By JUSTIN CHANG
Vampires and the poor human beings who love them have been a hot onscreen item this season, as evidenced by HBO’s lurid hit series “True Blood” and the marvelous Swedish import “Let the Right One In.” For less discriminating palates, there’s the much-anticipated “Twilight,” a disappointingly anemic tale of forbidden love that should satiate the pre-converted but will bewilder and underwhelm viewers who haven’t devoured Stephenie Meyer’s bestselling juvie chick-lit franchise. Built-in femme fanbase will lend this Summit Entertainment release some serious B.O. bite, with Robert Pattinson’s turn as an undead heartthrob keeping repeat biz at a steady pump.
Having shown a real feel for the perilous social and emotional terrain of adolescent girlhood in her 2003 debut, “Thirteen,” Catherine Hardwicke seemed as good a director as any to steer this maiden adaptation of Meyer’s junior-Anne-Rice phenomenon. (Three more novels -- “New Moon,” “Eclipse” and “Breaking Dawn” -- have been released since “Twilight’s” publication in 2005, and the movie is nothing if not a prelude to future bigscreen sequels.)
But even with angsty rock songs, lurching camerawork and emo-ish voiceover at her disposal, Hardwicke can’t get inside the head of her young protagonist, Isabella “Bella” Swan (Kristen Stewart); consequently, Bella’s decision to get hot and heavy with a hot-and-hungry vampire, far from seeming like an act of mad, transgressive passion, comes across as merely stupid and ill-considered. The result is a supernatural romance in which the supernatural and romantic elements feel rushed, unformed and insufficiently motivated, leaving audiences with little to do but shrug and focus on the eye-candy.
Which is what Bella does when she first meets the brooding, intoxicatingly handsome Edward Cullen (Pattinson) at her new high school in Forks, Wash. Bella, a moody, intelligent teen who’s just moved from Phoenix to live with her police-chief dad (Billy Burke), is an outsider in this dreary little Pacific Northwest town. So are Edward and his four equally striking (if unnaturally pallid) siblings, who keep to themselves, go on regular camping trips and have an odd habit of never eating.