I LOVED the movie. You have to understand. I have been following this movie for the past year and a half. Once Summit announced that they were making Twilight back in summer '07- I jumped on these few Twilight sites and followed them through the whole process. I knew what to expect when they announced that Catherine Hardwick was directing. If you've seen any of her other movies (Thirteen and Lords of Dogtown), they have a really "intense, flawed, shaky" type of a feeling. She likes to do scenes where the camera almost seems like a hand held video camera. She is considered kind of an indie- small film director (though I must say she seems to get better and better with the films that she makes). She is also very artsy- and does a lot of interesting/cool flashback scenes, dream scenes, and slow motion. Summit Entertainment has produced done some very successful movies (Mr and Mrs Smith and Shawshank Redemption) as well some stupid movies (Sex Drive and Penelope). Summit Entertainment did not have much funding behind this project- about 30 million dollars. That might seem like a decent amount, but with how many actors are in the movie and the matter of stunts, its very low budget. Hopefully with the sequels- they are going to have to put more money into New Moon and Eclipse (the cast is only signed on for those 2 at the moment- contract wise- because Breaking Dawn wasn't out yet). Catherine has even said that they need to do CG instead of wires and stunt doubles for the sequels, because the werewolf scenes would be impossible to just do with costume and wires.
I've also followed the cast as they have announced each one by one. I LOVED when they cast Kristen Stewart as Bella. I had my own opinions about who would be perfect for the entire cast ahead of time, but once they cast her- i changed everything. I was going for more of a popular/big Hollywood feel- and that's not what Twilight is. Twilight is a lot more emotional and deep and unknown. I was a little skeptical when they announced Rob's casting as Edward last year, but that only lasted a whole 2 days. He was PERFECT for the role. He fits Stephenie Meyers description of Edward to a T! He might not be my own personal Edward, lol, but he fits the description perfectly for Bella's Edward. He is very attractive yet very scary. He has the sharp facial features and intensity in his eyes. He is tall but kind of lanky. He has big copper toned hair and literally looks like he was carved from stone/marble. He has a James Dean type of a look with a great little Edward grin. He was honestly just perfect so perfect for the movie. He had such intensity (though I wish they had a few more light hearted scenes with him, because he was just surpringly funny). The chemistry between Bella and Edward was AMAZING! It was really believable. They had over 5,000 guys audition for Edward. Most were model perfect and teeny-bop heartthrobes. Catherine was not impressed by Rob's looks alone in his pic, but she auditioned him anyways. He made it to the top 3. Then he did scenes with Kristen and she and Catherine both had an epiphany that he was the best Edward- and you could really see it on screen. Kristen really fought for Rob as Edward and Stephenie Meyer gave an enthusiastic seal of approval, because he was on Stephanies personal list for potential casting (the list was posted on her website)
The rest of the Cullen's were perfect too. I loved when they had cast them, though I wasn't sure of tan/brunette Nikki Reed playing Rosalie, but she ended up doing a great job. They were really fun. They didn't have as many lines (which is probably good because they are smaller actors)- but you really got that Cullen feel. They were all darling and very funny. The baseball scene was extremely fun. When they walked into scenes, you could feel that they were something special. Emmett was such a big/lovable presence. Rosalie was beautiful. Alice danced through scenes like a pixie. Jasper looked like he was in pain (he is the newest the the vegetarian diet) and he was ironically emotionless- which is actually PERFECT for someone who's power is to mess with emotions. I loved Peter Facinelli as Carlisle and Elizabeth Reasner as Esme (though only having a few lines) she seemed so sincerely and motherly.
The humans were a little extra something special that I did not expect. Physically, some the characters did not fit Stephenie's description- but that didn't bother me. They aren't a big enough part for it to even matter. Jessica Stanley was hilarious. You could really feel a little jealousy and she seemed like a typical popular high school student. Mike Newton was funny and jockish. I loved how competitive Tyler, Eric and Mike were over Bella. And they were also total goofballs. They felt like lovable high school kids to me, very immature and loud. Charlie was cast PERFECT! I loved Billy Burke as Charlie. He is actually a better casting for that character than the version Stephenie Meyer drew up in the book. He was very isolated, funny, sincere and down right lovable. Jacob was also great (though I hated his wig). He really seemed brotherly, yet kind of protective over her).
The Nomads (aka- villain vampires) were also a GREAT casting. I know Laurent isn't African American in the books, and James isn't supposed to be beautiful- but Edi and Cam were so good in character). Cam was originally cast as Emmett, but he called up Catherine and asked if he could audition for James. Cam tends to play villains very well, and man he was awesome! They had a lot more Nomad scenes then the books, which was really cool. It was a way of introducing and weaving the villains throughout the movie, instead of just throwing them in at the end. Victoria was very feline like, and she truly seemed evil to me. (PS- I love the end how they left it open for the sequels with her)
So after reading the books 3 times each, following the whole movie development for over the past year, reading my daily favorite online Twilight sites, reading every cast interview done, seeing all of the teaser trailers, seeing movie clips filmed by camera phones at film festivals in Europe, buying my movie tickets back in May/June through Twilight Moms, understanding that this is a pretty new cast, and artsy director, and a lower budget- i thought the movie was basically perfect. It did the books justice. Though they had to change and condense a few scenes to fit it into a 2 hour movie- that was to be expected. I also loved the flashbacks and little extra scenes (like the field trips, cafe scenes, and the nomads killing people along the way). It was a way of giving you the same feeling as Twilight, but showing the back story instead of having Edward explain it to Bella as he drove her to and from school everyday (which would obviously take up too much time in the movie if they did it that way).
This movie is far from Oscar-worthy (which is part of the reason it is getting lower reviews and only 3 stars), but if you love Twilight, Romeo and Juliet type love stories, and action- it is a must see. I will see it another time or 2, and I will DEFINITELY own the dvd when it comes out next summer. I give it a B+ and that is only due to some young acting, some cheesy wire work scenes, and the filming/editing feeling shaky and low budget at times (which it was low budget, and Catherine is an indie type of a director)
I know this movie is going to make so much money. It already made 7 million in just the Thursday night midnight showings across the nation. Hopefully the increased financing for the sequels will help, and Catherine will learn from her few small mistakes based on critics and fan viewer comments.
Go see it. Know that it is a lower budget and an ADAPTION of Twilight, not a word for word scene by scene replica of the book. It stayed pretty dang true to the books- and you will leave the theater very happy (and probably want to see it again)
