Those Cullen kids...

Warning: This post contains massive Twilight movie spoilers as well as plot spoilers from the book series. If your name is Joy Baker, stop reading immediately. 

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Friday night I went to see the movie production of Twilight, the crazily successful first novel in the series centered around the relationship between a vampire boy and a mortal girl. Along with my sister in law and a good friend, I got in the queue to wait for optimum seating. We got there close to an hour early and just in time. There were maybe 30 to 40 people ahead of us, and 5 minutes later, the line was out the door and around the building. I'd had a slight fear of being one of only 3 adults in the whole theater, but there were actually many other grown-ups there unaccompanied by adolescents. I've been looking forward to this movie ever since I read the book series, tearing through each one til the wee hours of the morning, as I read them over the summer. In preparation for the movie, I re-read the book and also scoured the movie reviews I found online. The mostly negative reviews gave me hope for the movie. 

I was afraid the movie makers would totally screw up the plot and sacrifice the intensity and the sweetness of Edward and Bella's relationship in an attempt to sex it up. The reviews I read almost universally criticized one of the elements I like most in the story: the restraint between the 2 characters. One review said something along the lines of "the pre-feminist morality is scarier than anything else in the movie" and another criticized Bella's character for being willing to give up everything to be with Edward. The local newspaper critic wondered if people could take 3 more movies of the self-control between the teenagers. All these reviews overlook many factors. One of them is that not all teenagers have the self control of rabbits. Another is that in the books, Edward is concerned that he will kill Bella if they get too close. He wants her blood as intensely as he wants to be with her, and he's so strong he might accidentally crush her. Also, he wants to protect her from sinning because she still has a soul. Bella and Edward get married before they do the deed, and those scenes are very much "curtain drawn... you know what they're up to." Though that mostly happens later in the series, the movie did a good job of expressing Edward's torment over desiring to kill Bella from the moment he smells her with his desire to keep her safe. 

One of the themes in the series is sacrificing everything for family. In the first book, the Cullen family puts aside their disagreements on whether Bella should know about them because of their love for Edward. The rest of them have soul mates, and now that Edward has found his, they will do what they can to protect Edward and Bella. This all leads up to a climactic battle in which the family members, usually peaceful, dismember and burn an evil vampire who tried to kill Bella. In the second book, Edward sacrifices himself by leaving Bella when he thinks that he can't keep her safe from his own family (one of the characters loses control when she gives herself a paper cut.) He breaks her heart, and his, to save her life, and near the end of the book, she ends up saving his life. I'll stop with the plot summaries there, but I just wanted to point out that self-sacrificial love is a much better focal point than rabid teenage hormones. There's definitely an "ohhh when is he going to kiss her!" factor to the stories, but it's not the POINT of the story. 

Now back to the movie. From a practical standpoint, the movie suffered from a low budget and lack of effects. They also messed up some pivotal scenes, in my opinion. The meadow scene, which is the turning point in their relationship, got short shrift. None of the characters growled menacingly like they are described in the book (I was really looking forward to hearing how Edward would growl when Bella is threatened during their baseball game...) I also thought that the other high school students were not at all how I pictured them in the book. They were all a little too stereotypical. However, the rest of the casting was brilliant and definitely threw a bone to the fans of the books. The actor who played Jasper was absolutely the best. The look on his face when he walks through the cafeteria at the school totally reflects what only readers would know, that he is the newest to the Cullen's lifestyle of not eating humans, and therefore it is a constant temptation for him. His slightly dazed, slightly sick expression was perfect. Alice, one of the best-written characters in the story, was also spot-on. The books always hint at how dangerously strong she is when fighting but we never see it. In the movie, while Jasper and Emmett are holding James, the evil vampire, Alice lightly runs over, alights on James, and snaps his neck. The juxtaposition between her graceful movements and the violence she is capable of was one of the best visual elements in the movie (which lacked many of those, to be honest. This movie was all about the acting.) It reinforced the constant danger Bella is in, even with vampires who honestly love her and don't want to hurt her. The guy playing Edward did an excellent job too, in his physical mannerisms and the way he spoke. The random rudeness he exhibits, to Bella's bewilderment, was well-portrayed in how he would deliver his lines and walk off, sometimes mid thought, or just after giving a cryptic insult. He was perfectly creepy when he makes Bella say what he really is, and he's perfectly goofy and silly when they show up at school as a couple. He may be over 100 years old, but he's still only 17. 

I always feel a little silly for loving these books so much because they are targeted toward teenage girls, but all the other adults I've recommended them to became equally addicted. It's a strange phenomenon that I'm still not sure I can explain. I've always loved vampire stories... I own many seasons of Buffy and Angel... but it's not just that. The story is so compelling and gripping. I'm totally buying the movie when it comes out, even if I have to elbow adolescents out of the way to do so...