Oh ... Twilight ...

Peace!

Twilight vs. Let The Right One In

A side-by-side comparison of this year's most talked about (for different reasons) vampire movies:

Original Soure: Film-Otaku

THE VAMPIRE

TWILIGHT	LET THE RIGHT ONE IN
Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson)	Eli (Lina Leandersson)
Bella: “How old are you?” Edward: “Seventeen.” Bella: “How long have you been seventeen?” Edward: “A while.”	Eli: “I’ve been twelve for a while…”
Undead	Uncertain; Eli says that she is “not dead,” but this likely refers to the unnatural state of undeath
Aloof, detached, cold, cautious, but humane and capable of strong love	Aloof, detached, careless, capable of at least strong affection
Super-strength, super-speed, telepathy (exclusive to Edward and a few other vampires), climbing trees (in film)	Heightened agility, scaling walls, enhanced strength and speed hinted at in final sequence of the film
-Apparently no weakness against traditional anti-vampire measures such as crosses, garlic, sunlight, having to seek permission to enter a home, etc. -Strong urge to feed	-Can be incinerated by sunlight, must acquire permission to enter a home or be severely hurt, effect of other measures uncertain -Strong urge to feed
Low scare factor. He can be vicious, but he glitters in sunlight and can be consumed by romance.	Moderate scare factor. She is vicious and makes horrifying sounds while feeding, but she is young for a vampire.

THE MORTAL

TWILIGHT	LET THE RIGHT ONE IN
Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart)	Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant)
Seventeen	Twelve
New student, daughter of police chief, generally well liked, has a circle of friends in school, attracts a lot of boys	Bullied by classmates, generally ostracized, has no friends in school
First reaction to vampire revelation: Shock and confusion that immediately dissolve in love	First reaction to vampire revelation: Shock, confusion, misplaced anger
Absurdly high loyalty to vampire lover. Will do anything and give up everything for Edward without reservation	High loyalty to vampire lover. Will probably do anything and give up a lot for Eli but with reservation

THE MOVIE

TWILIGHT	LET THE RIGHT ONE IN
Dir: Catherine Hardwicke	Dir: Tomas Alfredson
Source material: Novel by Stephenie Meyer	Source material: Novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist
English	Swedish
Teen romance/drama, with a dash of action and comedy	Coming-of-age drama/romance, with a dash of horror
US box office: $119,687,620	US box office: $266,886
Rotten Tomatoes rate: 43%	Rotten Tomatoes rate: 98%
Strengths: Contemporary soundtrack, commendable lead performances, high entertainment value, new twist to vampire mythos, generally loyal to source material	Strengths: Minimalist score, commendable lead and supporting performances, strong script and direction, non-reliance on visual effects, elements of horror, loyalty to standard vampire mythos
Weaknesses: Low-quality visual effects and makeup design, weak supporting performances, weak direction and script, new twist to vampire mythos, generally loyal to source material	Weakness: No new twist on the vampire mythos
Final Verdict: Sappy and uneven but ultimately entertaining, C+	Haunting, affecting, thought-provoking, lingering; A

________

My Consensus: Now I'm not in complete agreement with the side-by-side comparison from film-otaku. By that I mean I just don't agree with the final scores provided. I would have given Twilight an 8/10 which translate to a solid B instead of the C+ they gave. But all the little descriptions provided I agree with, which is why I posted it up here. There are actually a lot of Twilight vs. Let The Right One In sources out there.

Today I went to see Let The Right One In at the Sunset 5. Like the review above I give it a resounding A, boarding the A+ area. It was not perfection but it was damned good. It started a little slow in the beginning but other than its slow pace it was fantastic.

Another point that this side-by-side failed to mention is that both were based on books that were created in the same year (2004). The main difference between their transfer from novel to film is that Stephanie Meyer did not write the screenplay for Twilight the film while Swedish author John Ajvide Lindqvist wrote both the novel and screenplay for Let The Right One In. While I have not read Let The Right One In (I definitely plan to), I am so glad the the author is the same as the screenwriter because that means what I saw was the author's point of view of how the book should look as a film :-D.

