The Sweeter Things In Life

Big Fat Obvious Warning!: This is a review of the official and complete movie, therefore there will be discussion of parts not released to the public and are classified as spoilers. If you do not wish to be spoiled prior to 12:01 am on Friday the 21st, I suggest that you do not read past this line. By doing so, you are screwing it up for yourself.

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I like to break things down into sections of analysis, so I can’t give you a star rating or a number rating like most people do. Its just not that easy for me. I will start off by saying that I loved the movie, and it was more than I expected. I didn’t go in thinking it was going to be a blockbuster shooting style like other movies or that the acting was going to be outstanding. My only expectation was that the story got across, and it succeeded. So lets dive into section analysis…

The Soundtrack: This is the forefront of my mind right now because I made sure I listened to the CD yesterday to try and place where I thought songs might be. In most cases, a lot of the songs from the soundtrack were used, but as music only. There were a few songs that got some lyrics in there, and they are ones that are pretty well accepted. I had guessed that Full Moon by Black Ghosts would open the film and indeed it did. Poor Bella, telling her mommy goodbye and flying off to Washington. I really love the song I Caught Myself by Paramore and while I thought it might not get in, (only because I associate it with Jacob & Bella) they played the acoustic version in the prom dress shop of Port Angeles. Never Think is playing in the background in the restaurant while Edward and Bella are talking. Its rather weird because they lyrics kind of go along with the actual conversation if you are paying attention that close. Supermassive Black Hole by Muse was perfectly placed in the baseball scene and I really was worried that if they placed it in the movie where it would go. It fit and really played up the scene since the music is so amped up. I think its pretty obvious to say that Bella’s Lullaby made it in and where its placed when you hear the whole thing, but I need to note that when they said it was a carrying theme, I only noticed it for part of the movie, mainly the first half up until the scene where Rob plays the final version. I had said elsewhere it sounded so epic, but hearing the final version, its not so much so given that the piano is the centerpiece and the orchestra backs it up. [Side Note: Rob has gorgeous hands.] Let Me Sign by Robert Pattinson was also in the move during a series of flashes when Edward is sucking the venom out of Bella’s arm. The last two in the actual film are the lowest and highest of the soundtrack (aside from all of the “radio played” songs.) Go All The Way (Into the Twilight) by Perry Ferrell does make it into the film, which is bad for me since I hate the song completely, but the good news is that its only a little bit and its mainly the girl singing the chorus when Bella and Edward enter the prom and wave hello to everyone.

The song I’m falling in love with is Flightless Bird, American Mouth by Iron & Wine which is the final scene with Edward & Bella dancing outside in the lighted gazebo. The scene is beautiful and the song is perfect paced for it, although they do some cutting obviously for pacing purposes because where the song picks up slightly in the full version, they had to cut it out for the movie. The ending of the song cranks up right at the end when Bella is closing the movie. It makes my little heart warm just thinking about it. As the credits roll I’m thinking “Okay here comes Decode and all the girls are going to squeal.” Negative. Linkin Park’s Leave Out All the Rest starts up and we see more scenes that I guess they had to cut from the actual film, but there’s no dialogue, just more scenes. Finally Decode by Paramore comes on after that. I can’t count how many songs actually got used, but it was a huge majority of them even though I can’t place them all.

The Set: It’s as close to Forks that I imagined without actually going to Forks or looking at pictures. Granted the town is a little more close together than I pictured in the one shot they showed, but its all there. Port Angeles was laid out a bit differently as well, considering I thought it to be bigger than Forks, the sets looked about the same. The only real glimpse you get of Port Angeles is the dress shop, the shop across the street and the bookstore. Here’s a part that bugs me while I’m thinking about it. Bella actually makes it to the bookstore in the movie (more on why later.) The forest scenes and landscape are my favorite. I love the color and the mist that was shown. My favorite shot has to be the tree top scene that overlooks the river. Its amazing and breath taking and Catherine doesn’t let you forget about it since it shows up again in the movie.

The Acting: Now I’m not an actress so I can’t claim to have talent or say that anyone that was in the movie is not talented, but yes, there were good and bad actors. I’m going to make a scale for my sake and yours. Let’s start with the good. Robert Pattinson was phenomenal, and it really has nothing to do with his dashing good looks. His personality that he already has prior to playing Edward came in a lot in the facial expressions and other things concerning this role. Granted there were some awkward parts, but he pulls out of them with ease. And the comedy, some of the things he does really are quite humorous. He did much better than I expected him to. Next in line is Peter Facinelli who does a 100% fantastic job as Carlisle. He just oozes paternal figure and holds the figure well. Did I mention he’s gorgeous? Umm yea, you try not having heart failure when he walks into check on Bella at the hospital. Ashley Greene plays Alice to a T, very sprite like and sweet. I really liked her a lot and my husband liked her too, although he was thinking she was a total hottie rather than how well she played Alice. So on a scale from 5 to 1, those 3 are most definitely 5’s for me. Kristen Stewart can pull off Bella, but there’s something about her I can’t put my finger on. I just couldn’t get a vibe that she was “unconditionally and irrevocably in love” with Rob’s character. So I’ll give her a 3.8. My biggest shock was Nikki Reed playing Rosalie. I really expected her to pull of a really good performance, and to others she might have, but she was extremely disappointing to me. The kitchen scene was humorous but the lines felt forced and the baseball line of “Like that’s going to help? I can smell her across the field.” was just… ugh. I pictured Rosalie as more of a smart ass bitch and Reed really comes off as a bitch trying to hard to be one. I’d say a 2 just for effort. Of course there are other major characters I didn’t mention, but its only because there is so little of them (or characters I could care less about) that I don’t feel it necessary to state them all.

True to the Book?: Yes and no. There were of course parts that were added and parts that were taken out. There were things changed around, and merged with other stuff, but that’s all part of Hollywood. The stuff they added of course enhanced the story line. My main example is the part about Waylan Forge, I was so lost when it happened I had to ask a friend when I got home.

The meadow scene that we know and love was definitely different. Bella pretty much tells Edward he’s a vampire and she’s not scared of him and he gives her the “I’m going to show you why you should be scared” line, to which he runs to the edge of the meadow and lights up like a Glow worm. [Well it was more of a glitter on top of snow with tiny rainbows effect.] One of the main things I missed was the talk about dazzling people, it wasn’t there and I really was hoping it made it in. Bella actually makes it to the bookstore, which is where she gets a book about Quileute legends and eventually makes a discovery about Edward.  I’m sure there were others, I just can’t think of them all right off the top of my head.

So Should You See It: My final conclusion is yes, you should go see it. But I offer a huge suggestion when you do so, do not read the book before going. My biggest problem was that I was trying to put Stephenie’s written words of Edward and Bella’s inner dialouge into the movie and the pacing is totally different. When you read, you have time to digest what they are saying and dissect it like a frog. (While I didn’t read the book right before the movie, I’m up to my eyeballs deep in Twilight daily at TwilightSource.com, so that was where my main hiccup came from.) The movie is not going to pause for you to analyze each little facial expression to try and see if they are thinking the same. So sit back and enjoy the movie, then go home and compare, not the other way around.

Stay Tuned…

I’m heading out to a midnight showing on Friday morning at 12:01 and I’ll have another review after seeing everything for a second time