Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Peter Facinelli

A teenage girl risks everything when she falls in love with a vampire.

Flixster Users

82% liked it

524,679 ratings

Critics

49% liked it

193 critics

PG-13, 2 hrs.

Directed by: Catherine Hardwicke

Release Date: November 21, 2008

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DVD Release Date: March 21, 2009

Stats: 88,891 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (88,891)


  • November 22, 2009
    This is not a vampire film, its a silly romantic fantasy written by sum chick. the film technically is actually quite good and welll made but da story is just ridiculous. I give it 3 stars 4 the production quality alone.
  • November 22, 2009
    It's a rather over hyped and overated film, even thow it is watchable and entertainning. Its a decent start to what could be a potentialy great and remarkable series. Definately a new take on the romantic vampire genre, its far from epic or even being great but is good enough to ...( read more)keep you in your seat and enjoying the ride.
  • November 20, 2009
    ''And so the lion fell in love with the lamb.''

    A teenage girl risks everything when she falls in love with a vampire.

    Kristen Stewart: Bella Swan

    After reading so many positive reviews of Twilight from Critics and friends alike, I was more than willing t...( read more)o give the apparently awesome Teen Vampire story a chance. After actually seeing this seemingly appetizing vision I'm somewhat baffled as to what everyone is going on about. Either the critics are on drugs or they have succumbed to the swarms of angst ridden female fans, (and some male supporters) being payed off in the process. It would seem to me that as soon as this so called Twilight, I was bored to tears with it's sloppy narration and poorly structured plot. Having not read the book previously the film has done a thorough job of putting me off reading it.

    The acting is truly abysmal, for a start, not helping me to take it seriously at all.
    Pretty boy Robert Pattinson portraying the sulky Edward Cullen, is a pouting, emotionless, pale faced lout whom will have the girls drooling over for his feminine looks. We have him weakly formulating a strange romance with Kristen Stewart as new arrival Bella Swan, who doesn't so much as act but only utilizes her looks and nothing else. I'm actually shocked how critics have been fooled by this disgusting piece of film, and I'm sure a few jobs will be lost when audiences see what a drab, unsophisticated piece of shoddiness this is. Twilight could have been the next best adaptation since Harry Potter but ends up being a cross between Underwold, Buffy & Covenant. If you do go and view this at the cinema, more than likely, the majority will be either A fans of the book, or B girls who after a soppy romantic fix. God knows, after hearing some comments, how people can endure this monstrosity multiple times and not resist the need to systematically vomit or succumb to sleep. It honestly, in the politest way possible is like watching newly used paint on a wall dry.

    ''I know what you are. You're impossibly fast. And strong. Your skin is pale white, and ice cold. Your eyes change colour, and sometimes you speak like, like you're from a different time. You never eat or drink anything. You don't go out in the sunlight.''

    Twilight abuses the Vampire lore in many ways, opting for our sucker friends to have glittery skin in sunlight(More like sweat visually), playing baseball in stormy weather, and also being able to have a reflection in a mirror. All of these and more crash this nightmare into unbelievability and beyond, causing me to lose hope for Vamp films in general. Being a fan of Bram Stokers Dracula and Interview with the Vampire, this Twilight is a wet dream of teenage hormones realized. It's got no class of a sophisticated vampire whatsoever, also lacking a decent nemesis or threat throughout. When a problem is presented in the guise of three evil Vampires, we are too bored to even give a damn about our characters or even what is to transpire next.

    Granted Twilight isn't a complete catastrophe, it's got some good qualities here and there, that seperate tedium from torture. The music for one seems to be good in places, as is the parts where Bella visits Edward's family. It just takes too long for these to kick in.
    Before we even get to the juicy segments we are given supposedly romantic encounters between our pair. Their acting and slushy antics are about as frozen as Edward Cullen's facials appear to be. A frosty love that's about as easy to believe, as blooming Freddy Kruger or King Kong materializing before us from a hurricane of misconception. Which in other words is unbelievable, in every formulated way possible.
    Billy Burke as Charlie Swan also seems to be lost throughout these strange happenings as Bella's mistreated father. Not to mention Native American friends who are brushed aside with Bella's infatuation and dazzling romance with Edward. After seeing this it's fair to say, you will want to grow up fast if this the most imagination they can conjure up on the screen for us. The realism has just sizzled from view and burst abruptly out the window.

