“The key to a great book to movie adaptation lies in the film's success at concentrating and magnifying the feelings readers have when they read the book” Says Michelle Kerns from The Book Examiner. I agree with this, so how well does Twilight portray and magnify the feelings that readers have while reading the book?
All in all, not very well. Yes, Bella (played by Kristen Stewart) shows the awkwardness of teenage life really well, and the uncomfortable relationship between Bella and Charlie (Billy Burke) is portrayed wonderfully, but other than that, the film is dire.
It appears that Catherine Hardwicke (the director) has concentrated on visual effects (and even those aren’t that good, the sped up running is comical and there are constant funny camera angles) and using direct quotes from the book. That’s what the film opens with: A quote from the first page of the book. The film could have been saved if Hardwicke had stuck closer to the book, with more quotes and scenes that were actually written, but instead a lot of the film had complete script changes and ‘surprises’, such as the scene where Bella figures out that Edward is actually a Vampire (shown on the left). In the book, Bella is being driven home by Edward when she questions him about his true nature. But in the film, the idiot decides to go into an empty forest to confront Edward. Come-on, would you go into the forest with newly acquired Vampire boyfriend? And then he takes up to the sunlight, and shows her that he freaking sparkles in the sun.
Visually, the film isn’t too bad (other than the comical special effects mentioned earlier), with a bluish tone used throughout to give the gloomy feel that the main town is supposed to have. And the place used for Forks itself is actually a beautiful, and does give a good ethereal effect that a fantasy film will usually have. Although there are a few scenes that are utterly stupid, for example the bit where Edward flies through the forest with Bella on his back, (shown below on the right) there is a bit where it looks like Bella is repeatedly kicking Edward. Then there is the kiss scene, which is plain funny. First of all, Bella is on the phone to her mother, and then Edward climbs in through her window and announces that he has been doing that for months and likes watching her sleep. One word comes to mind here: STALKER. And Bella isn’t even bothered by this, and they kiss. But it doesn’t really count as a kiss, since they are breathing hard without even touching each other, and it’s so unbelievably slow it’s hilarious and annoying. And Bella appears to lose her trousers in this scene, which seems to confuse everyone watching.
Then there is the climax of the film, where some evil Vampires want to kill Bella, and one guy ends up trapping her alone in a ballet studio. Bella is thrown about a bit, then Edward jumps in and HOORAH! The day appears to be saved. But then the evil dude bites Bella and Edward kills him. Then she has flashbacks of deer, forests and snow she has never even seen. And in the end it is all happy doodle because he takes Bella to Prom.
But then Bella decides she wants to be a Vampire too, and then there is the bit that makes you cringe, where she leans back and offers her neck up to him. Didn’t she have enough when she got bitten by the evil Vampire dude? Apparently not.
Overall, this film is one of the worst book adaptations I have ever seen. There isn’t enough action in it, and you end up getting bored by the time the climax comes around.
If you like the book: don’t watch it. If you don’t like the book: doubly don’t watch it. Don’t be fooled if your teenage daughter thinks it’s going to be amazing and drags you along to the cinema, because it really is awful beyond belief. It relies way too heavily on the viewers having read the book, because it really doesn’t make sense unless you have read it.