Book vs. Movie: Twilight
By Eric Hughes
November 24, 2008
BoxOfficeProphets.com
And so, whenever the Tinsel Town hotshots decide that it's a great idea to turn the little-known Herman Melville classic Redburn into a theatrical event film, we'll be there. Whether the results are triumphant (see: The Lord of the Rings trilogy) or tragic (i.e. The Scarlett Letter), we'll take it upon ourselves to give you the verdict and spark the discussion.
Twilight
Stephenie Meyer's Twilight saga blew up in a big way earlier this year, especially with the release of the series' fourth and (likely) final novel, Breaking Dawn. And rightfully so. The series, about a teenage girl, Bella Swan, who brings unspeakable danger to her life after falling in love with an immortal vampire, Edward Cullen, is an engaging read that admittedly may not win a Pulitzer any time soon, but nonetheless satisfies the guiltiest of reading pleasures.
On October 5, 2005, Meyer started the whole thing off by releasing the series' title book, Twilight, a 500-plus page potboiler that introduces Bella (and its readers) to the world of vampires after the 17-year-old moves to Forks, Washington to live with her father.
Before the hit fiction series became a phenomenon - 1.3 million copies of Breaking Dawn were sold in its first day alone - teeny Summit Entertainment made the incredibly smart move a few years ago in purchasing the rights to adapt Twilight (and its three sequels) for the big screen. Coming from a studio with very little money (in comparison to the Universal and DreamWorks monsters), I was initially hesitant in determining what Summit's finished product would be. Given the film's laughable budget and shoddy-looking trailer, would Summit be able to craft a respectable adaptation of Meyer's uber popular debut novel?
The Book
Having read some fairly dense and heavy material for nearly the duration of summer 2008, I at some point grew restlessly interested in gnawing at something a tad lighter. Enter the Twilight saga, a series of four books that definitely appeased my literary craving.
Aimed at young adults (who are preferably female), the series puts a twist on standard vampire stories by featuring a young human girl who falls head over heels for a being who usually would like nothing better than to feast on her insides. Instead of fearing Edward, Bella loves him. And instead of moving through time without any sense of emotion, Twilight's lead vampire finds himself oddly attracted to the chick, too.
Twilight is a great example of what light fiction should be (or I guess in this case, fiction for tweens). It's a captivating, fun read whose story slowly unfolds and develops in front of you. Much like Bella's shocking discovery of who Edward is after eventually putting together a series of hints and clues, I found myself uncovering the vamp's chilling secret right alongside Bella, given that Twilight was my virgin experience in the world of bloodsuckers.
Though Meyer's writing style is sometimes a bit, uh, difficult to get through - "He lay perfectly still in the grass, his shirt open over his sculpted, incandescent chest, his scintillating arms bare" - it's at the same time fiction that for some reason I couldn't find the will to put down.
The Movie
I don't think Summit felt like it had a mega blockbuster on its hands when it initially purchased the rights to Meyer's series (hence the smallish $30 million or so budget). But that's exactly what the studio discovered it owned once anticipation for the movie hit the stratosphere. At the time I'm writing this, Fandango reports that advanced ticket sales for Twilight is the online company's third highest of all time (behind only Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and The Dark Knight). And the movie's opening day take of about $35 million (including $7 million from midnight showings) easily outpaces the cost Summit laid on the table in putting this project together. And finally, its opening weekend of $70.6 million is enough to put it behind only a couple of Harry Potter films as top debuts in the month of November.
That being said, the quality (financially speaking) of the movie is expectedly not very high. But don't let that stand in the way for what Twilight actually is: a great film. No. An awesome film. When you get right down to it, I was thoroughly entertained by the finished product. This admittedly surprises me tenfold (and then some), given the grumblings over the movie's trailer and its not-so-hot rating on Rotten Tomatoes (just 44 percent positive at the time of this writing).
Whether intentional or not, I found its campy aspects to be one of its most appealing features. There are completely horrific lines of dialogue - "you'd better hold on tight, spider monkey!" - and Kristen Stewart, who portrays Bella on screen, is at times just completely awful. Oddly though, I found that this silliness merely added to the adaptation's overall charm. It's a sweet, endearing movie that you just can't help but get a kick out of its shortcomings.
Whereas Stewart at times fumbles in her take on Bella, Robert Pattinson (Edward) absolutely shines. Although it does take awhile to get there. Before Bella discovers Edward is a vampire (about halfway into the movie's 120-minute runtime), the movie as a whole, how best to say it, appears stiff and clunky. But then Twilight takes a turn, at some point I just can't seem to determine, and Pattinson (and just about everyone else) truly sparkles.
One final thing I'd like to say about the adaptation is it remains very faithful to the original novel. One noticeable change, small but noteworthy, is the foreshadowing of characters James, Victoria and Laurent, a move that turns out to be a very smart decision indeed. Instead of their appearance at the Cullen baseball game occurring out of literally nowhere like it is in the book, the audience is more familiar with how menacing they are in seeing the triad kill off a number of humans throughout the course of the movie. In effect, this allows audience members (much like myself) to be more willing to buy what their arrival means to the safety of Bella Swan's life.
The Verdict
Before reaching my verdict, I would like to point out that in the tradition of some movie adaptations, it is best to read Twilight before watching it. Of course, there's the argument that a viewer's perception of the film will differ depending on whether or not they're familiar with the original novel. But in Twilight's case, I believe the difference to be significant. Not that I can ever see Twilight without first having read the book. This, obviously, is impossible. But what I can say (with a near resounding guarantee mind you) is that a viewer with no experience of Meyer's 2005 novel will likely enjoy the adaptation considerably less than those that are.
With that said, I'm still going to stick to the purest in me by declaring that the book, like in almost every case, is superior to the movie. But as I've hopefully already made clear, Summit's finished product is a damn good one, and a worthy achievement in what is expected to be the initial chapter in a four-part movie series. So bring on New Moon. I'm anxious to see what Summit and its cast and crew will do with the material.