Twilight – the DVD

Upon Further Review…

With the recent release of Twilight on DVD I have had another chance to see the movie which I had been “mostly disappointed” in, and as you probably don’t remember gave only five out of ten… stars or dollar signs or buckets of popcorn or whatever you prefer, after seeing it in the theatre the first time. I now realize that I may have been a bit severe in my criticism and indeed quite stingy in my distribution of stars or dollar… let’s just stick with stars shall we.

I have since changed my mind and decided that it was too much to ask of a mere movie to recreate the complete story and much more importantly the atmosphere of Twilight the book. I of course already knew not to expect a film to be as good as its book but I guess I still had my hopes set too high.

I have also had a chance to reread the book since seeing the movie and discovered that the film did in fact cover nearly all the critical plot points of the original story while lifting many of the most key lines directly from the book and cleverly combining and readjusting things to make the best use of the limited time they had available. In the end, I think the film makers did as well as could be expected in most aspects of the movie. As I mentioned in my previous review, I liked how most of the secondary characters were portrayed and was really only disappointed in Bella and to a lesser degree Edward.

If I may mention one particular standout for me, Christian Serratos, who played Bella’s friend Angela, stole every scene she was in. The way she wonders out loud “Maybe he'll (Dr. Cullen) adopt me?” is just darling and then in another scene where Edward surprisingly shows up at the restaurant with Bella, Angela only says a few words but has more facial expressions and shows more emotion in that one short scene than K Stew manages in the whole movie.

Everything I’ve mentioned so far made me realize that Twilight is certainly a better movie than I originally gave it credit for. Unfortunately my main disappointments still stand.

I can’t be too hard on Kristen Stewart because as we know this story is all about Edward and Bella and in the book we get to know everything Bella is thinking and know very well how she feels about Edward. In the movie though it’s not just Edward who can’t read her mind, (with the exception of a few scenes) none of us can either. This puts much more pressure on the writers and Kristen Stewart to convince us that she really does care for him like she did in the book. Unfortunately, this most critical element was the one that was most obvious in its absence. I think Kristen had only a couple of expressions throughout the whole movie and did way too much of that sideways head micro-shuddering thing. Even immediately after we find out that she is “unconditionally and irrevocably” in love with Edward the very next thing she does is go to her window to see Edward waiting outside for her yet even then she can’t muster up a genuine happy bubbly smile. Come on Kristen, you’ve got to give us more than that!

Don’t get me wrong, I think Kristen has the potential to be a much better Bella and I will be hoping for her to do well in the rest of the movies. I really do want to like her. Rob Pattinson isn’t quite the perfect Edward either but he is much closer than Kristen is I think.

In the end, this is the story of Twilight which, regardless of all of this movie's shortcomings, is still such a wonderful, beautiful and overwhelming story. Who among us doesn’t long to love and be loved like Edward and Bella are. That is what it’s really all about isn’t it? That is why even after complaining way too much I still somehow find myself wanting to watch the darn thing yet again, to visit Edward, Bella and the Cullen's world one more time. If that isn’t the mark and the most important sign of a great movie I don’t know what is. Sure maybe the credit is due more to the story than to the film itself but that doesn't mean I won't watch it again.

Twilight – the movie, one more star from my head and two more from my heart for a solid 8 out of 10!

(The song I tacked onto the beginning of this post is the one playing when Edward and Bella are dancing in the gazebo at the end of the movie. I barely noticed it the first time I saw the movie but after listening to it a few times now I really like it. If you happened to push play when you started reading and read rather slowly like I do then it is probably ending right about... now!)

* * * * * * * *

If I may add just one more good reason for the extra stars…

One of the best songs in the film is played while Edward and Bella are in the restaurant and Edward admits to Bella that he isn’t strong enough to stay away from her anymore. It is only slightly audible in the movie and even when listening to just the song itself the lyrics are very hard to understand. Listening to it while reading the words creates an entirely different and surprisingly moving experience, well at least for me it did, your mileage may vary.

This song is written and performed by Rob Pattinson (Edward) and expresses well just how real Edward’s torment is between being with Bella or staying away to keep her safe, that it is a very real and dangerous battle for him to keep himself from hurting her and even worse, damning her soul as he believes his own soul to be; it's about how he desperately wants to be with her but deep down already knows that he will eventually have to leave her.

It may be best listened to late at night and/or when all is quiet. It’s one of my favourites from the movie.

Here it is, with the lyrics of course.
Never Think – Rob Pattinson



Never think
What's in your heart
What's in our home
That's all I want

You'll learn to hate me
But you still call me baby
Oh Lord
Just call me by my name

And oh, save your soul
save your soul
Before you're too far gone
Before nothing can be done

I'll try to decide when
Shall I win
I ain't got no fight in me
In this whole damn world
To tell you to hold off
But you still hold on
It's the one thing that I know

Once I put my coat on
I'm coming out of this all wrong
She's standing outside holding me
She's saying oh please
I'm in love
I'm in love

Girl save your soul
Save your soul
Before you're too far gone
And before nothing can be done

'Cause without me
You got it all
So hold on
Without me you got it all
So hold on
Without me you got it all
Without me you got it all
So hold on
Without me you got it all
So hold on
Without me you got it all
So hold on
Hold on