Movie Review: Twilight (2008)

Close your eyes-

I want you to imagine where you were in 2008-

Do you feel that? The air feels a little bit lighter. The world a little brighter. Your heart a bit more hopeful. Your bangs are likely straightened and sideswept--

In 2008, I was a 17 year old girl living a very typical teen girl existence in a very typical small town in America.

2008 was an extremely culturally formative time in my life.

(I tried to look for pics of teen me, but a cursory search turned up nothing. If I had the pics, I'd put them here- you're just going to have to trust me that I've always been very basic)

Obviously I read the Twilight books, as did most of my friends from school. Before the movie release, even more people started reading the books. And look if I'm being real, the books were fun af. Do I recognize that the books get dumber and dumber as they go? Absolutely. Do I lean in to the belief that they're camp? Also absolutely. Regardless of them getting progressively dumber, was I fiending for more of that sweet, sweet vampire drama? A million times yes. Do I unironically and earnestly hold a special love in my heart for the first book (objectively the least dumb out of the series)? Also a million times yes.

Then in 2008, the movies came out and culture outside of teen girls who read books was gripped in Twilight mania. It was ubiquitous. Everyone knew what it was and had opinions.  I don't really know if words can describe what it was like but basically if you're an oldhead, Twilight in 2008 was like Titanic in the 90s; if you're too young to remember 2008 then honestly I don't know what to tell you- they just don't make juggernaut teen movie franchises/movie premieres like they used to, the past had charm.

What I'm trying to get across to you is that I, like many of my peers, was absolutely caught in the grips of the cultural juggernaut that was Twilight in 2008.

And with the movie blowing up, it obviously sparked backlash too. Every cheap comedian or mean uncle had some sort of comment for you about how Twilight was stupid. Like why on earth were so many middle aged men so pressed about teen girls enjoying media geared toward teen girls? I read somewhere about how there's a cultural phenomena of backlash to musical acts or movies/actors that teen girls like. The theory was that society enjoys punching down at teen girls, as though their art can't be important or enjoyable. I believe it- if society is inherently, as a whole, not friendly to women then wouldn't it make sense to devalue art for young women or by young women? Amidst the backlash, being a Twilight fan in 2008 felt kinda brave.

This is all a lot of words, but whatever, the first Twilight movie is one of my all time favorite movies and a perennial comfort movie for me. I watch it when it's raining outside. I watch it when I'm feeling like I'm in a funk. Something about it makes me feel comforted. The blue tint calms my spirit. The soundtrack bangs so hard. Something about it will always transport me back to 2008, watching this in theaters with my friends and the entire rest of the theater being other girls from our high school. And even though I talk to none of those girls anymore and I haven't been back in our hometown in over a decade, I do remember this as a very happy memory.

I have been getting suggested news article about Twilight the last couple weeks because the movie came out 15 years ago and movie/pop culture publications have been doing retrospectives of the movie. And I am, of course, extremely cognizant of my lack of serving up content on here (I'm sorry!). So what better time than now to re-watch Twilight (2008) and give y'all the Bella Life review, 15 years later.

Here goes nothing (15 years of fandom).

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From the jump, the inaugural entry into the Twilight saga did not come to play. The director for the first movie is Catherine Hardwicke. One of the interesting things about the Twilight saga as a whole is that each movie has a different director (the two part fourth book adaptation had one director, though). And the effect is that each movie feels distinct and different from its brethren, yet also, strangely, related. The makeup and wigs and tint and vibe of each movie differs, the camp levels all differ, but they are all united in having top notch soundtracks and iconic scenes (baseball scene in 1st, the camera circling around K. Stew as the months pass in the 2nd one, them hiking up the mountain and her cuddling with Jacob straight up in front of her bf in the 3rd one, Carlisle's head popping off in the 4th one). 

And the first movie really sets the bar for those.

Catherine Hardwicke is not messing around with this soundtrack. I'm being so serious, the Twilight soundtrack had no business being this good. It is- dare I say- sublime? The first track that plays is a bop, indie hippie folk vibes. 10/10. Then we get Eyes on Fire by Blue Foundation.

Me when I hear that "ha aha aha aha" ^

We get not one, but TWO Paramore tracks and not only are they two PARAMORE tracks (IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 2008), but actually one of their most iconic and best songs (Decode!)!

We get a sweet little piano ditty. We get Supermassive Black Hole by Muse for the baseball scene (see infra). We get Robert Pattinson himself singing and grumbling in a weird little acoustic BOP. On a scale of one to ten, that track is a certified 20. The penultimate track is Flightless Bird, American Mouth by Iron and Wine that plays while they SLOW DANCE at THE PROM (see infra). And it all closes out with a fun upbeat track that plays as the end credits roll (and even the end credits are fun to watch).

If you are a fan of movie soundtracks/good music/pop culture in the year 2008, I would highly recommend that you listen to this soundtrack. Pound for pound, I don't know that I know of a better movie soundtrack than this one (maybe the Virgin Suicides soundtrack would be a solid 2nd).

