MOVIE REVIEW: ‘Twilight’ a love story without any love
I have not read the “Twilight” books. I must make that extremely clear, or I may otherwise suffer the wrath of young girls everywhere. Most people have already made up their mind about “Twilight” before even seeing it. Most of the people who have read the books want to love it, no matter how corny it may be.
“Twilight” is corny, yes. At times the movie is delightful in its corniness. The pale face makeup is extremely overdone, and when the vampires sparkle it’s a sight to behold. Where the movie bites (bad pun definitely intended) is that it drags on and on, moving at the speed of semi-coagulated blood.
Bella is the new girl at a new school (these types of stories seem to always start out this way). It was refreshing to see her welcomed by her classmates. Usually with these types of movies, the new girl is an outcast, the butt of everyone’s jokes. Here the kids are welcoming, and that was a nice change from the normal.
Bella soon finds out that not all of the kids attending her new high school are quite normal. The Cullen family is a bunch of pale-faced foster kids who date each other. The odd one out is Edward Cullen. Bella is immediately stricken by the dashing good looks of Edward.
We never actually find out if Edward thinks Bella is beautiful, but we do find out that he enjoys her smell. Why does he like her smell so much? Because he is a vampire. After a few awkward conversations and some come-hither stares, Bella and Edward fall madly in love with each other.
The first two acts of the film are dreadfully slow, and reveal close to nothing about anyone. We are not given much to go on in the love department either. The movie expects you to know that these two people love each other, but there’s nothing really substantial to back that up. I suspect Bella and Edward don’t really know if they are in love either. It’s one of those teenage romances where it’s love for love’s sake.
Edward has amazing powers, and most of the movie focuses on his feats of strength. He can run extremely fast, climb trees like a monkey, stop vans with one arm and even read minds. After a while I found myself saying, “OK, I get it. He’s not human. He can do things everyone else can’t. But, no matter how hard he tries he’s never going to get tan.”
Overall, “Twilight” is essentially a love story without any real love. It’s impossible to pin-point the moment that Edward and Bella fall in love. Are they really in love? Does Edward just want to keep her close in case he gets hungry? Is Bella infatuated with him because she’s found someone as pale as she? Or does she just love thinking that she is in love?
–aaron.peck@aggiemail.usu.edu
Grade: D+