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Before embarking upon my review, let me offer you a sneak preview of one more song for the soundtrack.  Actually, I was a day late and a dollar late when it came to adding it to the official soundtrack, but I offer you an audio sneak preview of a special Christmas edition of a song I wrote after seeing the movie, a song I call:

Twilight Time 
Dr BLT 
Words and music by Dr BLT copyright 2008 Frosty Rock Records 
http://www.drblt.net/music/TwiLiXmaSkitDemo2.mp3 
This is called a skewed review, because I’m a hopeless romantic at heart, and as such, decidedly biased in terms of my ability to see this movie in a realistic light.

This movie, directed by Catherine Hardwicke, is based upon Stephanie Meyer's 2005 novel, and tells a story of an unlikely romance that develops between the adolescent Bella Swan, and a mysterious, hauntingly handsome young teen-age vamp named Edward Cullen (played by Robert Pattison).  He looks the part, and plays it with deft skill.  

The interaction between the two is marked by playful banter and a delicate dance between danger and delight.  But if you’re looking for visual signs of passion, you won’t find much of it here.  She looks bored, he looks bothered, but only mildly so.  As such, the tangle becomes rather tepid. 

That’s where critics come in, but not this critic.  I’ve worked with teens long enough to understand that any unbridled bursts of attraction must be somewhat restrained by the almost equally powerful social demand to appear cool and collected.  Trust me.  It’s a teen thing.  

His attraction to Bella (played by Kristen Stewart) is complicated by his awareness of his vampire tendencies, and the serious dangers such proclivities pose if he succumbs to his attraction and surrenders his heart.  

So he does what many non-vampire men often do---pushes her away while drawing her in.  It’s a phenomenon that is sure to intrigue conflict theorists of the post-Freudian era.  But in Edward’s case, it is not intimacy, per se that he fears, and the sacrifice of independence that may go with it.  Instead, it is the fear that he may literally suck the life out of his object of desire and affection that causes him to pause before ultimately plunging.  

You don’t mess with vampires without expecting a little danger, and Bella finds herself in such danger, not in the hands of the vampire she trusts and adores, but in the path of those enemies with whom Edward interacts.   

In the movie, Bella moves in with her father, who lives in a town shared by vampires.  He is keenly aware of the predatory possibilities that are likely to emerge if his daughter picks the wrong company, so initially it is her father that attempts to protect her from Edward.  Initially, Edward shares Bella’s father’s distrust of himself. 

But in the end, this striking, romantic hero in vampires clothing, surprises himself with how protective he is of Bella.   Not only does he ward off his own less-than-noble instincts, but he rushes to her rescue when the mounting threat of his blood-thirsty nemesis materializes.   

It’s difficult to rise above the rather platitudinous plot introduced in the book, but Hardwicke does everything short of rising above that barrier in this production.  Hence, a teen-age heartthrob is born in the unlikely hero of Edward Cullen, and teen-age girls all across the nations are reinforced for their desires to fall in love with the bad guy, whom they believe, is really good on the inside.  

But the entertaining and engaging acting, the haunting atmosphere, the weird weather, and dramatic effects all converge to make this a fun movie not only for pre-teens but for adults of all ages as well.  Best of all, for a vampire flick, this is rather bloodless and bereft of the gore of yore.  

Teens don’t need any more blood on the screen.  They don’t need any more gore in the score. Unlike many critics who have grown up in ways a person never should, I had fun watching this movie.  In the end, Edward rescues the girl, and himself from his own vampire impulses.  The movie falls short of rescuing the plot of the book, but when it comes to the movie, you certainly get more bang for the buck.  

In short, as a hopeless romantic, and a kid at heart, I found the flick bloody good.