've adapted well to this
lifestyle and although they're by no means totally
immune to the smell of humans, they've progressed
to the point where they can live amongst us fairly
normally. But when vampires who do love humans –
to death – come to town, it's up to Edward and his
family to keep Bella safe.
The Good
Meyer's story takes place in Forks,
Washington, and filming in the Pacific Northwest
was absolutely the right decision. The gloomy,
overcast skies further add to the brooding quality
of the tale, and of course are necessary since
these vampires come out in the daylight but stay
out of the sun (their sparkling skin would be a
dead giveaway they're something outside the norm).
Pattinson as Edward totally works. Now he's
known to millions of Twilight supporters around
the world, but Hardwicke cast him when practically
no one (other than some Harry Potter people) knew
his name. Pattinson took the film Edward to a
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slightly darker place than the book Edward, and in
doing so made him more appealing - on multiple
levels.
Also earning high marks are the performances
by Billy Burke (Charlie), Taylor Lautner as Jacob
(though his screen time is extremely limited), and
the actors who play the Cullen family – Elizabeth
Reaser (Esme), Peter Facinelli (Dr Carlisle
Cullen), Nikki Reed (Rosalie), Kellan
Lutz (Emmett), Jackson Rathbone (Jasper) and
stand-out Ashley Greenewhose Alice is exactly as
written in Meyer's book series. Anna Kendrick,
Justin Chon, Michael Welch, and Christian Serratos
fill the roles of Bella's classmates and are
actually more interesting as portrayed onscreen
than in the novel thanks to Rosenberg's ability to
speak teen.
The Bad
There aren't as many quiet romantic moments
between Edward and Bella as there are in Meyer's
book, which of course has a lot to do with the
fact you cannot cram every page from the book into
the feature film. Yet I really missed a few of the
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more memorable tender scenes between the two that
stand out in the novel.
Also, the meadow scene… Well, it's not the
book's meadow scene that's for sure. Still, it's
in the movie and that's thanks to tireless
campaigning by director Hardwicke who knew how
important it was toTwilight fanatics. And, sadly,
the baseball scene seems off. I can't put my
finger on exactly what's wrong with it, but it
feels a little forced and hokey at the same time.
Maybe it's the baseball caps.
I'm also not sold on Kristen
Stewart's performance as Bella. Sticking this in
the 'bad' section is a stretch – she's a good
actress and it's not like she delivered a terrible
performance. It's just this Bella never seems
happy, not even when she finds out the impossibly
gorgeous vampire is in love with her. Does Stewart
smile in the film? I honestly can't remember, but
if she does it's a rare occurrence. I didn't buy
Stewart as a teen in love.
The Ugly
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While Facinelli's performance as Dr Carlisle
Cullen is spot on, his transformation from a
brunette with a normal Caucasian skin tone to a
bleached white blonde actually elicited chuckles
from the preview audience. The first time he
appeared onscreen was one of those moments that
yanks you out of the film because it's so
strikingly obvious he's in make-up.
Horrible, horrible special effects also serve
to pull the audience right out of this imaginary
world of Twilight's vegetarian vampires who live
alongside humans. Edward's ability to run
lightning fast looks about as cheesy as you can
get, and the sparkle effect is disappointing.
Summit Entertainment should have given Hardwicke a
larger effects budget so she could do justice to
critical ingredients of the story that didn't have
to do with performances.
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TWILIGHT DIFFERENCES IN FILM AND NOVEL
In the novel Twilight and Twilight movie there are
also differences, among others:
Stephenie Meyer is the author of the Twilight novels and did not play a role in the characterization of the novel.
In the novel there are no figures Waylon Forge.
In the novel, Rosalie Emmett does not have a nickname.
Bella and Charlie did not eat at the restaurant. Instead, Bella cook meals at home.
In the novel, Edward mention how twilight is the safest time for a vampire.
In the novel, Edward said that Jasper has theability to control the emotions of those around
Stephenie Meyer played in the film. He sat at the bar using a laptop and act as Stephenie.
Waylon Forge was in a restaurant, Victoria, Laurent and James killedhim when he was repairing his boat.
