'Twilight' reviews roundup: And the verdict is...
Nov 21, 2008, 01:31 PM | by Amy Wilkinson
Categories: Movie Biz
Let the Twilight blood-letting begin. Though reviewers were asked to hold their critiques until the vampire flick's Nov. 21 release date, several reviews are now available online, and for the most part, critics aren't impressed. They unanimously concede that the movie's target audience -- teens with closets full of Team Edward hoodies, who have breathlessly read (and reread) Stephenie Meyer's four-part series -- will thoroughly enjoy the film. But for the uninitiated, consensus so far seems to be that it's an ineffectual love story combined with cheesy special effects that will leave moviegoers craving more.
A quick summary of the reviews, after the jump.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
Verdict: Positive
“[Director Catherine Hardwicke] has reconjured Meyer's novel as a cloudburst mood piece filled with stormy skies, rippling hormones, and understated visual effects. What Hardwicke can't quite triumph over is the book's lackluster plot. On screen, Twilight is repetitive and a tad sodden, too prosaic to really soar. But Hardwicke stirs this teen pulp to a pleasing simmer.” —Owen Gleiberman
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Verdict: Negative
"But
much of what made the relationship between Edward and the smitten Bella
Swan work in Meyer's breezy book has been stripped away on screen. The
funny, lively banter -- the way in which Edward and Bella teased and
toyed with one another about their respective immortality and humanity
-- is pretty much completely gone, and all that's left is a slog of
adolescent angst." —Christy Lemire
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Verdict: Neutral
"Twilight
is a film of intelligent strengths and easily avoidable weaknesses, a
modest film adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's publishing phenomenon. It
is faithful to its source material, which will likely please the fan
base....So where does the movie fall down? On a simple but crucial
matter of visual magic. Whenever something fantastic requires
straightforward on-screen depiction, Twilight looks like a weaker episode from Season 6 of Charmed." —Michael Phillips
EMANUEL LEVY
Verdict: Negative
"Like other movies that are more significant as sociological and demographic than artistic phenomenon, Twilight
will be embraced by very young female viewers, say ages 10-17, and less
so by the female college crowd. If young femmes manage to take their
boyfriends to see it as a date movie (and on one level it is a date
movie), Twilight should score big, really big at the box office."
ORLANDO SENTINEL
Verdict: Neutral
"The
situations, in high school and among the vampires, are over-familiar.
But the dialogue is mostly flip and hip. Some of the laughs are
intentional, some not. A vampire using the word 'vegetarian?' Funny." —Roger Moore
ROGER EBERT
Verdict: Neutral
"If there were no vampires in Twilight,
it would be a thin-blooded teenage romance, about two good-looking kids
who want each other so much because they want each other so much.
Sometimes that's all it's about, isn't it?"
VARIETY
Verdict: Negative
"A
disappointingly anemic tale of forbidden love that should satiate the
pre-converted but will bewilder and underwhelm viewers who haven't
devoured Stephenie Meyer's bestselling juvie chick-lit franchise." —Justin Chang
TIME
Verdict: Positive
“So Twilight isn't a masterpiece — no matter.
It rekindles the warmth of great Hollywood romances, where foreplay was the
climax and a kiss was never just a kiss.” —Richard Corliss
USA TODAY
Verdict: Negative
And despite
questionable casting, wooden acting, laughable dialogue and truly awful makeup,
nothing is likely to stop young girls from swarming to this kitschy adaptation
of Stephenie Meyer's popular novel.” —Claudia Puig
WASHINGTON POST
Verdict: Positive
“On the whole, Twilight works as both love story and
vampire story, thanks mainly to the performances of its principals. Pattinson
and Stewart want to convince you that their characters are an undead freak and
the girl who, against all logic, loves him. Yet they do it not by selling you on
what makes Edward and Bella so different, but by finding their flesh-and-blood
humanity.” —Michael O’Sullivan
More 'Twilight':
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Shrieking masses descend on L.A. for the 'Twilight' premiere
'Twilight': Meet Robert Pattinson
'Twilight': Inside Bella-Jacob's Stormy Scene
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