The movie is also replete with iconic scenes.

The introduction of the Cullens in the high school cafeteria is iconic and I hate that I can't experience it for the first time twice. Each character gets their own little solo as they walk across the screen and Anna Kendrick (see infra) gives her voice over perception of each character, which is generally bitchy, but accurate. Also, for some reason, Rosalie is dressed like a 40 year old mom from rural eastern New Mexico. Who did this????

Emmett is carrying around a ziploc bag full of hard boiled eggs for some reason even though the vampires canonically do not eat people food. Everyone on the internet thinks that this is super perplexing, but honestly, I think it's brilliant. If you are/were ever a meat head/really into fitness/really into nutrition/an athlete, then you likely know that hard boiled eggs are a meat head's snack of choice. High in protein and good fat. Filling. Yummy. And for Emmett, as a jacked vampire trying to pass off as a jacked teenager, it would be weird if he wasn't walking around with a meat head snack, talking about macros. I read somewhere that Catherine Hardwicke included this in the film because Kellen Lutz, the actor who played Emmett, would walk around with a bag of hard boiled eggs, and as a recovering meat head/ former gym employee myself, of course a dude like Kellen Lutz would be walking around with a ziploc of hard boiled eggs (respectfully).

Immediately after that scene, Bella and Edward have their biology class where Edward acts like she smells like garbage.

^ you know, this meme

We get the scene where Edward stops the van from crushing Bella. The scene where Edward reveals that he is a vampire by walking into a meadow and sparkling in the sunlight. The scene where Bella gets on his back while they're climbing trees and he goes "HOLD ON TIGHT SPIDER MONKEY"

sksksksksksk

We even get a fun action sequence with the showdown in the dance studio. And you already know that I am a SUCKER for the sweet, romantic end scene at prom.

But perhaps no scene is as iconic as the baseball scene.

Where do I even begin?

The special effects to make it look like the vampires were running at superhuman speed (in 2008)--- perfection. Hell, let's even throw in when Rosalie hits what should be a home run and they blow air in Esme's face so that her hair flies back like the bat hit was so powerful---- genius.

The actors genuinely just having fun with it like Jackson Rathbone doing that fun little flip trick with the bat or Robert Pattinson and Kellen Lutz accidentally running into each other-- delightful.

Catherine Hardwicke encouraging Nicki Reid to say "My monkey man"---- screaming.

The baseball scene, in an extended context, includes the emergence of the villain vampires. Which then leads us to the scene where James proposes sucking Bella's blood and then the separate vampire clans square up like a Broadway musical cast in a gang war play. It's beautiful. They're all hissing and moving around all weird and the camera is at an accidental renaissance angle and the actors are also at accidental renaissance angles.

A couple more miscellaneous thoughts:

I'm sorry- I'm going to be controversial yet brave--- K. Stew absolutely nails it as Bella in this movie. People tried to dunk on K. Stew so hard for this movie but anybody who has read the book knows that this is just how the character is written!!! K. Stew actually sells me on this portrayal.

Something that I love about this movie is how quintessentially 2008 it is. The wardrobe for basically everyone but Kristin Stewart is aggressively 2008. The one kid Eric, has swoopy emo hair with side bangs!!!! The same kid Eric wears a black button down shirt and skinny tie to school!!!!

I don't even think it's fair to say that Kristin Stewart's wardrobe in this movie isn't quintessentially 2008. Her wardrobe is so weird in this movie- I love it. She wears a an oversized bowling shirt and skinny jeans to her first day at a new high school-- and it is such a cold fit!!!

One of the most jarring things about this movie to me is that you're cruising along in your re-watch and then just boom- Anna Kendrick's on my screen. It's not bad, I don't dislike her, I just literally forget everytime I watch this movie that she's in it. You know how some people have modern faces like they just look like they couldn't have existed in the past, that's how I feel about Anna Kendrick in this. She just doesn't look to me like she would live in Forks, Washington.

One of the things that fed into Twilight mania in 2008 was that the two stars K. Stew and Robert Pattinson were also publicly dating, with the story obviously being that they fell in love while filming Twilight. I am perpetually fascinated by their relationship. I remember them dating during the fever pitch of Twilight mania and I also remember in 2012 checking gossip blogs and reading about their cheating scandal and breakup. I listen to this pop culture podcast that theorizes that maybe they were never actually like traditionally in love but more like maybe they were trauma bonded by living through Twilight mania. I mean, no one else, outside of them, will know what kind of frenzy that was to live through. Idk, I mean who's to say, but it is something that I contemplate every once in a while.

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I hope that this post accurately conveyed my love for this movie. I earnestly and genuinely love it. It is so comforting to me and I think that it reminds me of a carefree time in my life back when I didn't have adult responsibilities. And it's also just a fantastic movie.

I can't even remember the prior Bella life ratings, so I know I'm not doing this one a uniform scale, but overall rating: perfect 10/10. This movie has a special place in my heart <3