Generaly this is how I feel about both films. I would not recommend Let The Right One In to the demographic behind Twilight and vice versa. Let The Right One In is a much more mature and adult version of Twilight. It is based on the same premise that a vampire falls in love with a mortal, eventhough the vampire thursts for that mortal's blood. Let The Right One In handled the situation in a much more adult manner even though the main characters are far younger than the ones in Twilight (12 year olds vs. 17 year olds). There is a particular scene, a very cute scene, in which the main characters in Let The Right One In tap on each other's walls in morse code to communicate to each other when they couldn't see one another. There was another similar scene when they both consult a rubik's cube. Small things like this is what makes their romance very cute. Also, I must say, unlike with Twilight, I was very afraid when Eli (vampire in Let The Right One In) was anywhere near Oskar (mortal) because in previous scenes we see exactly what she's capable of in a gruesome way. Never once did I feel Bella (mortal in Twilight) was in danger of Edward (vampire) and his fangs accept perhaps after their first kiss when he pushes himself away. The reason I felt this way is because we never see Edward really harm anyone but a deer at the beginning of the film and even then we neither distinctly see him doing the action nor see him sucking the blood.

Now, I'm not knocking on Twilight at all. It's just, in light (or should I say darkness) of Let The Right One In, it is very juvenile in it's execution. But there is nothing wrong with that beacuse that's exactly what Twilight was going for. They weren't going for the adult audience, they were going after the tweens and teens. Only a mature audience can enjoy Let The Right One In and what it has to offer, and by mature I'm not just talking about adults but an audience that can appreciate a story not given to them on a plate. Most the messages of the film are hidden between the lines. It was an extremely visual film with limited dialogue and little explanation. You do actually have to think while watching this film. Everything is handed to you in Twilight and there is not much room for discovery in that film with Edwards endless explanations to Bella. Instead of showing Twilight told and instead of telling Let The Right One In shows.

Peace

Oh, and on a side note Let The Right One In had some of the best bullying scenes I've seen. In most film and television the bullies are so fake and most of the stuff they do and the way they act is not the way a real child would act. In Let The Right One In it felt real, reminded me of times when I was occasionally bullied in middle school, gave me chills. Towards the end it got a bit extreme but that first scene and the few after were really grounded. I commend the filmmakers and the director in particular for that.

Analysis of Catherine Hardwicke's Removal

Catherine Hardwicke (director, Thirteen, Lords of Dogtown, Twilight)

Some new articles have come out regarding Catherine Hardwicke no longer taking up the torch of director in the next two films New Moon and Eclipse in the Human-Vampire love story: Twilight. (By the way I'm seeing Let The Right One In tomorrow and I'll tell you how it compares.)

Variety has come out with an article about said subject. Also there has been an official statement from Summit Entertainment. I will analyze both the article and the statement to try and discover the truth, along with the information provided in my last blog. Generally, though, if you don't want to sit through all the rest of this mumbo-jumbo I'll give you the low-down in a short paragraph:

I've lost my faith in Summit Entertainment to carry on the series (and have seriously considered boycotting the next two films but I don't want to pass judgment on something I have not seen). Summit Entertainment was cool for being so unlike the other major studies, staying so true (in my opinion and Stephanie Meyer's) to Twilight the novel in spirit. Stephanie Meyer has expressed that she feared for the book being translated to film when she got back the first script from Paramount Pictures which consisted of JET SKIS! Big no-no. She went to a few other studios but turned them down until she came around Summit Entertainment with whom she was comfortable with. I've hardly seen an author backing a film adaptation and studio so wholeheartedly and I can trust Stephanie Meyer. In trusting her and in trusting Summit Entertainment I can put trust in Catherine Hardwicke and her decisions, especially after I enjoyed the first film so much. So why would Summit Entertainment want to have a parting of the ways with Hardwicke because she wants to develop the story more instead of rushing it to theaters?

Variety Article:
Summit Entertainment has wasted no time moving ahead with the next installment in Stephenie Meyer's bestselling "Twilight" series, "New Moon." But in an unusual move after the successful launch of a franchise that has already generated $138.6 million, the upstart distrib is not bringing director Catherine Hardwicke back to direct the picture. Summit and Hardwicke cite Summit's wish to rush the movie into production as one reason for their split. Summit wants to release the picture, which will demand substantial CGI work, by the end of 2009 or the start of 2010. A former production designer, Hardwicke wanted more prep time.

My Analysis: Note that Hardwicke is "a former production designer." The reason the writer of the article puts this in there is to credit that Hardwicke knows exactly what she's talking about! Summit is solely after the money this franchise can clearly offer them. Why not? It's enticing. What's more, they know they can make a lot of money on a low, shoddy budget. I'll admit, Hardwicke's strongest suit was not on how she dealt with visual effects but man, I think, she handled directing those actors very well. But, for Summit to want to release the film next year is preposterous especially with the shape shifters in the next film. It takes well over a year to get some decent pieces of CGI and Hardwicke clearly understands this but Summit Entertainment just won't listen. Just as the article said, Summit is "rush"ing the film. Rushing anything is always bad, especially a multi-million dollar motion picture. I sure hope Summit can find a hell of a director to achieve something half-way decent within the time constraints.

