This movie’s been on my radar for a while, as my colleague and long-time FC supporter Mike B. gave such a good review of it last April. I’m not going to review this again, except to say that it had that ‘whoa’ kind of ending. Though I sort of already knew the main character’s ‘fate,’ the circumstance surrounding it totally hit me out of left field! The movie is good indeed, it’s a sad one though, as Mike said, the movie is filled with one tragic circumstance after another. Perhaps that’s why this bombed at the box office, barely making $20 million total domestically, which is just scratching the surface of any Twilight movie’s take in a given week! It goes to show that his ‘fans’ care more about Edward than the actor playing him, which is too bad as those flicks barely reveal what the guy’s capable of.

In fact, having seen Twilight AND New Moon prior to this, I had serious doubt about Rob’s acting ability, but watching this movie changed that. I was pleasantly surprised by his convincing and affecting performance, the image of Edward didn’t even cross my mind at all throughout the whole thing, thank goodness! Pattinson plays Tyler, a rebellious 21-year-old who’s crestfallen over his brother’s suicide, and whose strained relationship with his father makes life even more unbearable. Then comes Ally, his classmate who had witnessed her mother’s murder ten years prior and attempts to live life at the fullest because of it. Lost‘s Emile de Ravin as Ally and Rob work well together and their romance feels genuine and refreshingly devoid of banal over-sentimentality. It’s been a while since I saw a movie about young love, but I can easily say this is one of the best portrayal I’ve seen.

All this makes me think even more how wasted Rob was in those Twilight flicks. I guess the guy should be grateful of the opportunity the franchise has afforded him, but sheesh, I bet he couldn’t wait ’til it’s over so he could actually sink his teeth (pardon the pun) into a meaty role like this one. Inevitably, all the hullabaloo over the prince of emo-vampire really leaves me scratching my head. I’m not talking about people who appreciate the books and the story, but those who literally watch the movie repeatedly JUST to see the Cullen boy and drool over his pasty face! There’s hardly a cringe-free minute when I watched that darn thing on screen, he’s even worse during the supposedly romantic scenes when he starts wincing like someone just pulled an atomic wedgie on him. How is THAT attractive?? I guess I’ll never understand Edward’s allure, on the other hand, I find his bad-boy-with-a-heart portrayal of Tyler pretty darn appealing.

Oh, another thing. I thought the guy pulled off an amazingly believable American accent in Remember Me (Rob’s a Brit in case you didn’t know), which is definitely a great asset if you want to continue working in Hollywood. He even put Pierce Brosnan’s intelligible attempt to shame, and he’s been working in the biz for much longer! Not to mention his extremely wooden acting throughout, not sure if Brosnan was trying too hard or not hard enough.

In any case, suffice to say Rob’s gained a fan because of this. I’m looking forward to see his post-Twilight flicks: period dramas Bel Ami and Water for Elephants, both of which look pretty promising. So folks, if you’re like me and avoid this flick like a plague because he was in Twilight, give the movie (and Rob) a chance.

What are your thoughts about the movie (if you’ve seen it) and Rob in general? Please chime in below.