Nate's DVD Collection ~ Twilight

Bella Swan is the new girl in the small town of Forks, Washington. At first it seems she traded the warm paradise of Phoenix, Arizona for a cold and dreary backwater town on the back end of the US until she meets Edward Cullen.

When the Cullens turn out to be a group of vampires who sparkle in sunlight and spend centuries going to high school (For the love of God, bring on Eclipse all ready) Bella and Cederic Diggory-er, I mean, Edward realize that they have found their one true love in each other.

Starring Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson and directed by Catherine Hardwicke. Based on the novel by Stephanie Meyers. (You know, the woman on the laptop in the diner scene. Ha, spoiled it for you. Nyah.)

Disc 1: Extended Scenes not seen in theaters.

Audio Commentary by Catherine Hardwicke, Robert Pattinson, and Kristen Stewart

Music videos by Muse, Linkin Park, and Paramore.

Disc 2: A detailed seven part documentary that gives you the ultimate insiders look at how Twilight was created-from book to script to screen

Deleted Scenes

Comic-Con interviews and more

Let me just say off the bat that I have such a love/hate relationship with this movie, the books, and everything involved with Twilight.

On the one hand it doesn't help that suddenly popular trend of teeny-bopper vampire novels is refreshing the market and that writers like myself, who have been nursing a vampire novel since high school may have a fighting chance of getting ourselves out there. So yes, I admit up front that I'm using the fame of Twilight to write my book and get it in the spotlight before Breaking Dawn is released.

My writing career aside, however, lets take a look at an aspect of the review process I try to avoid. The book itself.

At first Bella is a character that I can easily identify with. A loner by nature. She surrounds herself with friends but for the most part the relationship feels very superficial. It's not until she meets Edward that you get the feeling she actually cares about someone besides herself.

She has me right up until the end when she tells Edward that if he doesn't turn her, she's going to have Alice do it.

To me that has always been tantamount to saying, “I won't love you if you don't have sex with me. I'll just go have sex with someone else and throw it in your face.” And thus Bella fixes herself in my mind as an emotionally manipulative, codependent and all together self-destructive person.

This was before I read New Moon, and I will hold off on that review until the actual movie comes out. But I will say this now about the movie that Kristen Stewart did a wonderful job with the role of Bella. She played the part of an emotionally self-destructive masochist and she portrayed Bella exactly how I saw her in the end of the novel.

Robert Pattinson equals her talent when he is portraying the equally codependent and at times very domineering character of Edward Cullen. When you learn about his background in the later books and hopefully the later film you get to understand that this was Edward's culture and upbringing. The one where the man provided comfort and love and the woman was meant to be kept and obedient.

Again, the actors really pull these characters off. And whether or not this relationship carries on into the very real life relationship of Robert and Kristen only the tabloids claim to know, but in this movie I can honestly say that I have no problem with their acting.

Visually the movie is absolutely stunning. The wide shots of Oregon and Vancouver are breathtaking and they're much better served on either a wide movie screen or a 42 inch television set, but I digress.

And then of course there's under appreciated Cullen family. I mean, okay, their part isn't all that big in this movie, but just like with the book I was more interested in their characters than anyone else. But again, to be fair, this is a review of the Twilight DVD, not New Moon, which isn't even out yet.

I will say this, the commentary is actually pretty good. The banter between Stewart, Pattinson and Hardwicke is very funny at times. The music videos are a prefect blend of movie scenes and shots of the band, Paramore probably being the best of the three. But fans of Muse and Linkin Park will appreciate their respective videos as well.

Where do I start?

Again, this is no criticism of the actors, the director, or any visual aspect of the movie. It's not even a criticism of Stephanie Meyers and her writing, though I'm sure she wouldn't appreciate my assessment of Edward and Bella.

The bottom line for me is that Edward and Bella are not the kinds of people I would like to see young kids emulate.

Edward shows himself to be emotionally unstable and downright dangerous and she sinks before him and says, “I don't care if your dangerous. I love you.”

I don't think there's much more I can add without basically repeating myself, because the irony here is that everything I said I liked is basically exactly the stuff I hated. And here is Twilight in my personal DVD collection, soon to be joined by New Moon no doubt.

As a vampire fan I appreciate the new twists and the internal mythology that sets the story apart from other vampire stories. This definitely isn't an Anne Rice rip-off.

But on the other hand I'd almost hold off because like movies that are part of a series or saga of films you will eventually find this title in a collector's set with the the three other movies and you'll probably be able to get it cheaper.

When New Moon comes out rent both of them and watch them side by side. Unless of course they're on someone's X-mas list.

Parents, take note of this. The teenage girl that your kids are pretending to be, is telling a violent man that they are imagining to be their boyfriend, that she doesn't care if he puts her in danger or hurts her in anyway.

Please make sure your kids are thoroughly grounded in reality and that they have a very strong ideal of the way a man should treat them and vice-versa.

           There. That's my PSA regarding this film.