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Charm of 'Twilight' lies in fantasy-world realm
By STEVE SALLESOne of the jobs of a film critic is to focus on the actual movie and not be distracted by a hyperventilating audience.
When the crowd goes bonkers as the film title appears, that's respect for the source material and exuberance that the long anticipation has finally come to an end.
It's not because the font style of the title is particularly amazing.
Not having read the Stephenie Meyer "Twilight" books puts people like me at an immediate disadvantage, but also forces us to realize that you can't judge a movie by the cover or contents of a book.
The film must stand alone.
And to my surprise, I actually felt engaged by "Twilight" for the most part, could see the charisma of its lead characters and appreciate its Romeo and Juliet love quality. To me, it's more of a romantic tale that happens to deal with vampires, not the other way around.
Bella (Kristen Stewart) has come to live with her father (Billy Burke) in the small town of Forks, Wash., while her mother travels to Florida to be with her new baseball-playing husband.
Bella is immediately welcomed at her new school and everyone wants to be her new BFF, which is a nice departure from most movies. Normally, the "new girl" gets snubbed by the "mean girls."
Then in walks the Cullen kids. How do we know they're extraordinary? Because they're striding confidently in slow motion (the cinematic symbol for cool).
Bella makes eye contact with Edward (Robert Pattinson) and the audience erupts in a frenzied froth of estrogen delight the likes of which I've never seen -- and then proceeds to hang on every awkward teen-angst-ridden exchange like these are the first "hey babys" from Adam and Eve.
Then I notice this retro relationship scenario beginning to unfold. Could it be we're going back to the "good girls like the bad boys" routine -- every parent's nightmare?
Think about it. Edward is brooding, has mood swings and says hurtful things. He has anger-management issues, puts Bella in peril and here's the biggie -- watches her sleep in her own bedroom. The dude is a certifiable stalker! And we haven't even mentioned the elephant in the room -- he's a vampire!
Her reaction? I've never loved someone so much! We will never part -- ever! Nerds, take five steps back. You'll be sitting this one out. The bad boys are back in charge.
The rest of the characters turn out to be mainly window dressing. They're filler between these "love moments" as the director insists on circling Bella and Edward continually, while they stare longingly at each other.
Yes, there's lots of staring and circling.
And yet, there was one real moment when Bella sees her friends emerge from a local eatery doing what normal teens do, while she's frantically fleeing from the super sniffer James (Cam Gigandet) who wants to have her for breakfast. She must have been thinking, "Wouldn't it be nice to be normal?" And just as quickly, "Nope, this is much more exciting!" Wrong message, perhaps?
Who knows. But I do know "Twilight" has awakened avid hopefuls of all ages to a new fantasy world, where perfect love exists and good can come from seemingly bad.
So, despite some heavy- handed filmmaking and lack of depth, there's a certain charm to "Twilight" that's undeniable. And for its rabid fans, that appears to be enough.
Steve Salles can be reached at films@standard.net.
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How about this as a Twilight movie theme song. It's a special Christmas edition of a song inspired by the movie. It starts out with an little introductory skit:
Twilight Time
Dr BLT
words and music by Dr BLT copyright 2008
http://www.drblt.net/TwiLiXmaSkitDemo2.mp3
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