Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Bella Swan has always been a little bit different never caring about fitting in with the trendy girls at her Phoenix high school. When her mother re-marries and sends Bella to live with her father in the rainy little town of Forks, Washington, she doesn't expect much of anything to change. Then she meets the mysterious and dazzlingly beautiful Edward Culler, a boy unlike any she's ever met.

The best selling tween series comes to life on the big screen with the first adaptation. I haven’t read the books but I’ve heard a lot about this series from family and friends. I was wondering how I would respond to the film and unfortunately I just didn’t connect much. The story is interesting enough but the production left me indifferent. The production seemed like a spruced up made for TV movie in many ways with rather embarrassing special effects, A LOT of teen drama and a lack of character development. Stewart goes through the motions as the main character but we never get a real perspective on her so the intensity of the role is never felt. I am left wondering why I care about most of the characters in this film despite its two hour runtime. I think if it was fleshed out a bit more and maybe toned differently I would have had a different opinion.

While I didn’t connect with the film’s themes and drama much I did REALLY like the HD video transfer. The image has a very striking visual palette with great contrast, depth and razor sharp imagery. Fine detail is on full display throughout and the stark Washington countryside provides some really rich contrast and depth. Colors are quite vivid with darker tones that really add to the dimension of the photography and aside from the almost embarrassing special effects, there is plenty of great eye candy on display throughout this film. A shockingly good transfer.

The soundtrack is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and like the video presentation, it is a solid effort from Summit. Despite the themes this is more of a drama than anything and the film relies heavily on nuance and score. Both do a great job with atmosphere and the spatial design of the mix is quite open with nice use of the surround soundstage. There are a few more intense sequences but the dynamic range never shows the range of more intense films from this genre. Dialogue is always clean with nice tonal balance and no signs of strain.

Extras include an assortment of deleted scenes and a extensive documentary that covers the process of bringing this novel to the big screen. You get a look at the production with interviews with the cast and crew and behind the scenes footage. A feature commentary with the director is also included and a collection of music videos from the soundtrack.

Ultimately this story left me a bit disappointed. I’ve heard so many good things about this series of books but if this film is any indication, I am too old to get sucked in. Summit has done a superb job with the presentation though making it an easy recommendation for fans.