The dance between Edward and Bella is the heart of Twilight, and as a metaphor for budding teenage sexuality, it has some power. But the filmmakers haven’t taken pains to explain why Bella is ready to surrender so wholly and quickly to Edward. Is it pure physical attraction? Perhaps, but lustful looks don’t constitute good drama. It’s unfortunate, then, that the dialogue between the two lead characters, which may have worked on the page, is laughably bad at crucial moments. (“Your mood swings are kind of giving me whiplash.” “I’ve never wanted a human’s blood so much in my life.”) The actors do their best to overcome the flat dialogue by intensifying their soulful stares at one other, but by the time Bella declares that she’s “unconditionally, irrevocably in love” with Edward, we’re still not sure why she feels as strongly as she does.
The story is filled out by three bad vampires who show up in Forks and start a killing spree. They don’t share the Cullens’ vegetarian tastes, nor Edward’s resistance to Bella’s blood. The problem with the fearsome trio is that they aren’t particularly scary, nor are they interesting. With Twilight hinting that some of these same characters will factor into the movie’s sequels, viewers can only hope that the villains develop into more intriguing personalities.
Nor does the excess of other characters on the periphery of the central story in Twilight help matters. Perhaps these characters also are crucial to future chapters in the film series, but those unfamiliar with the full arc of the Twilight stories will be left scratching their heads about the bevy of personalities introduced early in the film, then dropped for most of the remaining running time.
Despite these drawbacks, it’s not difficult to enjoy Twilight during its first hour. Director Catherine Hardwicke, who directed Evan Rachel Wood so effectively in Thirteen, gets another good performance out of her female star (Stewart) here. She also surrounds the tortured Edward with a group of siblings strange enough to keep even the most jaded viewers watching and wondering about their identities. However, once Bella and Edward declare their feelings to each other, the film begins to fade, shifting its focus to the trio of lackluster villains and their inevitable confrontation with the Cullens.
Twilight is a film that fans of the book may savor. For the rest of us, it’s a mildly interesting first taste of a story with lots of room to develop.
Questions? Concerns? Contact the writer at crosswalkchristian@earthlink.net.
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