I have not read the book yet. FYI.
Twilight is a movie about teenagers, starring teenagers (well, some are, and some just look like they are teenagers), and is based on a novel for teenagers. That's not to say that the movie or the novel cannot be enjoyed by adults or preteens, but let's not kid ourselves about what the target audience is. It is a movie teenagers flocked to, most often on dates, a young adult romance meant to make the girls sigh - which it did - at the "I'd die for you" type of romance in the movie. And Robert Pattinson's brooding good looks. But the guys didn't mind going because Kristen Stewart is quite a dish herself.
Oh, and also because the movie is about vampires. And pretty cool vampires if I do say so myself. They can super-run, super-jump, have super speed, super strength, and have varying psychic abilities, as you might expect (Edward can read everybody's minds... except for some reason his human girlfriend's, more on them later), but the sunlight does something significantly different to them than in most vampire universes (namely Rice, Whedon). Oh and they like to play baseball. That I have definitely not seen before. But there is plenty in this movie that you have seen before, a little too much; it seems to rip right from the play books of other fantasy/sci-fi romps out there, especially Underworld with the movie's little-explored subplot involving an ancient rivalry between the local vamps and werewolves (a Native American "tribe" that has hairy origins, to speak).
Stewat plays Bella Swan, or "Miss Scoffs-A-Lot" as I like to call her (one of Stewart's acting quirks, I guess). In fact, to me, her scoffing gets quite distracting, But anyway. Bella has to move from Phoenix, where she had been living with her mom, to a small town in Washington state (or Rains-A-Ton) to live with her father when her mom decides to do some traveling with her new main squeeze. Somehow the new-kid-in-school movie conventions are avoided (endless teasing, bullies, etc.) and actually what Bella gets annoyed with are the other students' over-the-top efforts to welcome her. She learns about the Cullens, a strange family filled with foster kids with a local town doctor as the ringleader. She becomes infatuated with one of them after he saves her from getting squashed by a careening van, Edward (Pattinson - playing a guy who's been a 17-year-old "for a while"). And he subsequently becomes infatuated with her, and of course he - and the Cullens - are all blood-suckers. But "vegetarian" blood-suckers, mind you (they only hunt animals - look out, Bambi!).
Since the vamps in this universe don't catch on fire in the sun, they are able to come to school, but only on cloudy days, and in Washington that's 360 of the 365 days of the year so they're good. Bella and Edward fall hopelessly in love, she learns his and his family's secret, and it welcomed into that family, more or less, to her peril. An encounter with not-so-veggie vamps during a family baseball game puts her in the sights of an evil vampire with a hunting instinct, James, who chases her throughout most of the rest of the movie. The only way to get him off the trail is to kill him, which involves dismembering him and setting the parts on fire. It is unclear whether or not a good ol' stake through the heart will do the trick in this story.
When Bella nearly does not survive being prey, the situation arises where Edward might have to turn her to save her. While he does go for a third option that leaves her humanity intact - for now - it gives her the idea that she at some point should be turned if they are to be together forever, and she asks him to do just that at prom and he doesn't. Yes, there is always that hitch when an immortal hooks up with a mortal. The problem is, and he admits this, Edward's desire for her is actually mostly that she is quite a tasty dish - literally. He can barely keep himself from making her a meal constantly, especially when he's sucking vampire venom out of her to keep her from vamping out from a bite from James. Romeo he is not, analogies to sexual desire aside. But she loves him anyway, eternally. Sigh, what can ya do?
Oh. Make a sequel, that's what!
Overall, the movie's fine. You'll probably like it. Enjoy it for what it is: a PG-13, low-blood vampire flick that's more about raging teenage love than blood-sucking.
Twilight
Release Date: November 21, 2008
Directed By: Catherine Hardwicke
Written By: Melissa Rosenberg (screenplay); Stephenie Meyer (novel)
Running Time: 122 minutes
Distributed By:Summit Entertainment
Starring: Kristen Stewart (Bella), Robert Pattinson (Edward), Billy Burke (Charlie Swan), Ashley Greene (Alice Cullen), Nikki Reed (Rosalie Hale), Kellan Lutz (Emmett Cullen), Peter Facinelli (Dr. Carlisle Cullen), Cam Gigandet (James)
Rating: PG-13.
Source: imdb.com