Now, the one-rating is little hard I know But this book series was one of the first I ever read, that's how I started reading booksSo, I had a special place in my heart for its characters and plot but I don't even want to discuss how this movie twisted and turned the book into an excuse to make 5-7 movies

It's just soo damn hard to finish this piece of crap! Waste of good cast!Ok, I'm gonna say it...Twilight was ten thousand times better executed than this one. It's soo boring and there's so chemistry between the leads. I mean the story isn't that bad but it's soooo long, some scenes didn't make any sense. I'm gonna need to take a shower to get this off!

Let me start by saying I never read the book or even heard of this story at all. So I went into this movie with a completely open mind and no expectations. It seems like most of the hate for this movie is coming from people who read and loved the book. I was also shocked to see that the movie financially did poorly because I thought it was magnificent. I am a huge sucker for romance. To me, love is magic so adding in actual magic only makes it better! The chemistry between the two actors was AMAZING. I was pulled right into their epic love story. I wish there had been even more between them and less of all the other characters.The religious nonsense was very difficult to deal with but I think it was done to illustrate how different the two main characters were from the people they were surrounded by and the place they were trapped in.This does not get a full 10/10 for me because I found certain aspects of the plot very convoluted. I thought that Lena's evil cousin was awesome but I did not feel that she needed to corrupt and control Ethan's friend in order to accomplish what they wanted to do. I also did not feel like the reenactment was entirely necessary, it felt like the plot could have culminated in a different way. I see what they were trying to do since they had been past lovers but even that felt like it didn't need to be that way. Couldn't they have just been in love now?I am so glad that he remembered her in the end because I HATE open endings. I do not know why some writers insist on doing them. To me, an open ending is like finishing a beautiful, delicious meal for yourself and then deciding not to eat it. All that work for nothing!I saw that there were several sequels to this book but I feel like it ended great. I did not expect her uncle to sacrifice himself for her which was beautiful. I would have also liked to have actually seen the form of her mother and for the cousin to have gotten what she deserved. But I would highly recommend this movie to anyone who loves fantasy and romance!

The user reviews seem invested in two separate issues - whether this is a faithful adaptation of the books or whether it is a worthy successor to the Twilight series. Given that my wife forced me to watch this movie - and I have never seen a Twilight film and don't plan on it in the near future - I thought I could add some perspective not covered by the other reviews. First, this is a terrible movie. The plot is convoluted and basically involves a rather mundane version of the "love conquers all" narrative. If you've ever watched a teen movie, you probably can trace its broad contours, although it adds a weird Civil War backstory and some witch crap for seemingly no reason. The best (and most interesting) moments of the entire movie are when you strip out the fantasy garbage and focus on the teens being normal people, even though, for the most part, they are both unremarkable characters. Second, this movie is a ridiculously stereotypical portrait of the South, one that somehow simultaneously is disrespectful to its residents and somehow at the same time manages to neatly avoid all its problems. For starters, if you're looking for anything close to a respectful depiction of race relations, you're going to be sadly disappointed. The only two black characters are a popular teenager with no brain and the equivalent of the Jamaican voodoo doctor. In addition, the Southern white characters are portrayed as basically stupid hicks, who do weird things like pray in class and talk about Satanism. Especially in contemporary society, teenagers are relatively homogenized by YouTube culture, and they are a little more sophisticated than religious fanatics. Basically, every single character is a stereotype. Interestingly enough, though, the movie even insults our intelligence by failing to depict the rampant self- segregation throughout the South. The movie doesn't even attempt to touch anything about race and uses the Civil War mostly as a set piece to talk about the lives of white people. Granted, I don't watch a lot of teenage dramas, but it's insulting to think that they aren't capable of the critical awareness that is necessary to responsibly deal with these questions. Honestly, it's embarrassing that such high-profiled actors would be involved in this kind of movie that romanticizes the plantation and whitewashes Southern life. On top of that, the casting in this movie is ridiculous. Jeremy Irons is just not believable as an old Southern gentleman, and for all my respect for him as an actor, he's absurd in this part. The main actor has a Southern accent that made me literally laugh when he walked on the screen. Emma Thompson, to her credit, is much better in her role, but sometimes it seems like she's struggling to add depth to the lines. I actually thought Viola Davis was the only actor who "stood out" as being effective in her particular role. I could say more about the movie. The soundtrack, for example, was laughably heavy-handed, and I haven't even begun to talk about issues of gender representation. However, suffice to say, this movie reveals quite a bit about Hollywood's insulting perception of teenagers. They are capable of thinking at a deeper level than is shown in this movie. I continue to be amazed at how Hollywood "talks down" to its audience and then is surprised at why movie profits decline because people choose to stay at home and watch good television. I don't think the question of whether this movie stayed true to its source material is a particularly interesting one - it's difficult for me to imagine a way this particular plot with these characters could ever become something more than pop drivel.