Sitting here thinking about writing this review actually makes me feel quite unsure and confused. I don't know whether it's the fact that I went to bed at 3am after watching the midnight premiere. Maybe it's due to the fact that I went to bed at 2am for the past two nights in a row, and could barely sleep more than 5 hours last night.
I don't know, my tiredness may be contributing to my rather spacier-than-normal state. Just a theory.
However I will try to recall what I can, and perhaps a follow up review will have to ensue when I watch it again.
Bestie Red, her sister and I left home about 9-ish, knowing full well that a long line to watch the movie would be expected if we left it too late. Luckily, we were fortunate to be the second group waiting in line outside Cinema 8, at the wee hour of 9:30pm. The movie was at 12:01am.
Ugh!
It turned out that the cinema we were waiting in front of was already occupied, with Twi-hards currently watching a back-to-back of Twilight and New Moon. One of the ushers told us that the current inhabitants would be made to leave when the 2 films were over, in order to allow the cleaners in, which made us feel momentarily guilty about all those fans having to get out and line up BEHIND all of us as we got first dibs on seating, but that feeling soon vanished at the prospect of getting good seats.
As per usual it didn't feel like we were waiting that long, as we talked a-plenty about life, love, inspirations, dreams and hopes. Our talks can tend to go in the direction of all things meaningful and metaphorical about life, which is nice. Every once in a while, it's nice to just stop and observe, be aware of all that is going on and has been going on, and also to re-evaluate where you are. And every so often, our discussions were dotted with mentions of the time, Eclipse, the Twilight books and the long, LONG line that was developing behind us.
We strategically got ourselves ready earlier: bought all our food provisions (Eclipse themed with a drink bottle nontheless!) and made sure we were all refreshed so that the second the theatre was emptied out of it's occupants and cleaned, we would be ready to roar.
Red had peeked around into the theatre while it was getting cleaned, and she said that there were still a lot of people in there, occupying mainly the middle to top of the cinema mid-section of seats. So it seemed the cleaners hadn't been able to kick them out.
Oh well Plan B. We had decided that were it to come to this point, that the 3 of us would rush into the cinema in 3 directions: one to the far left, one to the middle and one to the far right, and the one with the best 3 seats would quickly claim them and hail the other 2 over.
That had been my suggestion. The measures we go to for the love of Twilight.
Everyone who had been sitting outside the cinema behind us, reading and talking amongst themselves, was now standing up, eagerly anticipating the "let-in." I was feeling nervous, thinking that once we got the go-ahead to go in, that the girls behind us would push and shove and trample all over us like the doors opening at 9am on a Boxing Day sale.
One of the tall ushers who had been milling around in and out of the cinema, was at once standing in front of the open doors. He looked over at us, hesitated ever so slightly and then, without a word, gestured with a wave of his hand as if to say "after you."
We took the cue, quickly.
As we walked/ran in, some of the existing girls in the cinema said "run, quick!" Ha ha so NOT funny.
We got good seats, in the middle section right below the half-way mark, we were practically in the MIDDLE. So it was kewl.
During the ads and previews, I was anxiously wolfing down popcorn, much like I had been while outside waiting in line. It was just the nerves, the anticipation was getting to me. I wasn't even hungry.
Everyone got a scare though, as during the Harry Potter film trailer, suddenly the image was only on the top-half of the screen, as if the projector had been nudged upwards. Girls around us started complaining and yelling, and one ran down to let someone outside know: conveniently there were no ushers around when it happened. It was fixed, but then ended up happening again, during the trailer for the new Cruise/Diaz flick. This was getting us all nervous now. I would rather they have stopped it and fixed the problem, rather than keep showing the previews and risk the next scene change being 'The Feature,' and still having a half-screen image. Luckily, it was fixed, and then right on time too.
It began.
You know what, I can't even remember a lot of it. Which is why I need to watch it again. I think this may be due to the fact that I am in the last 270 pages of Breaking Dawn, and seeing as soooo much happens in the last two books, I actually had to remind myself to go back a book, step back in time, and not think about what was currently happening in the last installment.
So firstly. The whole story with the newborns being created by Victoria, that was done better in the film. I mean, depending on whether you don't mind the 'spoil' factor. With the book, we don't actually know what is going on as we are only reading Bella's perspective, however we can safely make assumptions seeing as more often than not Bella is the last to work things out, whether a deliberate choice by Stephenie Meyer or not. We have the newborn, Riley, being created at the beginning of the film, and then we see the progression of newborns as the film continues. It's much smoother, much more integrated and just generally ties in better together with the other aspects of the film. Quite simply, it's done the way a movie should be done. You don't go through a good film, and then have some unexpected theme introduced, much like the first Twilight book where half-way through Bella learns of the Cullens' efforts to ward off the red-eyed vamps. In the book, you can see how this could be forgiven, but even so, my analytical opinion is that even the first Twilight book could have done it better. But that's another argument. Yes, there are movies that often throw unexpected events or themes at you, but if it is a good film it will have been done so in the most appropriate way in line with the narrative itself.
