Twilight

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On Sky Movies Sci-Fi/Horror 09/12/09 13:40

Director: Catherine Hardwicke

Stars: Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Billy Burke, Peter Facinelli

Year: 2008 Running Time: 122 mins Rating:

Dracula meets Romeo & Juliet in this Buffy-ed up big screen adaptation of the first book in Stephenie Meyer's globally successful fantasy franchise, The Twilight Saga. With a modest budget, director Catherine Hardwicke (Lords Of Dogtown, Thirteen) avoids the temptation to go large with iffy special effects and instead concentrates on the characters that make the novels so compelling. It’s also visually stunning and the occasional in-joke for twi-hard fans is a nice touch.

Review

When girl-next-door Bella Swann (Kristen Stewart) moves to a small town with her father she finds herself drawn to the boy next door.

However, this is no innocent crush as she soon learns that Edward’s not a boy at all – but a 108-year-old vampire who just happens to also be beautiful, boast a neat turn of speed and the ability to read minds.

Unfortunately for these star-crossed lovers, Bella's blood is like Edward's own personal brand of heroin. But she isn’t scared…and follows temptation like a lamb to the slaughter.

There’s also more mundane obstacles to true love - Edward's bloodsucking family have reservations about introducing a human into their home and Bella's overprotective police-chief father has reservations about his daughter's first love.

But the biggest issue is the trio of badass vamps in town looking for a tasty treat, and guess who's made it to the top of the menu?

There's nothing new about forbidden love, or vampire stories for that matter, but this retelling of an old favourite signals the start of something huge – possibly America’s answer to Harry Potter.

The indie ethos works, as does Stewart who holds her own portraying a girl who is likeably plain, yet pretty, intelligent and interesting enough to believably pique the interest of Edward, as played by Robert Pattinson, best known as doomed Hufflepuff champion Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter & The Goblet Of Fire.

Pattinson certainly has the looks and charisma needed for his dashing Rochester-cum-Darcy hero but Edward is played with too much angst and not enough cockiness to completely win over an audience.

Prepare to be dazzled.

Veronica Carlson

Gallery: Twilight

7:47PM, May 09, 2009

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TWILIGHT

Dracula meets Romeo & Juliet in this Buffy-ed up big screen adaptation of the first book in Stephenie Meyer's globally successful fantasy franchise, The Twilight Saga. With a distinct lack of budget, Director Catherine Hardwicke (Lords Of Dogtown, Thirteen) has avoided the temptation to go overboard with poor quality special effects and instead concentrates on the characters that make the novels so compelling. It’s also visually stunning and the occasional in-joke for die hard fans is a nice touch.