During a baseball game scene Rosalie Emmett calls her "Monkey Man".
In the movie they eat atthe restaurant.
In the movie, twilight that was never made significant or mentioned.
In this movie, Jasper capability not mentioned.
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him.
In the novel, Emmett, Rosalie, Alice and Jasper attend the prom.
In the novel during the hospital scene towards the end, Edward said that he would stay with Bella "for the best for him".
In the novel, the prom was held at their schoolgym.
In the novel, their first kiss is next to Bella's truck after theyleft the pasture.
In the novel, James disclose information about past Alice.
In the novel, tells Bella all the legends ofhis tribe and Jacob knewof Bella that Edward andhis family are vampires.
In the novel, the
In the movie, they do not exist at the prom.
In the film, he simply said "Where else I will go."
In this film, the prom was held at a hotel accommodation that is not a high school sport.
In this film, Edward andBella's first kiss was in Bella's room.
In the film, James did not even mention or knowAlice.
In this movie, Jacob said only part of his story, and Bella find the rest of a book he bought in Port Angeles and from the internet.
In the film, the Cullensare very modern house with black and brown paint.
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Cullens family house is old and white.
In the novel, Angela wasnot happy to go to the dance with Eric.
In the novel, during thebaseball scene, Esme tells Bella about her infant son dying, and hethen jumped off a cliff.
In this film, Angela hope Eric will ask her to dance.
In this film, Esme or Edward did not mention his past altogether.
That is some difference in the novel Twilight
by Twilight, where the difference storyline or
rather the scene in a story that is very
dominating. Compared with the novel Twilight,
Twilight is still maintaining his novel weakness,
it's just the power of the novel it does not
appear in the film. Quite arguably add to the list
of existing weaknesses. The most visible is the
tension that is built incrementally by the
beginning of the novel actually bland movie. Bella
struggles in the face of the city atmosphere Fork
hated it goes flat as well as interaction with the
Cullens Bella. Tensions new film feels after Bela
and the Cullen family met with a trio of vampire.
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In comparing the work can transform the ideas in
the primacy of the author and laid comparative
advantages and disadvantages. After comparing the
novel Twilight by Twiligh films can be concluded
that the novel Twilight is better than Twilight
movie because the builder's imagination and
suspense in the novel is delivered with a neat, as
opposed to the Twilight films where tensions are
built incrementally by the novel actually bland in
this Twilight movie.
Twilight novel also has its own weaknesses
were arguably quite a lot actually. Edward Cullen
characterizations can be seen that look like
Romeo, Hamlet and other heroyang tragic figure
with a less powerful characterization, then that
becomes the narrator's character Bella story too
is not grounded (character Bella more like a
vampire than a human being), not to mention the
simple story plot that actually made widened until
the old theme also arguably had rotted (love story
of two different world). That makes more than the
value of the Twilight movie than Twilight novels.
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MORAL MESSAGE
- They both belong in a different world. The one
is immortal and the one is mortal which shows
that there's a boundary. And the movie shows
that no matter how hard to break the boundary
and no matter what they are if they both love
each other then they're gonna do everything to
fight for what they have which is LOVE...
- The power of Love and how it conquers
everything, differences and all.
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- If you love someone you should be willing to
risk your life for that person. (Edward saves
Bella from James, Laurent and Victoria).
- Love conquers all. (Edward manages to push aside
the lust he has for Bella's blood because he
loves her so much).
- You don't choose who you fall in love with. They
can be anyone, anything and can be the person
you least expected to fall in love with. (Edward
didn't expect to fall in love with a human, and
Bella didn't expect to fall in love with a
vamp).
- And that sometimes you have to wait and be
patient for good things to happen. (Edward had
to wait 100 years to find the one he truly
loved).
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Twilight will teach future students about our
society today through its morals and values that
the characters display. Twilight shows how our
society values how love can change a person, a
person’s religious belief (or disbelief), and our
love for finding true love.
Future students will need to understand our
society to learn how theirs was created, where it
came from. By studying and analyzing books,
movies, and more from different time periods,
students can learn about the society of that time
and see how the society has developed over the
years to get where it is.