    As for Director Catherine Hardwicke, has she even bothered to read the book? Or watch any Vampire films of late? I'd say she hasn't bothered doing much if this is the best she can give us. Her direction to me, seems to be poorly threaded together, resulting in a rushed, heightened, chaotic jumble of genres that makes me embarrassed to bear witness to. I mean Melissa Rosenberg screenplay is as flimsy as paper in a storm, it seems to move at a slug's pace, while Stephenie Meyer Novel is systematically raped by this on-screen apparition. You could say that I'm not easily impressed but I'm having on by a thread as to what to be impressed by as I come out of this venture. My girlfriend is as confused as I am, as it finishes, and she was the one that wanted to see this. I'm at a crossroad as to what to think. It's nearly Christmas and Twilight seems to be the only film people talk about. Simply put God help us if this is the best we can get. Hopefully in the next few weeks a certain two films will redeem my flattened cinema viewing and give me something better to feast upon.

    ''Death is peaceful - easy. Life is harder.''
  • November 17, 2009
    [PROPER REVIEW TO FOLLOW]

    Okay, I said I wasnt going to watch this, but being sick and house ridden all day got the best of me. It wasnt that bad, I still say its an extra cheesy romantic teenybopper movie. All the girls keep saying the guys in this movie were hot... but I stil...( read more)l found none of them attractive... One thing for sure though, Ashley Greene just got a new fan! (The soundtrack wasnt bad either)
  • October 8, 2009
    God this was pants! Why does anyone like it? If you want a good vampire movie watch "Let the right one in"
  • November 23, 2009
    BORING. Cringe-worthy dialogue. And might as well have no climax.
  • November 22, 2009
    All in all it was good. They took out a couple scenes I really wanted to see and rushed through some parts they needed to take time on, and all together changed some things. But I still enjoyed it...

    Alice and Bella were so perfect lol.
  • November 22, 2009
    Could have been a better story, but the cheesy dialogues and weak performances make it a schmaltzy silly flick that may only please the hardcore fans.
  • November 22, 2009
    My expectations for this film couldn't have been any lower. I was practically forced to watch this film, which I'd been hating ever since it was announced. So, having no choice, I sat down and started to watch TWILIGHT, and, I must admit, it wasn't entirely bad.

    The story is ...( read more)cheesy, the effects are some of the worst I've seen, the makeup is terrible and the dialogue is awful (I guess that's Stephenie Meyer's fault: I can only imagine how terrible the books might be). But, TWILIGHT exceeded my expectations, it's not the total piece of garbage I had imagined, but an entertaining film, with an impressive soundtrack and gorgeous scenery.
  • November 22, 2009
    While Twilight has an amazing premise and a great story to back it up, it can't help but fall prey to the terrible script and bad acting from the leads. Stephine Meyers' Twilight has a morbid energy level that resonates with a tale of forbidden love, and the story is highly ...( read more)interesting but it is extremely let down by a bad script, under direction and bad acting from the entire cast. What could have been an amazing Gothic, fantasy romance instead turns out to be nothing more than another teeny bopper romance film.






    Twilight is dark, complex and at sometimes it has it's moment where it really dazzles and amazes. But it falls short on an illogical script, unbelievable events and a story at times that defies all reason. But for the most part Twilight is an interesting film that does manage, in some strange way, to hold your attention for the first two acts of the film but it losses it momentum and strength in the third act and turns into a bad chase thriller. But all in all Twilight is a good idea and story muddled by everything imaginable in a film, but still is quite enjoyable even if it is preposterous and illogical.




    Kristen Stewart for the first act of the film(Before the entrance of Edward.) delivers a good preformances, the second act she kind of starts to lag a little and in the third act her acting abilities are completely gone and she acts like an escape mental patient. Robert Pattinson is terrible in this film from his introduction to the end, he can't hold up the dramatic part he is assigned and really brings down the film causing Stewart to really try hard to keep it afloat , but sadly Pattinson brings Stewart down with him and the film fails to please except for it's dark style and the source material. But none the less the cast tries but fails to elevate this film above average and is just an average teen romance.





    Twilight is stylish and fresh but it wears out it's welcome by the third act and it becomes quite irritating and contrived. But all in all it's just another example of a good story and idea gone bad. Twilight is passing entertainment.