Robert Pattinson (actor, Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire, Twilight), Kristen Stewart (actress, Into The Wild, Twilight), Catherine Hardwicke

"Twilight" scripter Melissa Rosenberg handed in a draft of "New Moon" the weekend that "Twilight" opened. Hardwicke wanted more time to work on it; Summit announced it was going ahead with "New Moon" on November 22, with no director attached. Negotiations lasted two weeks before Hardwicke formally passed on the film Saturday.My Analysis: Good job Hardwicke! Pass on a film that would rush the creative process! Again, it is reiterated that Harwicke wanted more time to work on it, this time on script, not just the CGI, which to me, is much more important than special effects and is what carried Twilight even though it had less than spactacular effects.

As word spread through Hollywood agencies that the talks might not result in Hardwicke'sHardwicke, who delivered the biggest opening weekend ever for a woman. (CAA denies that they were soliciting other directors.) The movie is still going strong as the director and cast promote it overseas; it came in second this weekend with $13.2 million, grossing a total $138.6 million return, reports surfaced that Summit was checking out other directors for the "Twilight" franchise while they insisted they were still negotiating with .

My Analysis: Again, Summit is being a big jerk. Going behind Harwicke, looking for other directors, while they were negotiating because they had to get the film out that fast.

The problem that stalled negotiations was that Hardwicke had strong opinions about what to do with the next installment, and so did Summit. The debate was how to focus the adaptation of the second book, which deals more with giant werewolves than vampires, as well as the long depression of Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart), after her vampire lover (Rob Pattinson) leaves her. One issue was how to get more of teen heartthrob Pattinson into the film. (Rosenberg has figured out a device to achieve this.) But Hardwicke, burned out from her "Twilight" labors, simply wasn't willing to jam this movie with a script that still needed months of development.

My Analysis and Theory: What I think this is implying is that Summit and Melissa Rosenberg have found a way to adapt the novel to the film to give Rob Pattinson (the heartthrob of 2008) more screen time. I think Hardwicke was initially going along with the idea but felt it was underdeveloped. Summit didn't want to hear about it and didn't want to take the time to "develop" it and made the decision to go without Hardwicke and her "high demands". So not only will we have no Hardwicke for the next two films but we may have a crappy adaption because why? Summit is rushing.

"I am sorry that due to timing I will not have the opportunity to direct 'New Moon,'" said Hardwicke. "Directing 'Twilight' has been one of the great experiences of my life, and I am grateful to the fans for their passionate support of the film. I wish everyone at Summit the best with the sequel -- it is a great story."

"Catherine did an incredible job in helping us to launch the 'Twilight' franchise, and we thank her for all of her efforts and we very much hope to work with her on future Summit projects," said Summit production prexy Erik Feig. "We as a studio have a mandate to bring the next installment in the franchise to the big screen in a timely fashion so that fans can get more of Edward, Bella and all of the characters that Stephenie Meyer has created. We are able to pursue an aggressive time frame as we have the luxury of only adapting the novels into screenplays as opposed to having to create a storyline from scratch."

My Analysis: They, Hardwicke and Summit, are trying to split on good terms but I just know it was so heated between them. And I don't buy Summit's explanation that they "have a mandate to bring the next installment in the franchise to the big screen in a timely fashion" because really they are saying they "have a mandate to rush the installment to theaters so they can cash in quick." God I hate when studios try to play it up all happy-go-lucky. When Warner Brothers announce the push back for Harry Potter they tried to look at the bright side, that we would have a shorter wait between Half Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows Part I. This, at least, I can deal with. At least it's not tampering with the direct project, but what Summit is doing with New Moon and Eclipse is just unforgivable (which can only be forgiven by two awesome films which I doubt they can pull off in a year).

Hardwicke has other balls in the air, including two projects in the works with Groundswell Entertainment's Michael London, who produced "Thirteen."

My Analysis: Glad Hardwicke can move on :-D

Summit Statement:
As most of you have already heard, Catherine Hardwicke will not be returning to direct NEW MOON.