For example, students today learn how women and
African Americans gained equal rights. This shows
why our society is the way it is, people stood up
and made a change so now our society has changed.
Twilight shows how in our society we value true
love and finding true love, in the future the
society might change and our values now could
change.
Students can learn how the society they live in
is the way it is and gain a better understanding
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of their history, society, and the world around
them. Twilight is just one example of our
society’s values shown through books and movies.
Twilight gives a reader a better understanding our
society and our quest in life to find true love,
no matter how rare we know it is.
SUMMARY
Twilight would be the same movie with or
without vampires. Edward is attracted to Bella
because she smells delicious, but he could just as
easily have been attracted to her because she’s
really super-hot. Bella on the other hand, is
attracted to Edward for the same reason all
teenage girls seem to be attracted to bad boys. I
don’t know what that reason is, but the female
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lust for jerks is something of a universal
constant, and it’s on full display here. This is a
story of a nice girl attracted to a brooding,
edgy, asshole. The vampire stuff is there only to
provide a little extra eye candy, it’s almost a
gimmick, but the shallow romance themes in play
are timeless, ageless, and they work well enough.
It’s a film sure to make 16-year-old girls and
women who think Matthew McConaughey is sexy,
squeal with delight.
Bella is the new girl at school, having moved
to the gloomy, rainy state of Washington to live
with her father. Her relationship with dad is
something of a footnote in the film, but it’s more
realistic than you’d expect. Family is
something Twilight seems to understand, whether
it’s a human father and his daughter or a coven of
friendly vampires.
It’s not long before Bella falls in with a
crowd of those blood-suckers, living right out in
the open. These vamps don’t seem to have fangs and
sunlight is only a problem because it reveals
their true nature. When hit by a sunbeam, their
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skin looks like someone went crazy on them with a
bedazzler. Or at least it’s supposed to, the
movie’s limited effects budget makes it more of a
half-hearted twinkle.
Edward Cullen is Bella’s window into the
vampire world. When she meets him he’s her lab
partner, and he treats her like garbage. This of
course makes her extremely interested, so she
pursues him. Soon we learn that he’s been avoiding
her because he’s a vampire, and she smells so
delicious he’s not sure he can keep from eating
her. He’s from a family of vampire vegetarians,
blood suckers who do their best to avoid chowing
down on humans, sticking to animals instead. Bella
finds this all terribly romantic and she’s
instantly in love with Edward. Edward returns her
affections, perhaps a victim of his own vampire
compulsions since it’s hard to see any reason for
him to fall in love with her. Kristen Stewart and
Robert Pattinson seem perfectly suited to their
roles, that is to say they’re good at playing
pale, besotted, empty-headed teenagers. Pattinson
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even manages to pull off being a teenager with
bite.
Before long there’s strife, less friendly
vampires come to town and Edward must protect
Bella from becoming someone else’s meal. That’s
not really the point of this movie though. It’s
not an action flick or a vampire horror movie so
much as a brooding romance film. When it does
attempt action the pic’s limited special effects
budget isn’t up to it, and they’re forced to find
ways around doing anything too ambitious. The
movie’s best scenes instead, seem to happen when
Bella and Edward are simply hanging out with his
pale, vampiric clan. A vampire baseball game
provides something of interest, and getting a feel
for how the Cullen’s survive undiscovered yet out
in the open is worth your time.
Director Catherine Hardwicke deserves a lot of
credit for keeping Twilightaway from the crash and
burn it probably deserves. This is fairly shallow
material which, with an oversized blank check
budget might have been massaged into a legitimate
movie. Unfortunately Hardwicke didn’t have a
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bigger budget and is forced to do the best she can
with what she has. The result is a film which
feels more like the pilot for a television series
than a cinematic experience. There’s just not
enough going on here. On television Twilight could
have been the new Beauty & the Beast and critics
might have hailed it as one of the best things on
TV. As a movie it’s merely not terrible. Fans of
the book series on which it is based will no doubt
throw themselves at it with energy and lavish it
with praise, for anyone else it’s forgettable but
not particularly painful.
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