READ THE BOOK BEFORE YOU SEE THE MOVIE!!! Yes, it will be an entertaining film, but without having experienced it in its written form you won't be able to appreciate it. Having said that, I thought the film was amazing, an excellent portrayal of the book. My only complaints are 1. it moved too fast and 2. I'm not into Kristen Stewart as Bellas. Other than that, I highly recommend this film to all ages and anyone with a love for vampire romance.
I went to the 12:01 showing, tired from working all day, I even took a nap in my car waiting for the theater to let me in, but by the end of the film I was wide awake. I spent the entire 2 1/2 hours on the edge of my seat. Heathe Ledger's performance is nothing short of brilliant, it's so sade that he won't be able to reprise his role. He was soo in it and disturbingly genius that I can see how the role got to him. Christian Bale was great as usual, though I feel like he had way less lines than a main character should have, but Batman is not the main character (which made the film great). If the film was about Batman, it would have been titled Batman. This film is about so much more than the caped crusader. It's about Gotham City, it's class of villain and how it's biggest villain is it's greatest hero. Once again, this is not the Batman of the 90's, this is DC comics' Batman: gritty, dark & human. Bruce Wayne is just a regular man, no super powers, just smarts and human condition and that's what the films show. By far, the best film of 2008 so far.