I chose the picture of R-Pattz above because his expression pretty much sums up the mood of the entire movie. It's basically a trip down the suicidal and depressive recesses of Bella Swan's mind complete with LOTS of hot shirtless boys/men.
The movie starts off with a quote from Romeo and Juliet and there are more references to that play throughout the film. The whole 'vibe' is very much a 'doomed lovers fight to be together' feeling and Bella's depression is actually kind of convincing thanks in part of Kristen Stewart's permanent hunched shoulders, bleak expression and an appropriately emo/indie soundtrack. She probably smiles twice in the movie. It's tough being in love with a sexy vampire, I guess.
But it isn't all bad. The emerging relationship between Bella and Jacob injects some action and life into the otherwise lifeless scenes. I mean, there's only so much we can see of Bella longing for Edward, right?! It seems like the directors, writers and producers know EXACTLY what their target audience (ie. tweens) want, because Taylor Lautner barely wears a shirt in the movie, but hey, I wasn't complaining...
Despite their age gap (and fear of getting older seems to be a prominent theme in the movie which probably reflects our society's fear of ageing... according to the SMH), Jacob is pretty much hooked onto Bella and won't let go easily. But she's definately not that into him, and goes running back to Edward at the first opportunity. It might just be me, or the actors, but there is a sense that Jacob is, in some way, a better match for Bella than Edward in the film which is an aspect that I didn't pick up in the books (had to stop myself from writing 'novel'). Maybe it's Edward's extremely repressed 'desires' that makes him seem almost distant, while Jacob is pretty much smoldering everytime he looks at Bella. But the Twilight series is an epic chronicle of suppressed teenage hormones. A refreshing antidote to the oversexed and overcrazed teenagers we see in high-quality movies like American Pie.
Definately one of the highlights of the film came from the scenes with the Volturi. Michael Sheen, who plays Aro, has unfortunately very little screen time (as well as Dakota Fanning who plays Jane, the scary midget vampire) even though both actors are pretty much the best part of the movie (except, of course, Tee-Pee's abs). Aro is sufficiently frightening and Jane is just plain creepy. Together, they probably get about 10mins of screen time which doesn't do justice to their skills. Plus the shots of Rome are beautiful though there isn't much time to appreciate the scenery. In fact, the landscape is also one of the highlights.
So what do I think overall? Well, my friend and I both agreed that it was a 7/10. Points are taken off because the movie dragged. I will be the first one to admit that I wouldn't mind it dragging along if there were more gratuitous shirtless scenes, but each event seemed to focus upon Bella's depression which can get a bit boring after a while. Chris Weitz, the director, manages to make some scenes quite funny (especially with Mike Newton's character) and you can tell he really wanted to make the movie as serious as possible despite the very un-serious nature of the concept (I mean, how can we take the story line seriously with the characters declaring their eternal love at age 17 or 18?) The ending, like many movies with sequels, leaves the viewer sufficiently frustrated and annoyed. Solid effort and more polished than Twilight.
~Hurley Who?
