Twilight Discussion

[Sky Breaker]

First off I want to make it clear that I am a huge vampire fan. Secondly, I have not read the books, so I walked into this movie with an open mind...


*SPOILERS BELOW*


I was so disappointed. Twilight was utterly boring. Probably the most uninspired tale of teen angst I have ever seen. A story that appeared to have tried reinventing vampires, that failed miserably with its crushing OC type drama, and complete lack of suspense or intrigue.

The Vampires. Or should I say 'sexy, mainstream, plastic teenage eunuchs'. They did not have fangs. They are vampires without fangs! Way to neuter your monsters Mr. Author Whose Name I Don't Care To Know. Its like a Jedi without a light saber. In the beginning of the film, I was so excited when Edward covered his mouth upon seeing Belle. I thought "Ooh, his fangs are showing? Vampire blood lust reflex maybe?" - Nope.

There was nothing. Just a mouthful of human teeth. Boring. The make-up was unimpressive period, but I'm sure 90% of the teenybopper movie goes will be clamoring to buy up some cool contacts to give them "Edward Eyes". No fangs, no claws, nothing out of the ordinary, or nothing ordinary for vampires, safe for the piercing contacts. I didn't mind that the vampires walked around in daylight, heck, that was kind of interesting, until I saw them glitter. Glitter? I thought he was a vampire?!?! Not a wood sprite! This isn't a movie about vampires, its a movie about homoerotic, fang less wood sprites.

Costumes? Utterly boring. That's all I have to say. I think the budget was blown on that one piece of faux fur and hair extensions. Yep, the fang budget was chewed up by hair extensions.

Special Effects? Har har har. It is to laugh. Almost as funny as vampires playing baseball in the rain as a family.

The villain? Besides looking like a barefoot Abercrombie & Fitch poster boy, there was nothing special about him. I don't recall him even having the 'vampire eyes'. Not one memorable line. For a vampire that was supposed to be powerful, he was quickly dispatched, and dismembered off camera, making the most thrilling, sadistic sequence in the movie highly forgettable.

The fight sequences? Boring. I'm surprised there was even time for 1 with all the stomach turning mush going on. Wow. Can you even picture it? Two fang less vampires hissing at one another. Remember that scene from the Lost Boys where Michael and David battle? Picture that without the fangs, and without the great score, and without any other redeeming quality. Am I getting my point across?

I read somewhere that fans of the book were outraged when they heard who would be playing Edward. I read that blogs were crammed with stuff like "he's ugly, poor casting, he's gross", actually, he's not so bad, he grew on me, its too bad he wanted the role. I feel sorry for him that he starred in a movie that can only be described as about as exciting as a dated tv halloween episode. Remember the vampire episode of Smallville. Remember how your eyes rolled when you saw that they were bringing vampires into the Smallville mythos, and making Lana into one for its 45 of predictably painful performances. Remember how dumb it was? Remember how even the laughable sawdust headed sorority sisters actually had fangs? Ugh...

Twilight gets a generous 2.5 out of 10. 3 because of 2 pretty boys, and .5 for a sorry attempt at doing something different to the vampire genre, but since it failed, I can't give it a whole point... Not even worth the rental.

[chaosMonkeyPoo]

I've talked about the Twilight book series quite a bit on other boards actually.
I think the books themselves are ok, though clearly not written for a guy like me. But all of my female and gay friends adore the books so they definitely have an audience. I'm actually interested in seeing the movie, if only to see how it translates to the screen (IE: Bella is super boring/annoying, Edward is abnoxiously and unbelievably perfect yet still a huge wuss, whilst his family and bellas 2nd love interest Jacob completely steal the show).
A warning to anyone starting to read the books - AVOID the last book at all costs. It raped almost everything I liked about the book and centered completely around a really obnoxious plot twist/ plot device.

[Divia]

The audience for these books and movie are teenage girls. Most will not enjoy it save them. Now I have talked to a few moms who enjoyed it as well. Like it or lump it this is a chick flick type of movie that most guys will hate. I heard it is very close to the book. I read the book but I'll wait for the movie on DVD. Yes its teen angst at its peak.

The story was written by Ms Meyer who is a mormon mother and got the idea for the story via a dream. Personally, I want to have more dreams like that because her series is compaired to Harry Potter and she is making money hand over fist.

The first day it was out twilight made 7 million. I'm interested to see what it does this weekend.

And frankly I'm ok with it being a girl, angsty teen flick. All the movies out there cant be slasher or comicbook movies.

[Brad2dbone]

so I walked into this movie with an open mind...

You say you had an open mind, but then you bash the movie for not being what you expected it should be.

I thought that the books were great, and I liked the movie a lot, and I am a 33 year old straight male. BTW my wife, mom, dad, and brothers all read the books, and they all liked the movie. Notice that none of them are teenage girls (who, admittedly will find the story more appealing than most other demographics).