Summit and Catherine worked hard to make schedules work, but ultimately the decision to bring the fans the next chapter as soon as possible would not fit with Catherine's schedule.

__________

We will miss Catherine's involvement, but please know that Summit and Stephenie Meyer will make sure the next director to take the reins will have the same devotion and respect for the property and the fans.

It is our priority at Summit to make sure the TWILIGHT saga proceeds with the fans in mind.

We appreciate the overwhelming support you have given us, and look forward to working with you on NEW MOON.

Thank you!

My Analysis: I'm calling B.S. right now! B.S.! B.S.! B.S.! Summit did not work hard to keep Catherine. Obviously since they were looking for directors while they were negotiating! Just because they just had to rush the film so it could be released by next year or early 2010. Lies! Lies! Lies! Summit gets a little money and they begin to act just like all the other major studies! Gargh! It makes me so angry.

Now I'm not angry so much now because they are not continuing the series with Hardwicke, but because they are obviously rushing the series which will suck even more because they have to fill in this new director in three months time before they shoot while they had Hardwicke who was already hardwired into the series.

Peace :(

UPDATE:

Chicago Sun-Times
Hot ''Twilight'' stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson are hot under the collar -- unhappy their director, Catherine Hardwicke, won't be back to direct them in ''New Moon,'' the next film based on Stephenie Meyer's second novel in her megabest-selling vampire love story.

''They are both very upset,'' a good Hollywood source told me Monday. ''They are committed to doing at least the next 'Twilight' film -- and probably the one after that -- but they really wanted to do them with Catherine.''

Stewart in particular, is furious about it, reportedly telling a close associate, ''I sure hope they don't f--- it up,'' referring to the "New Moon" movie.

The genesis of the actors' anger comes from a feeling the film studio -- Summit Entertainment -- is far too eager to rush out the second ''Twilight'' flick, without prepping for it properly, as Stewart and Pattinson believed Hardwicke would do.

Already, the ''Twilight'' movie has pulled in nearly $140 million at the box office -- a little more than two weeks after its Nov. 21 release. Snaring $69 million that opening weekend, ''Twilight'' represented the biggest opening for a woman director in history.

Screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg submitted her draft of ''New Moon'' the weekend ''Twilight'' opened. Summit wanted to start production on the second film early next year. Hardwicke believed more time was needed to carefully adapt the second book.

Summit's production president, Erik Feig, told the Hollywood trades the studio appreciated Hardwicke's ''incredible job'' in launching the film franchise, but ''we as a studio have a mandate to bring the next installment in the franchise to the big screen in a timely fashion so that fans can get more of Edward, Bella and all of the characters that Stephenie Meyer has created.''

Translation: Let's get that cash flowing!

Let's just hope fans of the Meyer books won't be treated to a cheesy sequel.

More articles on the issue from the LA Times: Here and Here

Terrible News

There have been reports surfacing tonight that Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke will NOT be directing New Moon.

Word comes from Deadline Hollywood Daily, who reports:

I've confirmed that Summit Entertainment is taking Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke off the sequel in this big new franchise. No doubt my posting this will speed up the studio's announcement, and Summit will surely try to spin this as all going down amicably.... The word from inside Summit is that Hardwicke, the acclaimed Thirteen director, "was 'difficult' and 'irrational' during the making of Twilight," one insider explains to me. "That doesn't mean anything when you're talking about a filmmaker because they all are, but still..."

The news is somewhat shocking and we're waiting for official word from Summit Entertainment. Matt and I [Andrew of TwilightSource.com] saw Catherine Hardwicke on our flight to London this past Monday and she appeared to be in great spirits. Based on her mood a week ago, I would think this decision was just recently made.

________

Summit has confirmed that Catherine Hardwicke will no longer be directing New Moon.

Los Angeles, CA, December 7, 2008 – Summit Entertainment and director Catherine Hardwicke jointly announced today that the filmmaker will not be directing the next installment in the newly minted TWILIGHT film franchise. Summit’s targeted end of 2009 or early 2010 release of the film, NEW MOON, does not work with Ms. Hardwicke’s required prep time to bring her vision of the film to the big screen. Thus as has been done before with many successful film franchises, the studio will employ a new director for NEW MOON.

"I am sorry that due to timing I will not have the opportunity to direct NEW MOON,” said Hardwicke. “Directing TWILIGHT has been one of the great experiences of my life, and I am grateful to the fans for their passionate support of the film. I wish everyone at Summit the best with the sequel– it is a great story."

