Still, in my defense, I did write a post yesterday while I was sitting at Panera but for some devilish reason, my post didn't actually post. Panera Bread may smell like heaven, but it's wi-fi is sent straight from HELL! Anyway, I should probably stop rambling and get to the point of this post...
My Twilight Review
I went to see Twilight with a small group of Twilight fans (and a couple non-fans too but I pretended like they didn't really exist) on Thursday night for the midnight showing at Atlantic Station. We sat down in line about two hours before the showing, cementing our bums to the dirty theater carpet, therefore ensuring ourselves perfect seating arrangements for the film. The theater was filled with loud, annoying teenage girls but we knew to expect that. I told myself I would control my temper as long as everyone shut the hell up once the movie started. Apparently, even that was asking for too much. I spent a good part of my weekend receiving calls from friends asking me what I thought about the movie. I could hardly give them a coherent answer, but this was the jist of it:
First and foremost, I need to see the movie again. As I mentioned above, the twittering, giggling, yelling tween girls never actually shut the hell up throughout the whole film. I nearly gave in to my primeval instinct to horribly slay a couple constant gigglers behind me. But I curved that desire because nobody appreciates bloodshed during a movie (maybe IN a movie, but not DURING a movie). Still, the constant laughing, swooning and yelling took its toll and it was difficult to stay immersed in the story.
Speaking of story, I would describe the flow as extremely choppy. I didn't really notice it until Katie pointed it out, but once she did I couldn't stop thinking about it. The cast and crew tried so hard to give us fans all the scenes from the book that we loved, but in doing so they made each scene shorter and gave us hardly any transition scenes. They just jumped from one scene to the next without any flow between. Alot of movies have this problem, so it wasn't a great big deal, but it should still be pointed out.
Because each scene seemed cut-off it also made the viewer feel like each scene had lost potential. We got all the scenes we wanted (thanks cast & crew!) but they either contained incorrect elements (the meadow scene was very pretty but it was missing the center focus of Bella touching Edward's skin) or the scene wasn't long enough for the viewer to really feel any emotions about it. Bella and Edward's relationship is INTENSE and as great as Robert Pattinson is at giving us that dead sexy stare, we just can't feel that intensity without a longer, more in-depth scene.
As was expected, the movie has its share of corny parts. When you are reading the novel, you don't get any kind of corny feel. At least I didn't. But often when you transition book to film, you come up with over-the-top scenes. Some were worse than others and it certainly gave the film a humours aspect that I wasn't expecting but corny scenes were hardly the film's biggest problem.
Characters. As a friend angrily replied on Facebook, they were empty. This really only applies to the Cullens. They are one of the best parts of the novels and we just didn't get enough time with them. They had the potential to make this film great and take some of the pressure off the Edward/Bella relationship, but instead we got more and more corny, intense scenes with Edward and Bella and not enough lightweight, enjoyable scenes with the Cullens. The kitchen scene at the Cullen house was perfection and the baseball scene was one of my favorites. We needed more scenes like those.
People who constantly criticize and complain without ever offering up a solution suck. I don't want to be one of those people. In the end, I enjoyed watching this film. I'm much happier that they made it then I would have been if they hadn't. I had no problem with the acting or the directing. The camera work in the forest when Bella is telling Edward that she knows what he is was magnificent. It was perfect for the scene and I loved it.
Here is my one and only piece of advise for New Moon. Don't be afraid to make it longer. That was the source of all the major problems with Twilight. I know studios and producers and whoever often think that if a movie is over 2 hours long, nobody will go see it. That is just NOT the case. See: Casino Royale, LOTR movies for just a couple examples. Your fans will happily sit through a 4 hour movie if it meant more time with their favorite characters. Two hours was just not long enough. Even a mere 30 minutes extra would have done wonders to improve the film's flow and character development.
Overall, I enjoyed the film. I went in expecting too much and that was my fault but it was still a great film to watch. If the studio, director, script writer and actors can learn from their mistakes from Twilight, then New Moon will be wonderful.
2 comments:
Hi Lauren, it's Erin, Steve's wife. Remember me? Huge V-mars fan. :) Loved your review of twilight and agree on most points. I had an exact experience with the screaming and mayhem of the tweenieboppers opening night and left the theatre feeling disappointed and down right mad. BUT, I saw the movie again two days later, an early show (11:30am) with a crowd of about 30 (and of that 30 MOST seemed 20+ years old) and I'm telling you it was a different movie. I let all my anger and frustrations out before hand and just sat down to watch a "movie," not an adaptation of a book I really love. I actually heard the music, felt more from the actors and didn't mind the choppy scenes because I wasn't thinking of them as scenes from the book, just scenes in a movie. Bottom line, you must go see this movie again, sans tweenieboppers, and let me know what you think.
Hey Erin! Of course I remember you! How's Cali? I remember Steve telling me you were into Twilight, actually. Thanks for the info! I am totally going to go see it again this weekend, so I hope that will end up being a better viewing experience. You reminded me that I forgot to mention the music, one of my favorite parts! Hope everything is going well over on that coast!
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