A vampire love story

Edward Cullen. By now that name is almost as ubiquitous as the name Harry Potter. Not exactly as common, but almost. This is especially true with young high school girls the world over and, yes, let’s face it, even the young-at-heart girls as well who remember what it was like the first time they ever fell in love. And yes, what comes after that sentence is the admission that I am one of them, a Cullen fan and decidedly in love with the Twilight series.

Last Tuesday I joined several other young and younger Twilight fans at the Fossil and SM Mall of Asia red carpet premiere of the blockbuster based on Stephanie Meyer’s famous vampire novel (Thank you, Lorenz! You rock!). I have to admit I have been looking forward to this movie for months. Ever since I read the first book in the series — Twilight — I knew that a movie could not be that far behind, and since I only picked up the novel this year waiting for that movie was far more bearable than the when I first read Harry Potter back in 1995 and had to wait until 2001 for the first film to come out. In either case, I was psyched this week when the movie finally opened.

For those of you who have been living under a rock and have no idea what I am talking about, the Twilight series is a vampire love chronicle penned by Arizona author Stephanie Meyer. It’s about a regular girl named Bella who falls in love with Edward Cullen who just so happens to be one of the undead. The series chronicles their love story through several different phases and through several years. It’s so attractive to girls because at its core it’s a romance but at the same time it’s far more exciting and thrilling because of the vampire aspect.

I liked that part the most. I appreciated that Meyer created her own vampire lore instead of just sticking to what was already known and accepted about vampires. It was nice to see new sides of them and new aspects. One of my favorites was that some of them have certain powers — like Edward being able to read minds and Alice being able to see the future. That is something I think fits in with vampire lore nicely but is still something new. Suffice to say, Meyer painted her vampires fuller and more multi-faceted coupled with more of a human side thus making them far more attractive despite drinking blood. Don’t believe me? Go ask any girl if she would want to date Edward Cullen and I’m sure you won’t find one that will say no.

Edward is everything a romantic lead should be — beautiful, dashing, chivalrous, brave, caring and loving. At the same time though he is also deadly, brilliant, calculating, an incredible hunter and can be completely cold. He is far more than just a regular romantic lead. He is not just your average “I will save you” hero — he is a “I will do anything to keep you safe including dismember and burn other vampires” hero. What girl wouldn’t want that?

And so now that I have seen the movie — what did I think? I thought it was fantastic. Everything about the look and feel of the film is what I imagined when I read the book. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m still a bigger fan of the novel, but as far as book-inspired movies go I thought this one did justice to Meyer’s work. The grimy, dark, wet feel of the town Forks was captured perfectly as was the strange pace of the movie — slow whenever it was Bella with anyone else, and more fast-paced when Edward or any of the vampires entered the scene.

I must admit though I would have liked to see more character development where the ensemble cast was concerned. You learn a little about them but not as much as you learn in the novel. Understandably it’s not easy to fit a 400-plus-page book into a two-hour movie so I suppose the fact that it focused more on Edward and Bella makes sense. I am just hoping they’ll delve more into Carlisle and his family in the next one. After all, I find their family history fascinating and I think it says a lot about them. It especially explains why Rosalie is always so angry with Bella.

One thing I really liked about the movie though was that it was very well cast. I really think they hit the nail on the head with every character. As Vanity Fair so perfectly put it, “Robert Pattinson is rebel cool incarnated. He is the James Dean of the undead.” I couldn’t agree with the statement more. Pattinson, whom many know as the handsome Cedric Diggory from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, has easily put himself in the biggest pop culture movies of the century. He can easily say he was a part of the most anticipated films of the past five years. It’s crazy! But, he was perfectly cast for both of them and he is amazingly incredible. I could not imagine a better Edward Cullen. Perhaps it’s also his real-life kind of cool disregard that makes his portrayal of the standoffish vampire so believable.

As for Kristen Stewart, she is exactly what I imagine Bella would be: a pretty (though not extraordinarily so) girl with intense eyes and strong features. The way they made her skin pale and kept dark circles under her eyes made her even more believable and more than all of that, she just so easily fit the part. It was like it was effortless.

Needless to say, I liked the film very much and I’m sure I will be seeing it more than once. I can’t wait for the silver screen saga of Edward and Bella to continue and I hope they continue to produce films for all the books since I view it as one big story as opposed to several small ones. Even though this particular film seemed to be able to stand alone and ended differently from the novel (if you want to know how — read the book!) I am still looking forward to the next movie because, as clichéd as it sounds, the best is yet to come!