Twilight of Bookmonkey: Day Twenty-Five

I just finished New Moon - and you know what, with the exception of the things I didn’t like in the novel (Bella spending months doing nothing as Edward left), and the fact that the original is definitely a better film, there were a few ways I prefered this movie to the original.

The colour of the movie (warm browns) and the visual effects were significantly better than the first film. The music was also quite good (although playing a slow dirge-like song while having a pack of werewolves chase a vampire through a forest seemed like a strange choice). I still liked Billy Burke in the small role of Bella’s father, and both Michael Sheen and Dakota Fanning were effectively scary as members of the Volturi (the royal family of the vampire world), the score was also significantly better than that of the first film.

On the negative side, the film drags a lot, it’s pacing seemed kind of strange and the sequence where Edward leaves Bella made me think of the kid from The Yearling sending away his deer (it is interesting that as much as the Cullen’s resent other vampires considering Bella a “family pet,” they treat her like a pet they would like to get rid of when they move. Also (and this is the fault of the source material), Victoria comes across as a cameo rather than a threat - although she kills people in this film, it’s all off screen and therefore doesn’t seem to be to much of a threat.

In the end the film was ok, unlike the first film it did actually have some horrific parts in it (I mentioned these in my review of the book), and as the characters had been set up in the previous film, there was very little explanation needed in this film.

Twilight of Bookmonkey: Day Eleven

Good morning and Happy Canadian Thanksgiving everyone! Rather than playing Super Mario Galaxy 2 like I have been in the early weekend mornings, I spent the last two hours watching the motion picture Twilight, and I did it all for you.

Book-wise I've just finished Eclipse, which I believe was the latest book out before the film release. Considering I have seen the movie before (I watched it with my then-11-year-old daughter Kaia when it first came out), I'll give you my impressions, both good and bad, having now read the source material.

The Good:

1) I really liked both Billy Burke (who played Bella's dad Charlie) and Cam Gigandet (who played the evil James). The leads were better than I remembered, but as both characters take themselves very seriously, they are easily mocked.

2) The music is pretty great (I'm talking about the soundtrack rather than the score), I've actually seen MUSE in concert and a lot of the other tunes were pretty catchy. I'll be looking at the soundtrack in its own post later this week.

3)The two highlights of the film for me were the baseball scene and the end fight (which thankfully appeared in the movie rather than being reported after the fact, like in the book). The cut scenes of the evil vampires getting closer did build tension in a way the book doesn't until the baseball game. Also the author cameo was cute, as was the (unintentional) reference to Peter Facinelli's work in the TV series Nurse Jackie (which is really REALLY good).

The Bad

1) The effects are pretty weak - with the exception of the fight scene at the end, the vampire effects look pretty rushed.

2) The movie glossed over evil vampire James' back story, specifically his thwarted hunt of Alice (one of the Cullens), that made his hunt for Bella significantly more understandable in the novel.

3) The Score. I actually purchase a lot of scores for films (the instrumental music played in the background of films), so I always have an ear out for music I might want to pick up. It may have been due to the higher quality of the songs throughout, but I just found the score was lacking, which definitely took away from my enjoyment of the film.

In the end, the movie was, like the novel, OK. I wouldn't own it (I watched my now 13-year-old daughter's copy). Like any number of films based on young adult books it appealed to its target audience, of which I am not. I've seen better, I've seen worse.

Next I'm on to Breaking Dawn.