Since I first saw previews for Twilight something has been nagging at me. I couldn't put my finger on it but I've figured it out. I totally love the look of Rob as Edward. I'm okay with that. And generally speaking, he's a fairly good Edward. And Kristen is um... okay looking as Bella (although this person more closely matches my idea of Bella) and we know I've had issues with Kristen's actual portrayal of how Bella would act/react/move/speak/blink (lol) BUT, my issue is that I never bought into the hype that the chemistry between Rob and Kristen onscreen was so great. I never saw it. I still don't. In my opinion, there isn't that much heat between them. And what's more, there doesn't seem to be any conviction behind what they say to each other. I don't believe them, I suppose is what I'm getting at. They said all the right words at the right times, seemed to understand the import of the words behind the dialog. And yet, there's more to just 'saying' them. I know they are only actors, and not Edward and Bella, but I know there are actors out there somewhere who could have made me yearn, ache and empathize with their plight to be together against all odds. I wanted so badly to feel it. I needed to know that Bella felt she would burst if Edward didn't lean in and kiss her. I wanted my heart beat to quicken when Edward's growing hunger forced him to expel Bella from him ...before he did something he'd regret. I never once got the right feelings while watching B&E interact onscreen. I couldn't tell that it was the end of the world for Bella being separated from Edward for even one day. I know I should have felt that way because that's exactly how I felt when I read the books. I yearned for his return right along with her. I hated the times Bella showed up at school and found that Edward and the rest of the Cullen's weren't there. It depressed me when she'd go home to her room and he wasn't there. When he leaned in for the first time, just to 'try one thing' I thought I'd go mad with want!
I'll admit, the Edward conjured up in our own minds based on the words crafted by Stephenie is a hard act to follow. Same with the addictive, incendiary love and lust between Edward and Bella. There is a perfection of angsty love on those pages that would be near impossible to duplicate. But still, I feel a little slighted that Rob and Kristen didn't come closer. I think there was so much worry about the technicality of getting it right, they over thought it. They being not just the actors, but all involved: director, writers, lighting guy, lol. I think everyone believed that the onscreen Edward and Bella had to embody what made us all fall in love with them in the first place, so much so that they focused on pursuing that perfection and lost what should have felt easy: the natural, undeniable, immediate attraction between the two.
I never once felt watching either movie that these are two people who want more than anything to be together, that they'd rather die than live without each other or that their attraction was so demanding that they had to be touching at all times, that Bella would risk her own death over and over to keep trying to be with him or that Edward would subject himself to constant, torturous pain just to be with her.
I know those are hard things to convey onscreen. But the heart wants what the heart wants. And I know it's not impossible because someone else did it. Taylor Lautner. He made me believe him. He was subtlety heartbroken over and over by Bella's unintentional rejections. His unrequited love was so... delicious. I bought him hook, line and sinker. As Jacob, he became the boy whose sunny disposition wouldn't let him be defeated. He wore his heart on his sleeve valiantly and was the eternal, beautiful best friend. I found him irresistible. Some of you may scoff and accuse me of reacting to his (stunningly) transformed body from that of a boy to a man and while I cannot deny that his physical presence was noteworthy, it's not what I'm proud of here. I'm proud of the fact that Taylor was willing to gruelingly work out to change himself completely. He's committed to being Jacob and it shows, and not just physically. In the last scene of New Moon, when Jacob whispers "Bella", I felt it. In that one word, I knew that he was putting himself out there and not caring who saw (Edward), pleading with her, but still knowing he had lost (the battle but not the war) and was subsequently broken.
My little gripes about things should by no means be considered as admission of any sort of dislike for any of the Twilight movies. I just pointed out something that needles at me. I applaud Rob and Kristen for taking on two of the most beloved characters of the last decade. And here's hoping that next time, they'll get a little closer to that sweet tortured love that haunts my fantasies.
I never once felt watching either movie that these are two people who want more than anything to be together, that they'd rather die than live without each other or that their attraction was so demanding that they had to be touching at all times, that Bella would risk her own death over and over to keep trying to be with him or that Edward would subject himself to constant, torturous pain just to be with her.
I know those are hard things to convey onscreen. But the heart wants what the heart wants. And I know it's not impossible because someone else did it. Taylor Lautner. He made me believe him. He was subtlety heartbroken over and over by Bella's unintentional rejections. His unrequited love was so... delicious. I bought him hook, line and sinker. As Jacob, he became the boy whose sunny disposition wouldn't let him be defeated. He wore his heart on his sleeve valiantly and was the eternal, beautiful best friend. I found him irresistible. Some of you may scoff and accuse me of reacting to his (stunningly) transformed body from that of a boy to a man and while I cannot deny that his physical presence was noteworthy, it's not what I'm proud of here. I'm proud of the fact that Taylor was willing to gruelingly work out to change himself completely. He's committed to being Jacob and it shows, and not just physically. In the last scene of New Moon, when Jacob whispers "Bella", I felt it. In that one word, I knew that he was putting himself out there and not caring who saw (Edward), pleading with her, but still knowing he had lost (the battle but not the war) and was subsequently broken.
My little gripes about things should by no means be considered as admission of any sort of dislike for any of the Twilight movies. I just pointed out something that needles at me. I applaud Rob and Kristen for taking on two of the most beloved characters of the last decade. And here's hoping that next time, they'll get a little closer to that sweet tortured love that haunts my fantasies.
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