Disappointment of the Year

So as everyone knows, my Twilight obsession was meant to culiminate in ultimate joy last night with the release of the movie. Bought tickets over a month ago and had recruited 4 ladies to join me....And soooooooo.... wow- it was one of the worst movies I've ever seen. To those who might say I am too attached to the material to have been satisfied with any movie, I say "no". I prepared myself - I read the script, I saw all the clips and featurettes, etc, I knew what to expect in terms of the adaptation of the story....but what I was not prepared for was a movie that was so poorly directed that I think Catherine Hardwicke should never be able to direct a movie again. She made some of the WORST choices in terms of direction of the actors, camera angles, shot choices and pacing....as in - there was none!! I might also add that the music was horrible. It made the acting and the weird scenes even more painful to sit through.

I was not alone...the other ladies with me also hated it and we all spent a good chunk of the movie laughing at it....along with most of the theater, I might add. And the whole theater was pretty much full of fans. I did run into a colleague of mine who said she was thoroughly entertained and Mara did think it was bad in a good way, but I am sad that I cannot say the same. I expected bad cheesy, something fun that I could laugh when I say I loved it anyway, but this was just too painful. Even the simplest, easiest moments to create teen angst and romance were squandered in this movie. Sage made a good point that she thought it was just too literal an adaptation...and I think that may be spot on. There is no soul to this movie. For example, the most recent PRIDE AND PREJUDICE may not be the best actual adaptation of the book, but it's fabulous in that it captures the essence of the material. This didn't. Hardwicke didn't even get the actors to express the basic feelings that transpire between Edward and Bella. The whole point is that he's confident, charming and very at east with Bella once they get over the initial conflict. And Bella's surprisingly calm and at ease with Edward, which is why they can fall in love. Yet in the movie, Kristen Stewart is anxious and acting nervous the whole time! She seems terrified of him (which is soooo not the point) and there are only two moments that the pair actually seem at ease with one another....and it's sad that it's not the key relationship moments. It was a strange dynamic and the lines were interpreted and put together in such a way that they made no sense.

I know I'm rambling, but seriously....they got this ALL wrong. And I would have been okay with a movie that was different than the books as long as it was good. This just had the worst production design (everything felt like a set), bad casting (the vampires were not beautiful enough), bad acting (she directed Rob Pattinson to seem like a moron) and really bad editing. Two big thumbs down.