Much more violence in the third film, than in any other Twilight installment so far. And although the opening scenes of Riley being attacked were a bit full on, I liked it. I mean, come on, this IS a vampire story, and in line with that you need to see a bit of violence, danger, and you want to see the Cullens absolutely ripping each other to shreds when they play fight in front of the werewolves. It makes the fantasy more interesting, intriguing. More plausible. :)
So violence = tick.
Another stand-out scene was when the Cullens minus Edward were chasing down Victoria, at the very beginning of the film. Those scenes were fantastic. The chase, the close-calls, the werewolves chasing in parallel - very action packed. And of course as we didn't read about it in the book, given Bella didn't know about Victoria returning at the very beginning, we weren't to know about the chase sequence. So again, different perspective = good narrative tie-ins.
When I read Eclipse, and came across Rosalie's and Jasper's back stories, I soooooo much wanted them to be portrayed in the film. I love the back story concept so much (as I've discussed in another blog) and was happy to see it had made the cut. As per usual, I did think they could have gone into a bit more detail in regards to Rosalie's story, but then again, with a good chunk of the book being cut, you could understand why they would have skimmed over a lot of the details. Rosalie returning for revenge on her fiance, in a wedding dress, was AWESOME! Just like I pictured it. And I loved Jasper's story too, in particular seeing a bit more of the relationship he has with Alice, that was really lovely, very sweet.
I can't think of a lot more specifics. I know that the story progressed at a really fast pace. I understood it all, but couldn't help wondering how Hubbie would take it when eventually we watched it together, and whether he would understand it as well as I did seeing as he hasn't read any of the books. The way the book progressed, was like counting to 10, but going as slow as counting 1/4s, 1/2s, and so on. For example, 1, 1 and 1/4, 1 and 1/3, 1 and 1/2, 1 and 3/4, 2, etc. However the film, although exploring all the main key concepts, sort of went like this: 1, 2, 2 and 1/2, 4, 5, 7, etc. Although you can follow, a lot of the little details, the things that enrich the book so much, were left out. And again, I will say in this review like I did for my New Moon one, is that when you have a book hundreds of pages long, and when you are in Bella's head, reading her thoughts as much as you do, translating all of that into a 2 hour movie is just impossible. It simply cannot happen, and expecting anything more is not only unrealistic but detrimental to your subjective view of the film. There's no chance but to only be disappointed if you walk into it expecting that.
Having said that, I do believe that there is no way that the final installment can be stuffed up in any way.
I say that because I've heard the last book will be done in 2 parts (because there's no bloody other way they could do it!) and there is so much action, and plot changes, that they cannot be omitted in any way. Omitting them would be narrative murder, it just can't happen, for the sake of the story and the flow of it. Removing it would be criminal. It's just not possible. So I do have high hopes for Breaking Dawn. :)
One thing I particularly liked at the end of the film: when Bella and Edward are sitting in that beautiful field of flowers, after the whole Victoria/Volturi event, Bella says (whether to Edward or in her head I can't remember) that it was never a choice between Edward or Jacob. It was never about who she loved more, or who she should choose to be a permanent figure in her life, because she always loved Edward more, and there was no question about that. It was more of a decision between the old Bella, and the new one. Remaining as Bella Swan, or taking on that new neverending life as Edwards eternal partner. I really loved that quote, how she explained her unfaltering love for Edward. Especially as I was sooooo furious when in the last chapters of Eclipse, she "realised" she loved Jacob too (I was considering ripping those pages to pieces, to forever erase the memory and evidence of her words about him!) and was feeling torn between them. I hated that sooooo much! How could she be so obssessed with Edward, from the moment she saw him, to putting herself in life-threatening situations just to hallucinate over him after going through the greatest depression of her life after he left her, and then proclaim that apparently she also loved her best friend? Argh!!!!!!! Such hipocrisy I couldn't stand it! And my opinion on that is that it is not possible - at all - sorry Jabob fans, but that storyline was only written in to keep you temporarily happy and hopeful. That is all. It's always been Bella and Edward :)
I could be shooting myself in the foot here, I still have 270 pages to go in Breaking Dawn ;P
But I did love the way Bella brought it all together in the film with that quote. It made me happy and easy with the whole triangle thing.
So yes, all in all, those are my thoughts. And once again as with New Moon, I woke up the next day thinking "I have to see it again!" Which I will, hopefully sooner rather than later. It was a great experience, and I did enjoy it. But I will constantly reiterate: I need to watch it again, when I'm not enveloped in a cloud of sleepiness and high on a concoction of sodium stuffed popcorn and sickly sugary-sweet lemonade.
I think the thing I have to remember is not to compare the book too much against the film. I can't help it though. My habitual over-analytical media mind kicks in, and I end up sitting in the cinema, hand frozen and hovering over the popcorn in my lap, other hand resting on my chin, my eyes scrutinizing every little word, detail and action.
However, in the midst of this whole review, I've come across an absolutely hilarious article/comic, written by a guy going by the name of The Oatmeal. He is an absolute genius. Within moments of reading it I was almost crying from laughter. He explains why the whole Twilight series works, and breaks the story down into a formula, accompanying his theories with some very amusing comics. AWESOME!
If you are a hardcore Twi-hard, don't go further than here. However, if like me, you like to poke fun at things, most importantly your own obssessive interests, then click here:
http://theoatmeal.com/story/twilight
You'll be smiling at first sight :) Enjoy!
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