Jasper's Review

I saw the movie tonight. Let's start with what I liked:

First and foremost, I thought the screen writing was good. I felt Melissa Rosenberg did a good job of keeping the story coherent. She stayed true to the book. What she left out for the most part wouldn't have added to the movie. There are just some things in the book that would not have translated well, she did a good job of keeping what was most important.

I really enjoyed the baseball scene. Not only did the actors play their parts well (except Emmett), they looked like they had lots of fun shooting it. It allowed the actors to portray more than one emotions *cough* Jasper *cough* I especially liked it when Bella called Rosalie out. Can you say CAT fight!!! Their overall tension was good, and I totally bought Nikki Reed's dislike of Bella. I enjoyed their opposition of each other. Also, Jasper looked like a natural with the bat. Maybe he has played a little baseball? His trick was pretty cool.

My other favorite scene was when she visited the Cullen mansion. I think they picked the appropriate house for the Cullens. I liked how it had lots of windows so that you felt like you lived in the trees. Very cool! Again, I loved it when Nikki Reed shattered the glass bowl when she found out Bella had eaten. Classic. And I liked Edward's room. Also, what little of what they showed of Esme was true to how she was portrayed in the book.

I think Bella's best acting was when she had to go back to see Charlie once James was after her. She had to convince him that she hated Forks so that she could hide from James. Their interaction was great. She got that scene spot on. And it was also indicative of the good chemistry she had with Charlie. Billy Burke was an excellent Charlie.

I think the Cullen they got most right was Carlisle. Peter Facinelli was really good because he both looked the part, and his acting was superb. His best moment was in the first hospital scene. Also, when he and Edward were talking over Bella in the ballet scene was good. I never cringed when he came on the screen. I was actually looking forward to seeing him every time he came on.

My favorite Edward and Bella scene was the dance scene during the prom at the gazebo. The moment was intimate w/out being staged. Their conversation was easy and flowed well. My only gripe was that Rob looked like he was going to cry after Bella said she made up her mind to become a vampire. He says "Is that was dream of becoming a monster?" She says that she only wants to be with him forever...and then he is supposed to be pained...but he looks like he was going to cry.

My favorite special effect was the eye color. I think the eyes looked cool. Whether they were golden, or red. It looked cool. My only gripe was that I could see the contacts. That was kind of a bummer.

Here are my gripes...and they are many:

One my major gripes was how the filming was done. They used a lot of hand held carrying during many scenes. I know that directors use this style to give the audience a sense of truly being in the scene. Bourne Supremacy is a really good example of this style of filming. Instead of putting me into the scenes, I found it annoying and distracting. Instead of letting the actors play out the scene and be the focus of what was going on, I found myself distracted by the shakiness of the scene. My other major gripe was the camera angles. They did way too many close ups when Edward and Bella were together. Again I think they were trying to force emotion and intimacy into the scene when they didn't need to. It is the actors job to portray that, not the filming style IMHO. You can't force what isn't there, just let it play out.

Probably my biggest gripe was the facial expressions from the actors. I'm not sure if this is indicative of the directing, or the actor. And in some cases we'll never know because we don't get enough scenes from the other characters, but more on that later. IMHO, the expressions didn't convey the right emotion or feel for the moment. I actually found myself laughing out loud during times when I shouldn't have. Let me name a few scenes...

Biology Scene: Edward doesn't look angry, he looks like he is going to vomit! He looks physically ill when he sniffs her, like he was smelling rotten eggs. When he covers his mouth, it looks as if he is doing that in digust, not unctrollable desire to EAT Bella where she sits. I was afraid he was going to up-chuk on her lap. I would of played that scene out totally different.

Jasper Hale: My namesake...poor guy. He doesn't say more than 3 lines throughout the movie, and he has basically the same expression throughout. I call it the "Deer IN the Headlights" look. I think he looked too strained, like he hadn't had a bowel movement in three days. His face looks frozen that way...until the baseball scene where he gets to say one line, and smiles. The baseball scene gives me hope he has more range as an actor because he actually gets to portrays more than one emotion. I know he is supposed to be the "edgy" Cullen, but he seemed too one dimensional. And this maybe because the movie is really about Edward and Bella, not Jasper's struggle with being a vegetarian vampire...so ultimately I reserve judgment on his acting abilities until further notice.

Bella Cullen: Let me say this for Kristen Stewart...I think she is a great actress. I loved her in the Land of Women. She does tortured, and slightly awkward well. Overall she was a great Bella. My biggest critique is her head movements throughout the movie. Especially when the last hospital scene where she is losing it because Edward wants her to move to Jacksonville. She looks like she is going into convulsions, and stuttering wayyyyy too much. Her head wouldn't stop shaking. I laughed out loud because it seemed comically over acted. In fact the people in front of me were none too appreciative of my stifled guffaws throughout the movie. Later on Jacob told me they shot me a few dirty looks. Evidently they didn't find the movie as humorous as I did.

Edward Cullen: I have given up on the fact that he doesn't fit the role physically. You can't please everyone, right? I went in judging RP solely on his acting chops and how he portrayed Edward. I was really glad that when he appeared on the screen that I didn't imagine him busting out his WAND and screaming "Avra Kadavra!" The movie crew did a good job of transforming him into the part. Overall, he did a good job as Edward. My only gripe is that he played Edward more tortured and emotional than I cared for. In some scenes, I wanted him to be stronger as a man. Not sure if I'm conveying this right, but the Edward in the book is tortured yes, but he is a strong leading man.

Music: Or rather the lack of music...Let me say this, I liked the music overall. I bought the CD before I saw the movie, so a lot of the songs grew on me. For the most part they used music pretty good, except the Linkin Park song never made it onto the actual movie. That really sucked. So really my gripe was that some scenes music wasn't used. The director let the scene play out, and put no background music. I believe the director was letting the actors portray the emotion, tension on the screen. However, I think they could of used music to build the right kind of emotions for certain scenes. And they didn't. In those scenes, they lost their punch. I can't remember specifically when this happened, I just know it happened when Bella and Edward would interact. I think they could have music to set the tone of the scene, and convey the proper emotion.

Special Effects: They weren't that good IMHO. The speed runs and jumps looked too fake. I think they could have been cleaned up a little, and made better. I think budget constraints plays a big role here, so I'm not going to hit the movie too hard for not being the end all of special effects movies. Its a love story, not Transformers. However, I think the sparkle was a good adaptation of what the book says w/out looking like a cartoon, but the sound effect was LINBERGER. Nuff said.

Overall, I found the movie entertaining, and pretty true to the book. I just feel that some scenes were not done right, and needed to be less overacted, and more directed. Or just reshot all together. I understand with the budget constraints the director is totally limited to what you can do. However, the documentary style/feel of the movie worked in some scenes, but it totally didn't work in other scenes. I would have preferred more fantastical type feel. I think the CH went with more realistic...but this is a movie about vampires...who are mythical creatures with mythical powers. And they should have given all of the Cullens more lines, and more interaction. So my favorite vampire movie still reigns supreme...Underworld.