'Twilight' review

Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson (Credit: Summit)

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After years away, 17-year-old Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) returns home to the small town of Forks, Washington to live with her father, Charlie (Billy Burke, endearing). Fitting in at school turns out to be the easy part. Figuring out what’s up with handsome and mysterious classmate Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) is more of a challenge—especially after he saves her life by stopping a moving truck with his fist. As Bella grows closer to Edward and his family she realizes the Cullens share a dark, and potentially dangerous, secret: they’re vampires.

The buzz: Based on the first of four best-selling novels by Stephenie Meyer, this is the year’s most anticipated movie for legions of devoted fans. Their seemingly insatiable appetite for all things “Twilight” has spurred a full fledged media frenzy making “Twilight” the rare movie that’s a phenomenon before it’s even released. So the pressure is on for the movie to please fans of the book and live up to the hype.

The verdict: As far as human/vampire romances go “Twilight” has nothing on the best seasons of TV’s “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” but director Catherine Hardwicke’s cinematic vision is blessedly (sorry, hardcore Twilighters) a lot more enjoyable than Meyer’s clunky prose. Major props to Stewart, who refuses to turn Bella into a lovestruck sap, and anchors the movie with the ease and authority of both a great actress and a true movie star. The same can’t be said just yet for her much drooled over co-star. Pattinson takes some admirable risks to shift his character away from the stereotypical brooding rebel, but whether his career follows the teen idol lead of Johnny Depp or Luke Perry is open for debate. Of course it all boils down to the central relationship, which everyone involved sells with surprising conviction. The movie has its flaws, but in moments like Edward wrapping Bella in his arms for a dizzying treetop dalliance, “Twilight” does that thing all great love stories do. It speaks to the heart.

Did you know? There’s probably nothing on or off camera that fans don’t already know about this one, but newbies should be curious to hear Edward explain why drinking animal blood is kind of like eating tofu.

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