[Soulfly]

I never read the books. I thought all the previews for the movie looked terrible. But alas I had to go with the lady friend to see it Thursday night. While it wasn't AS BAD as I thought it was going to be, it was still pretty brutal. But like Divia said, the target audience for this movie is teenage girls. The theater I was at had to be 95% girls 17 and under. I'm a 26 year old guy, so I'm on the opposite end of the target audience. They loved it and ate it all up, while I laughed at how awful everything about it was. But I still left not thinking it was the worst movie I had ever seen. That easily still goes to any Rob Zombie movies that are made.

[killshacklefoot]

well now i might catch this flick elsewhere now.

lol, i had seen the preview where the guy makes the girl say what he is..and i never noticed before that they were in daylight.

so is this book series the harry potter of vampires?

[zodak74]

I won't see it because I don't like "watered-down for teenaged audiences" films with diet horror running through their veins.
I was excited at the prospect a few months back when I first heard about the movie, but then I saw some clips where the vampires are "fighting" (aka floating around on wires at each other... hissing...) and I was like "Ah, no."
If you want to see an angsty flick about young love and vampires, skip this kind of thing and go check out Let The Right One In... a movie far more deserving of your movie-going dollars

[Divia]

lol, i had seen the preview where the guy makes the girl say what he is..and i never noticed before that they were in daylight.

so is this book series the harry potter of vampires?

The whole sunlight thing is explored in the book, but I dont know if its touched upon on the movie. Its a little twist.

Its not the Harry Potter of vampires. It is a successful book series and the only reason it is compaired to harry potter is becuase that it gets teens (a sometimes difficult demigraphic) to read. It has also crossed over in that adults are reading it as well, the same with Harry Potter. Also, it draws compairsons because Stephine Meyer much like JK was an unknown and this is her first book series and Ms. Meyer is now a millionare.

[Sky Breaker]

I won't see it because I don't like "watered-down for teenaged audiences" films with diet horror running through their veins.
I was excited at the prospect a few months back when I first heard about the movie, but then I saw some clips where the vampires are "fighting" (aka floating around on wires at each other... hissing...) and I was like "Ah, no."
If you want to see an angsty flick about young love and vampires, skip this kind of thing and go check out Let The Right One In... a movie far more deserving of your movie-going dollars

Yeah that movie looks a million times better.

You say you had an open mind, but then you bash the movie for not being what you expected it should be.

I thought that the books were great, and I liked the movie a lot, and I am a 33 year old straight male. BTW my wife, mom, dad, and brothers all read the books, and they all liked the movie. Notice that none of them are teenage girls (who, admittedly will find the story more appealing than most other demographics).

I bashed it because it was soooooooooooooooooooo bland. It was the safest 'vampire' movie I've ever seen.

If the books are this good, maybe I should get around to reading them, see what I'm doing wrong with my writing, since I'm not currently in the process of having my stories turned into multi-million dollar movies.

[Divia]

You do realize, of course, that the books are written by a Mormon mother. If one is looking for sex and violence this is not the series to find them in

[Brad2dbone]

That's the second time you've mentioned that the books are written by a Mormon mother, like it's some sort of handicap. What have you got against Mormon mothers? Obviously it's not hurting Stephenie Meyer's career, and the books are excellent (since when are sex and violence a benchmark for good writing?),so I don't see what the rub is.

[Divia]

I never said it was a handicap. I'm just pointing out that unlike some YA novels there isnt sex and violence in them. So, its gonna be all rather clean. If people are looking for hardcore vampire stuff they wont find em here. That is what I was saying..nothing more..nothing less.

[killshacklefoot]

let the right one in is definately a good flick

[MOTUfan]

Well I went to see it along with Wendy and Dad on Friday night. Wendy just finished reading the novel and is on the second, she said the movie would be good. So we went to see it, it was good. I started to read the first novel Friday night after the movie and am seeing alot changed in the movie in just the first chapter alone

[Brad2dbone]

I never said it was a handicap. I'm just pointing out that unlike some YA novels there isnt sex and violence in them. So, its gonna be all rather clean. If people are looking for hardcore vampire stuff they wont find em here. That is what I was saying..nothing more..nothing less.

I see, apologies then. It's true there are no sex scenes, but it can be a little steamy at times. It doesn't get very violent either, but some people were turned off by certain violent scenes in Breaking Dawn. If you've read it, you probably know what I'm talking about.

If you're a big vampire fan, and you expect it to be a vampire story, you'll be disappointed. It's a love story that has vampires in it, and they're not you're traditional vampire either. The book does an excellent job in showing that "real" vampires are much different than vampires of myth. Something that's lost in the movie. That's one reason why it's better to read the book first. Another is that the book is able to demonstrate how deeply in love Edward, and Bella are, which is pretty impossible to show as profoundly in a movie.

