Perhaps the biggest example of this sort of misfire was the scene where Edward first sees Bella. This scene should have been sultry and predatory, with a clear look in Edward’s eyes that he wanted to kill Bella in every way he could imagine. Instead, Hardwicke turned it into a comedy, from the first time Pattinson jumps and covers his nose when Stewart walks in the room to when he jumps out of his chair and runs from the classroom a split second before the bell rang. There were some scenes where “Twilight” just missed the mark.
Later, in one of the final scenes where Edward has to suck the vampire venom out of Bella’s wrist, the look on Pattinson’s face was downright terrible. It looked like some sort of spoof of the film that Evil Iguana Productions would come up with instead of one of the most pivotal scenes in the movie.
Cam Gigandet, for all of his 20 minutes in the movie, was the true star of the film. The final ballet studio showdown with Bella and Edward was great, and he really allowed viewers to believe in the character of James. He never was comical in his characterization and was chilling to watch movie across the screen. It is disappointing that there won’t be more to see of Gigandet in the later movies.
It’s funny to think how much analysis and speculation went on over the actors chosen to play the characters that were so significantly dwarfed Stewart and Pattinson in the film. Mike Welch played a spot-on interpretation of Mike Newton, with Justin Chon, Anna Kendrick and Christian Serratos following closely behind in their roles as Eric Yorkie, Jessica Stanley and Angela Weber. Taylor Lautner proved he will make a great Jacob Black when he grows six inches and ages six years before “New Moon” is released. The Cullens were all great, and the cheers drawn from the crowd at their arrival showed how important just their presence in the film was. Edi Gathegi and Rachelle Leferve were excellent and chilling in their respective roles of Laurent and Victoria.
However, as stated earlier, the 30 percent of the film that was bad really drew away from what was good with the rest of it. However, the other sections of the movie really were good. There was a great scene in the kitchen at the Cullen mansion when Edward’s vampire family is preparing to meet Bella for the first time that is priceless, and the baseball scene was hands-down the greatest scene in the movie. It was spot-on perfect to the book and will take the breath away from anyone who has nothing to base the movie on.
There were four major scenes that Hardwicke had to nail to not get a severe case of fan backlash: Port Angeles, the meadow scene, the baseball scene and the showdown in the ballet studio. All of these scenes were well-done with the exception of the terrible CGI used for Edward’s skin in sunlight (since when did diamonds look like sweat?). The rest of the movie, with few exceptions, fell through the cracks, with what seemed like less effort placed on them.
It would have been less disappointing if the movie has just been mediocre versus being a combination of really good and heart-breakingly bad. “Twilight” will be a success and the subsequent films in the franchise will be successes and people will go to see them and maybe Summit will do a better job thrusting the film into the all-star level that the latter “Harry Potter” films have reached. “Twilight” just felt rushed, and felt like Hardwicke settled with mediocrity instead of pushing for greatness. And, as a fan of “Twilight” who truly wished for the film to be everything everyone had hoped it would be, I wish she had achieved that greatness.
All that said, the last five minutes of the movie were spot-on perfect; enough to make any Twi-hater come back to see “New Moon.” Never has a kiss on the neck been more sensual, and never has a red-head looked more badass. You’ll see. Even if you don’t want to, you’ll go see.