Considering that I was barely able to stay awake during the first two ‘Twilight ‘ films – the third in the series can be considered a step up in the food chain. Make no mistake about it; the studio is not looking to capture anyone outside the target audience of the novels billions of readers. Why should they? They have a built in core audience. However, that is not an excuse to make a series of poor movies. Now before I am pummeled to death by a legion of blood sucking tweenies – allow me to point out what the character ‘Jacob ‘, a werewolf played by Taylor Lautner, commented about ‘Edward’, a vampire – well we all know ‘Edward’ (Robert Pattinson); he notes to ‘Bella’ (Kristen Stewart) that ‘Edward’ is not even alive. I was not sure if that was a fact or a simple commentary on Pattinson’s acting.
I have to admit, I have not read the books – so I was often let a little befuddled during many parts of the film (if you are a non-fan, take a fan with you to answer questions along the way – you will be better for it!) that is after I was left pressing my hand against my mouth for fear of screaming at the screen at all of the teen angst and drama. It’s as if I was being treated to a 2 hour ABC Family Drama with werewolves and vampires. Bear in mind – these vampires are nearly a century old – so wouldn’t that make Edward a pedophile? I digress.
Picking up where ‘New Moon’ left off, always sullen Bella and vampire Edward (the make-up department really needs to decide if they are going to make him pale or flesh tone) are continuing their human/vampire love affair and planning her eventual ‘turn’ when Bella graduates. From what I understand – Edward had been in high school now for over 90 years (got to love Google); I barely was able to stand 4 years, no wonder he is a vampire! Jacob is still in the picture and still in love with Bella, determined to convince her that she can love him more than she loves Edward, sigh… Meanwhile, back in Seattle, the villainous vampire Victoria (Bryce Dallas Howard, yes, Ron Howard’s daughter) is raising an evil army of vampires to attack Edward and avenge the death of her lover that Edward killed. But we don’t find that out until nearly the end…I think – I got a little lost, this is where having a fan there can help out a little bit.
To be honest though, this is also where the film picks up the pace a bit, it is just a shame it took nearly 90 minutes to get there! 90 LONG minutes of ‘but I love him more’ and ‘I will protect you forever’ and lots and lots of testosterone driven stares by what I am sure are teen pin up poster guys. Director David Spade did the terrific ‘30 Days of Night’, where vampires invade Barrow, Alaska during the winter when the town is plunged into darkness for the month. So I had high hopes for the action in the movie. I wasn’t disappointed, for about ten minutes or so that is.
There are 5 novels in the Twilight series and I am very certain all of them are set to be made into films, if they have not been shot already. I am also very certain that I can probably read through them all before sitting through this again. I hope ‘Breaking Dawn’, the next in the series, will pick up the pace a bit and delve a little deeper into the vampire lore a bit. For now, this is just another 2 ½ star effort for the series that I am sure the fans will devour rabidly!
Something a little bit more frightening and faster paced from Redbox this review is the excellent homage to the George Romeo zombie flicks ‘The Crazies’, starring Timothy Olyphant and Radha Mitchell as a Sheriff and his doctor wife trying to escape their American Dream hometown overtaken by the insane after a biological weapon is accidentally let loose. Well worth the $1.00 for this 4 star effort!
No comments:
Post a Comment