Well, I have decided to join the hoards of Twilight bloggers. Don't worry, this will only be a short series, so pay attention ;)
When I saw Twilight in the cinema, I didn't actually know what it was. I hadn't really heard of the book series, and all I knew was that it was a vampire movie, which was what appealed to me. I saw it once at the theatre, right at the end of it's showing season, and I thought it was pretty good, though the directing was not quite up to standard. Now that I've got the DVD, I have a better picture of what everyone's been saying about the directing, the acting, and the scriptwriting, so I'm going to add my two-cents worth.
THE ACTING
ROBERT PATTINSON
Like almost everyone else, I first saw Rob Pattinson in Harry Potter as Cedric Diggory. He was charming, and appeared to be a rather strong character. Now, as the vampire Edward Cullen, we get to see more of his range. He has revealed himself to be a multi-talented young man, both a stunning actor and an amazing musician. Shy and modest, his self-deprecating humour suggests that he is not yet quite comfortable with himself, but he is definitely getting there. As the character he did an amazing job, portraying the pained, self-loathing vampire who falls in love with a mortal. My favourite thing was the way he expressed himself through his eyes. Like in the car after Bella's hand bumped into his, he looks like a combination of freaked out, pained, expecting the worst, and even hoping that she'll figure it all out. I'm definitely intrigued by him.
KRISTEN STEWART
I had never seen Kristen Stewart before this movie, so I wasn't sure if she was a good actor or not. The role of Bella Swan is certainly the most controversial role in this cult film franchise, being the love interest of the most sought-after fictional character in existence. A lot of people have said that she is the worst actress ever (apparently they haven't seen Passions... lol), but she was given the difficult task of putting herself into this very emotional character who's only happiness comes from the vampire she's constantly worried she will lose. At first I thought she was very rude to her father, but that was definitely something that was better explained in the book, and could only be understood by reading the book. Most of the time she wasn't being rude, she was trying to explain things to him in that awkward, stilted way in which they interacted a lot of the time. The character comes across as brave, slightly unsure of her place in the world, and unable to let others see who she truly is. In controversial scenes, such as the garage and last hospital scenes she was not given enough time to develop her character as she would have liked due to time restrictions during filming. Hopefully during the filming of New Moon she will exercise a bit more creative control. She also didn't have as much time as the others, because she was still under 17 during filming, so she had to attend some classes as well. I think, in the end, she was a good choice, and she will start to prove herself more from now on as she becomes more familiar with her character. To all the people who believe they could've done a better job, I would like to see you try. Yes, a better job might've been done, but not by an amateur, unless they were a completely amazing natural. Get off Kristen's case, she may appear a bit rude in interviews, but not everyone's perfect, and she may actually be very afraid of how she is perceived.
ASHLEY GREENE
The character of Alice Cullen is important in the books not only as Edwards favourite adopted sister, but also as one of Bella's closest friends. Unfortunately she was not developed much in the first movie. What we did see was my idea of the real Alice. She has a beautiful voice, endearing mannerisms, and a caring personality. Ashley Greene was a perfect choice for this role, she does so well as the pitcher during baseball, and since Alice has a larger role in the second book we can hope that she'll have a bigger role in the movie.
.JACKSON RATHBONE
Could they have picked a better Jasper? I doubt it. As the vampire who “always looks like he's in pain” this actor stresses how difficult being around humans is for the character with every look. Off-set Jackson has the best personality, going from serious to silly in less than a second, and on the set his character doesn't falter. I've definitely become a fan, and as Jasper becomes more pivotal to the story line I'll happily sit and see more Jackson. The best thing is that he always looks like he cares about Alice, watching her, staying protectively near her in danger, it really comes across that they have a special relationship, and who could forget the baseball scene? That face that he pulls after he hits the ball is awesome, and it's fun to watch him swinging the bat casually around, where most normal people would be knocking themselves unconscious trying to be that skilful. I like to follow his posts on Twitter because he seems like a really nice, friendly sort of guy.
PETER FACINELLI
Here's probably the first father figure of grown-ups that I've ever swooned over. He's charming, caring, relaxed, and really seems like the patriarch of the Cullen family. I was quite impressed by the actor. Off-set, during interviews and the DVD special extras he's fun to watch, being a crazy, happy sort of person. I can't wait to see more of him in later installments.
ELIZABETH REASER
I first saw this actress as Jane Doe/Ava in Grey's Anatomy, and I was a bit unsure about her being this beautiful creature that she'd been described as. But she definitely fits the bill. Not only that, but she seems like a mother figure. Since she had a very small part in the movie I can't really say much more, but from what I've seen so far she was a pretty good choice.
KELLAN LUTZ
Wow, don't you just want to hug Emmett Cullen? He's like a giant teddy bear, and finds everything amusing. I love it when he's in the kitchen and he casually waves the meat cleaver to say hello, it was definitely a very relaxed thing for him to do. Although he should remember not to be chewing on food when he's in the scene like he did in the cafeteria. That works well in any other movie except one in which you play a vampire. It was probably a totally subconscious thing for him to do (“Hmm food, let's eat”). I was unsure at first how to take the character, but that changed after actually learning more through the book, and watching the movie more than once.
NIKKI REED
I actually enjoyed Rosalie's attitude in the movie as portrayed by Nikki Reed. She was definitely beautiful, haughty, and annoyed at Bella's presence in their lives. She did well in the baseball scene, and I was impressed that she and Jackson learnt to play left-handed. Now that says commitment. A lot of people believe that this character doesn't have any redeeming qualities, so it must be very difficult to play her knowing that nothing she does will ever compare to the rest of her family, but as long as she's interesting to watch it doesn't really matter.
CAM GIGANDET
There is no way anyone else would have done a better job with the character of James. It's a shame that the character was killed in the first book, because Cam's portrayal of this character was awesome. Most of the time he seemed completely crazed, and definitely obsessed with the chase. Let's not forget the ballet scene, he really got into that, doing as much of his own stunt work as he was allowed. He seemed completely mental the last time he yells at Bella to "Tell him (Edward)" how much the pain hurts, and his run through the woods chasing after the other vampires is just so convincing.
BILLY BURKE
I really liked Charlie Swan. He was unassuming, trying to learn how to be the father of a teenager, and really subtly bashful when the numerous people told Bella just how much he missed her over the years. I was so surprised when I realised that this was the same guy that I'd watched on Gilmore Girls during his brief stint as Lorelai's boyfriend Alex. I just couldn't see the two characters together. Small things in his characterisation, like the shrug after telling Bella to call her mother, the loading of the shot gun when he's about to meet Edward, and telling Bella that he didn't want her to leave made me really see him as a father who was secretly happy to have his daughter back, even though he didn't know how to express his feelings. There are quite a few people that didn't like Billy Burke as the father, and of course everyone's entitled to their opinion, but he wasn't playing a main character with any large, emotional scenes, and with the scenes he did he acted the part of this father used to being by himself.
Obviously there are a few more characters to talk about, but I'll do that next time. All I can say is I was most impressed by the actors portraying the Cullen family. After actually reading the series they are my image of the vampire family. Bella Swan is growing on me, she's someone you really have to watch closely, to see the small changes in her facial expressions that develop the character. I know this seems like a very positive post, but trust me, not everything I think about the movie is positive. I just think that they did a good job on the characters, and that is all down to the actors portraying them.
All pictures in this blog were found on Photobucket
Stay tuned for more Twilight rants...
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