[Sky Breaker]

I see, apologies then. It's true there are no sex scenes, but it can be a little steamy at times. It doesn't get very violent either, but some people were turned off by certain violent scenes in Breaking Dawn. If you've read it, you probably know what I'm talking about.

If you're a big vampire fan, and you expect it to be a vampire story, you'll be disappointed. It's a love story that has vampires in it, and they're not you're traditional vampire either. The book does an excellent job in showing that "real" vampires are much different than vampires of myth. Something that's lost in the movie. That's one reason why it's better to read the book first. Another is that the book is able to demonstrate how deeply in love Edward, and Bella are, which is pretty impossible to show as profoundly in a movie.

My problem is that her 'real' vampires are reeeeeeeeally boring. Vampires are supposed to be killers. Predators. Can you think of any predators that do not have claws/fangs? I can't. Starfish maybe?

I just feel that there are certain fudementals that one should not mess with. I'm okay with the doing away of hairy palms, wooden stakes, turning into mist, bats, wolves and rats. Its cool that crosses, garlic, burning in daylight are out. Not having reflections? Sure that can go too! However I feel that Stephanie Meyer's version of vampire is anything but... she may as well called them something else.

I was also informed that the whole tree climbing sequences are not actually a part of the book. Wow. That shocked me to hear. If the movie didn't have the tree climbing sequences, the vampires literally would have ran around and did nothing.

I picked up the book today and thumbed through it. There was certainly nothing spectacular about it, infact, it was pretty uninspiring. Obviously good timing and smart marketing is leading this cash cow home.

[Brad2dbone]

Ah, read the book before you judge it. It's pretty good.

[Divia]

It is a good read and was on the bestsellers list for a while.

But no its not for everyone. Its not your typical vampire book. If people are looking for the sterotypes then they won't find it.

From what I remember (and I only read the first book) it was about a young, unsure woman moving in with her father and trying to adjust to school life. She meets a wicked handsome guy who just happens to be a vampire.

[Dave-Man]

Never read any of the books or seen the movie yet. I'm a large vampire fan, but these never really tripped my trigger as something I was all that interested in. I never even cared that much for the Anne Rice stuff. I want my vampires to be *monsters*, dammit.

[chaosMonkeyPoo]

I'm just pointing out that unlike some YA novels there isnt sex and violence in them.

Have you read the books? They are loaded with violence. And its relatively graphic as well. And the last book isn't exactly sex free neither . Plus every book has overt sexual overtones (all Bella does is think about how bad she wants Edward in bed).

I'm not saying thats a bad thing, or that I have a problem with either. But they are both there in all the books, and not in small amounts.

[Skeletorfan]

I went and saw the movie on Friday and loved it. I haven't read the books yet and I can't wait to finish the book that I'm in to start the series. Everyone around here loves the series...maybe it's because I live in Mormon-ville. But, I can't wait to read them.

I loved that it had Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince trailer before!

[Divia]

Have you read the books? They are loaded with violence. And its relatively graphic as well. And the last book isn't exactly sex free neither . Plus every book has overt sexual overtones (all Bella does is think about how bad she wants Edward in bed).

I'm not saying thats a bad thing, or that I have a problem with either. But they are both there in all the books, and not in small amounts.

I only read the first book and I dont remember anything really bad in it. I mean it was tame compaired to some of the stuff I read.

[krosfyah]

Never read any of the books or seen the movie yet. I'm a large vampire fan, but these never really tripped my trigger as something I was all that interested in. I never even cared that much for the Anne Rice stuff. I want my vampires to be *monsters*, dammit.

yeah man, I'm so tired of this vampire love fest stuff. every friggin vampire movie is about forbidden love or some such. I understand the appeal of those stories but where are the vicious soulless killers that they once were, there's always the tortured vampire with the heart of gold. I'm not a huge fan of tarantino but give me some more "from Dusk til Dawn" type monsters and then "KILL EM ALL!"

[Divia]

women have turned vampires into sex objects just like the Phantom of the Opera

In a way its true. The dark mysterious, brooding ultra handsome man and forbidden love is something that a lot of chicks like. Vampires are forbidden so lets make em hunky.

[TheShadow]

I saw Twilight while on vacation. I went into it thinking I wouldn't liked it, but guess what-- I really liked it!

An excellent mixture of teen drama / comedy / crazy. I mean, I loved hilarious parts that were most likely supposed to be serious, yet everyone in the theater cracked up (ie. How old are you? // "17." // How long have you been 17? // "Awhile." )

Oh, and that song at the end of the prom (Iron & Wine's "Flightless Bird, American Mouth") was kick ass!