Critic Reviews


December 19, 2008
Nigel Andrews, The Financial Times

This is sexual-Gothic tripe of a high order. I am looking forward to the second instalment. full review

November 24, 2008
Ty Burr, Boston Globe

A darn good hunk of pop moviemaking. full review

November 24, 2008
David Edelstein, New York Magazine

Twilight the movie is cautious, a sort of Tiger Beat-ified Twin Peaks. In its undercooked way, though, it's enjoyable. full review

November 21, 2008
Mike McGranaghan, The Aisle Seat

It's a well-made but thematically flawed film based on a book that was ingenious in conceit but generically written. The strengths of one are the flaws of the other, and vice versa. full review

November 21, 2008
Robert Koehler, Christian Science Monitor

A hackneyed jumble of cuts and pastes from the book, blended with second-rate music video bits and third-rate visual effects, and finally undone by the fatal casting of Kristen Stewart as Bella. full review

November 21, 2008
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal

Not that Twilight's fate hangs on intelligibility. It hangs on fangs that aren't bared, and on a bloodlust that isn't indulged. full review

November 21, 2008
Kurt Loder, MTV

...It's a fleeting reminder of how much dumb fun is missing from this oddly neutered neo-horror movie, and how little is being offered in its place. In "Twilight," the only characters drained dry are ... full review

November 21, 2008
Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com

Twilight is, by its very nature, all about unfinished business, the story of a brooding, caring romantic hero and the woman who cannot -- although she wants to -- yield to him. Only his eyes penetrate... full review

November 21, 2008
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

My advice: Focus on Pattinson and Stewart. They make you understand why the books sold 17 million copies. full review

November 21, 2008
Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle

Gothic wooziness stifles many of Hardwicke's lighter impulses, such as her knack for jiving humor in scenes among friends and family. And some of the more cartoonishly gymnastic CG stunts look plain s... full review

View more Twilight reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments


  • mynameisashley
    November 22, 2009
    How obsessed are you? Find out here!
    http://www.flixster.com/quizzes/view-results?quizId=1544524
  • mynameisashley
    November 22, 2009
    Take the ultimate Twilight quiz!
    http://www.flixster.com/quizzes/view-results?quizId=1543668
  • michellefortuin
    November 22, 2009
    I just saw it for the first time (I know, ridiculous) and I loved it! The story is very interesting, the acting is really good - especially when Bella almost dies.
    I really have to mention the special effects as well, they did a good job!
    I didn't read the book(s) but I'm sure I will in the future!
    Edward has something dark about him, that's what is making him so sexy :)
    I love the open end, can't wait to see the next movie!
    Definitely a recommend!
  • hermione01
    August 26, 2009
    I've read some of your coments and yes, SM created her own kind of 'vampires' (I agree with the coment below me), and it's good to create your own things. But I find these to be a little stupid, sorry I prefer the old-fashioned vampires, those who get in ashes when the sun shows up and don't sparkle. I mean LOVED the sparkling part, I had a really good laugh when he sparkled. "This is the skin of a murderer!" I laughed till the next scene.
    For those who say 'This is the best mvoie I've ever seen' watch more movies, you'll see there are GREAT art pieces out there and Twilight is NOT a piece of art. Sorry.
  • seekinghim13
    August 24, 2009
    Hate this movie. Hate it with a passion. I hated the first few seconds of it, and I can't stand the actors they picked. I don't mind Jasper...but everyone else doesn't work.
    All their movie posters have these "I'm so sexy...watch this stupid movie." expressions on them.
    This is the last movie I would recommend to anyone. I wouldn't even recommend it to my worst enemy.
    Go ahead and give me crap for this comment, it's not gonna change my opinion.
  • kaylalynn96
    July 23, 2009
    I read the book saw the movie and frankly dude it sucked so not worth obsessing over at all! This is just a movie made to get people not to appriciate the an acual vampire movie like Interveiw with the Vampire or Lost Boys. Sorry to dissapoint when when you have a sparkly guy he's gay! Vampires are supposed to spontaniously burst into flames not sparkle! Yeah, I'm a twilight hater......deal with it!
  • yica021
    July 13, 2009
    Twilight is great not exactly like the book, but is my all time favorite i loved it. Kristen Stwart and Rob Pattinson are awsome,can't wait for 11-20-09 lol!
  • DeiaGurl
    July 9, 2009
    it was a really good movie, altough it didn't quite follow the book, there were some aspects that should have been explained in the movie and weren't.
    But still i loved it and im looking forward to the next one ^^
  • oaksjeter
    June 29, 2009
    Vampires do NOT sparkle ..VAMPIRES DO NOT SPARKLE. With out a doubt the worst vampire movie ever, women should not be allowed to write vampire books
  • jeanpierre69009
    June 27, 2009
    j'aime Widget , video , photo que je vois sur FLIXTER grace à mes amies merci des partages.....ton ami jean pierre 69009

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Facts


  • Fun Fact:
    it is the best movie ever (so far)

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Twilight Trivia


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