The Twilight Premier

I’ve never denied my adoration for the book series that is the Twilight Saga. I just never really wrote anything about it. I have this thing where I don’t write about stuffs that are important to me. Don’t ask; I don’t know either. Anyway, after months and months of waiting, and being robbed of five more days, the movie adaptation finally comes to the Philippine shores, and we were fortunate to have premier tickets, courtesy of Vanessa. Come November 25, 2008, Vanessa, Boy, Kibs, Neng, Ces, Zelle and I are about to finally have the “Twilight Experience.”

We arrived at the SM Mall of Asia Premier Cinema earlier than usual (talk about excitement) and the anticipation just got stronger. Others are having butterflies in their stomachs (okay) and some got to “mingle” (hmp) with other patrons. And then, the line started to file up with this annoying British teen shouting “single file.” Well, the premier cinema is huge. In fact, it’s too gigantic that from where we’re seated, the screen barely looked like your average TV screen. No worries. Not even technical issues will dampen our excited spirits. So when the lights turned off and the trailers are shown, in Alice’s words…“It’s time.”

(--,), Ces, Neng & Kibs

Amidst the “hyperventilating” moments of my companions (fine, I did too) and the screaming of the female audiences when Edward’s on screen, there was actually a movie in there. I was surprised though that the adaptation made me feel like I was watching an indie film. To be more precise, a chick-flick indie movie, probably a first of its kind. It was expected that the gooeyness of cheesy romance are going to be prevalent throughout the movie, and in that sense, they delivered. Trust me. Twilight movie was more character-driven rather than making it this big SFX-laded Hollywood motion picture. That’s why reviews are saying that the movie sucked in the effects department, but hey, focus on the characters and not in the Bionic-Man-like motion of the vampires. And I must say, the actors and actresses who played the characters’ part did amazingly well. I had my doubts for the longest time, but they convinced me, especially the two leads, Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, they are indeed Edward and Bella in the flesh (or undead).

Let me share some of my favorite scenes from the picture. My favorite of course is the baseball scene, where the Cullens together with Bella are playing baseball in an open field during a thunderstorm. The background music, Supermassive Black Hole by Muse, was the perfect score for this scene…constant repeat on my player. Another worth mentioning is the “Meet the Cullens,” which was previously leaked online, but my heart still skipped when Alice walked into the kitchen (hah!). “The Meadow” made me think and dream. The fight scene was also note-worthy. Runner up to “The Game” would be the Edward-in-sunglasses scene…I swear, one day, I will do that! Edward in his I’m-taking-an-awkward-nap rocked the theaters with guffaws and laughs. And anything that has Alice and Jasper in it (heehee).

Kibs, Neng, Ces, Zelle, Vanessa, Edward

Although they could’ve made it longer, I understand that it’s hard to fit 500 pages of literary genius into a two-hour feature length film. So my verdict, I also did not love the film but I did not hate it either. I left the theater with mixed feelings. Something’s bugging me the whole time so it kinda ruined the experience for me. But let’s not get into that. The film is still worth the wait. It stayed faithful to the book and added forgivable snippets that actually fit the story. To all Twilighters, don’t get discouraged from the negative reviews. What do they know? They’re not the ones who are raking in $70 million on its first weekend. Go watch our favorite characters come to life. I leave you with a line by Edward himself in the movie: “It’s like a human only living on tofu; it keeps you strong but it never fully satisfies.”