Classic Movie Review: 'Twilight' Starring Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson

Twilight (2008)

Directed by Catherine Hardwicke

Written by Melissa Rosenberg

Starring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Anna Kendrick, Billy Burke, Peter Facinelli

Release Date November 21st, 2008

Published November 20th, 2008

I must first admit my ignorance of the Twilight phenomena. Not spending much time chatting with members of the tween set, having no teenage daughters, I was blissfully unaware of writer Stephanie Meyers anguished teen vampire romance series before it became a worldwide blockbuster film franchise. Now that the series and movie have become inescapable the culture vulture in me has absorbed as much as I can about the series without resorting to actually reading the weighty tomes themselves. Does the overall ignorance of the book prevent me from offering fair insight of the movie? Hardly.

Freed of the need to refer back to the efficacy of book to movie I am able to judge the movie for what it is without the weight of the literary literalism that will, no doubt, arise within those who find Stephanie Meyers words sacred. Twilight is a loosely Shakespearean romance that lifts, as does much modern romance, from the Bard's Romeo and Juliet, a tale of tragic, agonized love. Edward Cullen is a shy, pasty faced young man with no friends in school. He hovers close to four equally pallid brothers and sisters and rejects the world around him.

Bella Swan is similar in ghostly appearance to Edward. Her pale whiteness an oddity as her character comes from the sun drenched deserts of Arizona. Nevertheless, Bella and Edward could bond over the necessity for sunscreen but they don't. Bella is also similarly afflicted with the need to avoid social interaction. Though she is adopted by a social group of boys and girls in her new school in Forks Washington, where this story plays out, Bella is never comfortable. Her elusive manner and general social discomfort are yet another bonding opportunity for she and Edward.

And bond they do. After nearly 2 acts worth of scenes of doubt and confusion, Edward and Bella admit they are destined to be together. Therein comes the major complication. Aware to us from the start, Bella is thusly introduced to Edward's deepest secret; he is a vampire. Moreover, her blood has a particular scent that drives him near frenzy. He fears that he cannot control the instinct to devour her but he cannot stay away from her either. For her part Bella is infatuated with Edward's stunning edifice. The kid is great looking. Add that face to his tortured poet manner and he is irresistible.

Now, if you can't follow the glaring metaphors, shining nearly as bright as Edward's diamond dust skin in the bright sunlight (I'll explain later), you really should pay closer attention. Meyers and now screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg, have crafted an allegory about sex, teens, hormones, abstinence and marriage. Lust, temptation and resistance are Twilight's true subjects. Vampires are merely the construct, an enticement to read more about the strength it takes to love but not make love. If Bella and Edward are anything more than lusty teens longing for a backseat or basement couch I'll eat my hat.

The dangers of the vampire are merely a representation of all that could go wrong should the two teens indulge their urges. Edward could infect or even kill Bella if he allowed things to go to far. Indeed, Edward carries the burden of much of the metaphor, his being the dangerous condition. Bella is merely tempting and tempted.

The metonymy is fairly simpleminded and once you have sussed it out and discarded it as obvious; you are left with director Catherine Hardwicke and her exceptionally mediocre effort to give it cinematic life. Twilight the movie, beyond the metaphor, is a flabby, shabby effort of a mind numbing length and amateur special effects. Then there is absolute disregard for all that we know of vampires. Edward and his family walk in daylight. No burning skin, no running for cover, not even a passing reference to the need for sunscreen. Now, the Cullen clan does have issues with the sun but it's not a fiery death they fear.

Rather, the sun causes them to shimmer as if sprinkled with diamond dust on all exposed skin. Why? Who the hell knows and for the target audience of teens, who the heck cares, look how gorgeous Edward is when he shimmers. Indeed ethereal Edward is a swoon inducing moment for young girls and gay men alike. Furthermore, you can forget stakes through the heart, coffins and bats. Meyers and the filmmakers cherry pick the parts of vampire lore they like and abandon the rest in a manner that will have fans of Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee leaping for a cross, an onion, and a stake to stave off the genre blasphemy.

Don't get me wrong, I didn't hate Twilight. The angsty teen-ness of it all is rather charming. I may not have a teen when I saw this movie in 2008, but I was a teen years before and I can recall the apocalyptic emotions of teenage love and the raging of teenage lust. Director Hardwick does a terrific job of evoking the mind of a teenager in Twilight. It's ironic however, and unfortunate, that she has done this before and in far more impressive fashion. Hardwick's 2003 effort, Thirteen, stunningly captured the emotional turbulence of youth without the need for weighty allusions. She was greatly aided by young Nikki Reed who, at just 13 years old, co-wrote the script with Ms. Hardwick. Then, once the film was financed and ready to be produced, Reed took the role of Evie, the influential and troubled best friend to Evan Rachel Wood's Tracey.

Together Evie and Tracey spiral toward disaster as they rebel using the only weapons regularly available to a suburban teenager, alcohol and precocious sexuality. The truth of Thirteen, the unflinching honesty and near tragedy give it the weight that Edward's Vampirism in Twilight can only wish to evoke. But as I was saying, Twilight isn't that bad. With a little more skill it could even rise to being solid matinee fair. As it is, it's a passable, entirely forgettable bit of pop junk with a whole lot of literary pretension heaped on to give the appearance of depth.

At over 2 hours of angsty, humorless ostentation, Twilight tested my patience in 2008 but there is something to be said for how much I didn't hate it and I still don't. Where I have maintained a strong enmity toward the Fifty Shades of Grey franchise, I have maintained a healthy disregard for Twilight, a reasonable indifference that says 'this isn't for me and there is nothing wrong with that.' I've also found a new appreciation for the Twilight franchise thanks to YouTuber Natalie Wynn. Recently, on her channel 'Contrapoints,' Natalie made a video that used Twilight as a remarkable jumping off point for a discussion about our modern culture, sexuality, feminism, religion, and more, and I was really effected by it. I'm embedding it below to encourage you to take a look at it. Natalie is brilliant and will keep you in rapt attention throughout.

Why write about Twilight now? Mostly because of Natalie's video, but also because Kristen Stewart is coming back to theaters soon with a movie that has incredible buzz. Love Lies Bleeding is a potential future Oscar contender and Stewart is said to have given her finest performance in the story of a reclusive gym owner named Lou (Stewart), who falls in love with a rising star bodybuilder, played by Katy O'Brien. Love Lies Bleeding is opening in theaters nationwide in March 0f 2024, as I am writing this review. I cannot wait to see it and I am excited to see what Kristen Stewart has coming.

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