“Catherine did an incredible job in helping us to launch the TWILIGHT franchise and we thank her for all of her efforts and we very much hope to work with her on future Summit projects,” said Erik Feig, Summit’s President of Production. “We as a studio have a mandate to bring the next installment in the franchise to the big screen in a timely fashion so that fans can get more of Edward, Bella and all of the characters that Stephenie Meyer has created. We are able to pursue an aggressive time frame as we have the luxury of only adapting the novels into screenplays as opposed to having to create a storyline from scratch.”

source: TwilightSource.com

My commentary: The series has just lost its consistency which is what plagued Harry Potter once Prisoner of Azkaban came out. New Moon will be a whole different movie than Twilight was no matter how close the next director tries to stay true to the first film because directors are just too different. Just think about the Harry Potter series. Each director as a pretty distinct style, especially Prisoner of Azkaban (directed by Alfonzo Cauron) which makes each film feel disconnected. Then you have series like Lord of the Rings or The Matrix that have consistency in direction and feel like a whole series rather than something like Harry Potter and now Twilight.

Summit is dropping the ball already. I'm not saying New Moon won't be good, hell it might be better under a new director, I just hope it still is a female director. It just will be and feel very different and inconsistent.

Peace :(

VideoBlog #36

Peace

Twilight Midnight Premiere

So today I saw Twilight at midnight ... and it was really good :-D

Yes, I went in a Harry Potter costume. Yes, I know Harry Potter would not be the film I would be watching. Why do it? I wanted to remind people about Harry Potter and that its original release date was November 21, 2008, before Twilight took it over, before Warner Brothers did the most hateful deed of pushing Half-Blood Prince to a much later date (next year in July). I was expecting to get mobbed but a lot of Twilight fans were cheering me on for my costume. Some even knew why I had the costume before I told them the story. So ... I went through the line and took pictures with the fans that were wearing t-shirts! Enjoy the photos! There will be a videoblog I'll post later on today ... I might be on ReelzChannel on "first fans."

They were my favorite bunch of Twi-hards.

At first the girl to the left didn't want to take a photo at all, then, she was biting at my neck!

Many people came up to remind me that Harry Potter wasn't playing today. I thought that was funny.

Woah! Team Snape!

The guy to the far left was a "line manager" and he was awesome!

She had the most unique t-shirt. No one else in line had it.

Tania came along without reading any of the books.

And she proceeded to try and bite my neck. Seems to be a theme, huh?

Peace. VideoBlog coming right after this post.

Thanks to Antoine for the tip!

From Twilight-Source

UPDATE:

Here I come you Twilighters (my costume for tomorrow)

Peace

New Moon Short Review

New Moon is much better to me than Twilight but still not great by any means and I discovered what bugs me the most about the series. It feels more plot driven than character driven to me. I feel like the book moves forward by the things that happen in the film, not by the characters who live in the book. Like I mentioned with Twilight, things just felt too convenient, too well placed, too unreal. I don't mean "unreal" in the means of vampires and werewolves but by the reactions of the people around them. The book needs to be grounded. The only thing done right in the book is the love element and that's really what the story is about so big points for that but Bella is so slow when it comes to figuring certain things out, I think. I don't think Meyer gives her enough credit. She seems like a smart girl but sometimes she can't put two-and-two together when it's right in front of her nose. Also, the book's editor should be fired because their were typos up the butt hole in this book. Now the reason I'm so annoyed with typos is that it takes me out of the book. Like with any story, if their is a mistake, you are taken out of it. If you are watching a film and you can tell the blood is fake you are taken out of the story. If you are watching a speech and someone stutters over a word you are taken out of the engagement you might have had with it. If you see a typo or missing words you are taken out of the story you are trying to get into. That happen countless times with me in New Moon even more so than in Twilight. I'm surprised this could happen with such a popular book.

I know a lot of folks put up a Jacob vs. Edward thing and now I understand. The battle easily goes to Edward. He is the one who truly loves Bella. In fact, I would go as far to say that Jacob doesn't love Bella at all really or at least, he is immature. Edward mentions near the end of the book that werewolves are immature which I'm really glad he said because while Bella and Jacob were getting close I really analyzed their relationship to her's and Edward's. It's not really fair, really. Edward has a century worth of maturity while Jacob has about fifteen years. In either case, the things Bella and Jacob did together and the way their relationship progressed was really high school. Jacob was extremely jealous and told on her at the end when he was really jealous of Edward. His reason for getting her in trouble was not to protect, although that's what he says, he really was trying to keep her away from Edward, showing he really doesn't love her. For if he could truly love her he would gladly let her go. He would enjoy that Edward came back and that she was so much more happy. Edward would. He's been able to resist his urge to kill her altogether. He spent the whole book staying away from her to keep her safe when he really didn't want to. Jacob just can't away and see her happy. I'm ranting. I'm going to stop.

