TWILIGHT does get it right in faithfully adapting the book. TWILIGHT fans will be happy.
The film has humor, action, and teen romance while sometimes it does come off as cheesy at times and a little too sugary.
The $70 million opening weekend has caused NEW MOON to be greenlit. The film does make short of a few chaarcters while focusing
on Edward and Bella. The film could have been 10 to 20 minutes longer allowing for character development of the other characrters.
It is your basic story of human teenage girl (Bella) falls for male vampire (Edward) stuck forever in the body of a 17
year old. He restrains himself while she wants him to turn her into a vampire. He is partly attracted to her because
he can't read her mind while his attempts to first avoid her attracts her to him. Then he and his family
of good vampires (the Cullens) must protect Bella when a bad vampire (James) wants to hunt and kill Bella for the fun of it.
TWILIGHT is a pop culture film that will attract fans while others might not like it (male action fans). There
will be a sequel (maybe filmed back to back with another one). Edward comes off as aloof and restrained.
His intensity burns. Bella's fear of being loved and rejected come across like a million light bulbs.
I wonder what the next film based on NEW MOON will turn out (the sequel is now filming).
SPECIAL FEATURES:
DISC ONE-
An audio commentary with
director Catherine Hardwicke and the two leads. Also included are music videos
and extended scenes (which are interesting to watch)
DISC TWO-
The deleted scenes don’t
feature much extra material. The cut material in the extended scenes is more
interesting even though Bella’s dream about Edward is a little more intense.
THE ADVENTURE BEGINS
is an excellent 54 minute making of documentary that covers the making of the film.
THE COMIC-CON PHENOMENON
covers the trip to Comic-Con with cast, the director, and the book’s author.
Also included are the
various sneak peaks and theatrical trailers for the film.
DISC THREE-
This disc has extras
on the version sold at Target (doesn’t include extras in the Border’s Exclusive DVD edition).
A CONVERSATION WITH STEPHANIE
MEYER- an insightful interview with the author as she tells how the book came to be written and published.
MUSIC: THE HEART OF TWILIGHT-
BECOMING EDWARD and BECOMING
BELLA are featurettes focusing on the actors who play the two main characters of TWILIGHT.
CATHERINE HARDWICKE’S
VAMPIRE KISS MONTAGE features material that isn’t in the film including Edward biting Bella in Chemistry class.
CATHERINE HARDWICKE’S
BELLA’S LULLABY REMIX music video is just that as the music and clips from the film are mixed together. Rounding out the disc extras is EDWARD’S PIANO CONCERT (a deleted scene). With this three-disc edition, codes are included for a free download of the film and the DVD extras
(minus the music videos and audio commentary).
FINAL ANALYSIS:
TWILIGHT is a fiathful adaptation of the book. The DVD set is packed with extras for fans to enjoy and yet the
best extras are the making of documentary, the Stephanie Meyer interview, and the deleted and extended scenes.
This DVD review is (c}3-31-2009 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted
without permission. Send all comments to lord_pragmagtic@hotmail.com
