Movie Review – Twilight (A Review for the Older Crowd)

Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars

While the target audience of the big screen adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s novel Twilight is pre-teen to teen girls, many older viewers will be roped into attending this movie as the primary demographic has yet to earn their driver’s license. This review is for those older viewers like myself to give them an idea of what to expect as they find themselves headed to the local multiplex this holiday season with their daughters in tow.

In a nutshell, the story follows teenager Bella Swan (Kristin Stewart) who moves to a small town in Washington state to live with her father because her mother is traveling with her step-father who plays minor league baseball. At her new school, Bella has an instant attraction to fellow classmate Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) who seems to have a dark and mysterious goth-thing going on. She finds out that he and his family are vampires (of the “good” variety, that is), but this does not deter her affections for him. Then a bad vampire shows up and just has to have Bella (apparently just to annoy Edward) and the “good” vampires face off with the “bad” ones.

Even those who have not read the Twilight books most likely know going in that this is a vampire movie, unfortunately it takes at least half the movie for Bella to find out the truth of Edward’s nature. This provides a rather long build up to a revelation that even those who know nothing about the book series have probably already figured out in the first thirty minutes. That first hour delves into much of the teen angst you would expect from its main characters and will probably have the older crowd checking their watches quite frequently. Fortunately, the movie picks up after this point and maintains the interest of both the older and younger viewers for the rest of its rather daunting 120+ minutes.

As vampire stories go, this one passes through some familiar territory. It offers the vampire who feels deep remorse for what he is, the mortal/immortal love story, the “good” vampires vs. the “bad” vampires. However, it handles all of this without descending into cliché or giving way to banal, hackneyed dialogue. It also creates its own spin on the vampire mythology: the vamps can go out during the day, but in direct sunlight they have a shimmering appearance that would give them away. Also, the “good” vampires only drink animal blood (they call themselves “vegetarians”) though they do have a desire for the real stuff. It helps that the story is packaged with fantastic cinematography and stunning imagery (mostly from the amazing location shots) and a driving alt-rock soundtrack (of course available on CD). The directing can be a bit obvious and overblown at times, but it carries the movie forward and does not distract too much from the story and visuals.

My one big issue with the movie, as a parent at least, is the romanticizing of Bella’s relationship with a dark and dangerous figure. There is definitely some wish-fulfillment going on here, but it glamorizes the situation for some very impressionable young minds. Sure, in the movie-world, Edward is really a good person deep down and we know that he would never hurt Bella. But in the real world, dark and dangerous people are just that, dark and dangerous. You should probably take at least a few minutes to discuss the difference between reality and entertainment with your daughters after watching the movie, at least on this point.

Still, all in all, I would say the movie proved quite entertaining. It did not quite connect with me because of my age bracket, the same reaction I had from the Harry Potter movies, but I did find it enjoyable. And I have to admit that it stuck with me for several days after seeing it, and could likely lure me into seeing the sequels (already in the planning stages), though I will bring my daughter along for cover. It is rated PG-13 for violence and some suggestive scenes, but there is nothing major to be concerned about. Your daughters will enjoy it and you may enjoy it as well along with scoring some major points for bringing them (a definite added bonus).

-Paul S. White

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