New Moon is definitely better than Twilight but still not the great book series that people seem to be raving about.

Peace

I Take It Back

I take what I said about the Twilight film back. I saw a few scenes and I may actually see it. The trailer, to me, is not well done though and really put me off but the field trip scene on saw on YouTube I liked quite a bit.

Also, today I went to Barnes & Nobles (I'm actually a Borders fan) to read a bit out of New Moon which is the sequel to Twilight. I'm two chapters in and I'm much more pleased with it. My main complaint about Twilight was that I did not feel a threat to Bella's life with Edward thirsting for her blood but in the second chapter there was a physical conflict that came up when she got a paper cut. Also, I really enjoy Bella's character a lot more and here want and her fears. In this second book she fears growing old because she'll die and be without Edward who is immortal. That's the sort of thing I wanted to see in the first book but I guess it was more of an introduction and this next book will dive in deeper to these complex characters.

Peace

Twilight Short Review

I learned about Twilight through the MuggleCast. They created a new site just for Twilight (I'll give them a plug here). On the podcast they mentioned that Harry Potter fans are supposed to really like this series as well. Well, they've been saying this for a while, months now, and I never once thought to take a look at the book. Then, the movie trailer came out and I didn't think much on it. Then, there was a Harry Potter vs. Twilight thing on Reelzchannel on YouTube. Still, I had no urgency to read the book. I mentioned, while copying my script at the Inner-City Filmmakers headquarters, that I had never read the book and the film didn't look too interesting to me, to which one of the students told me she would let me borrow the book. Now, the way most people have described the book to me is that it's a sexier version of Harry Potter. While the "sexier" bit may very well be true it is nothing like Harry Potter in entertainment or quality. It's a simple love story which fell short of my expectations. Still though, I enjoyed the book, reading it in about three days time with a busy schedule.

First, the book does not deserve the praise it has received. For instance, Amazon has claimed it to be the best book of the decade and New York Time's made it it's Editor's Choice. It certainly is not the best book of the decade and it should not have and Editor's Choice from New York Times but I'm glad that my difference of opinion did not tarnish my opinion of the book. I don't even like Napolean Dynamite because it's so overhyped, but I'm still okay with Twilight but the more I see people giving it praise where praise is not deserved, especially towards what looks like a terrible film, it makes me cringe.

The book essentially is a love story between a female human, Isabella, and a male vampire, Edward. The attraction Edward has to Isabella is the same attraction he has for the taste of her blood, which causes some conflict in their relationship, of course. But I did not think it was played out as well as it could have. There was no huge conflict between the two with Edward nearly killing Isabella or anything like that. Instead, towards the end of the book the author flips the story and sends it in another direction, making another vampire chasing after Isabella while Edward protects her. This, among some other things in the story, felt too convenient. Plus, some of the scenes between Isabella and Edward were very cheesy, a lot of sappy "I love yous" and "I never want to be without yous" and "Don't want to lose yous", typical lovey dovey stuff.

I did not believe in Isabella and her character. She accepted Edward as a vampire too easily. His vampire family never seemed to struggle with her enough except for one member which through me off because early on in the book Edward said he had one supporter in his family: Alice.

I did not like how the book set itself up for a sequel. In Harry Potter, each book could be taken for it's own self-contained story but Twilight thrives on being a series, which I did not like. Because of this, not a lot of characters came full circle for me and there were a lot of unsatisfied stories.

And don't get me started on the typos I found in the book.

I know I'm focusing more on the cons than the pros but really the book isn't that great to focus on the positive and I'm annoyed to know that people hold it in such high esteem when it's so mediocre and written with no flare.

All around, a 3 out of 5 and the cover has nothing to do with the book.

Oh, and the film looks completely terrible.

EDIT: The cover is supposed to represent the forbidden fruit in the story of Adam & Eve.

Also in reply to an anonymous comment I recieved I guess it would seem I did not like the book eventhough I clearly stated at the beginning of my little review that I did enjoy it but I did not think it was as great as people give it credit for. Again, here is clarification: I liked the book (certainly did not love it) but it was downright mediocre and was not as amazing as people give it praise for.

Peace