A debate with MrsMe

I saw New Moon, again, last night for the 5th time. I freaking love the crap out of that movie! It is almost impossible for me to find a part that I do not like. Sure, Alice's vision is corny and if I was the director I would have done it differently. I also would have had a different actor for the motorcycle guy. That guy is not cute and I would have liked a few tats and maybe a lip ring or two. But if you look at the movie as a whole I am truly blown away.

MrsMe, who has only seen it three times, has some issues with both movies. I highly respect her opinions because she makes points that I consider too valid to ignore. I am able to see beyond said points and not let it affect my love of both movies. I am a simple girl who loves a good romance regardless of the delivery.

I could make a list a mile long with the complaints she has with Twilight, but I will not go there. What I would like to address is the fighting scenes. The first fight, with James, looked great on the screen, but showed Edward getting a bit beat up. The fight is actually not even mentioned in Twilight. Edward mentions pulling James off of Bella and then Emmett and Jasper taking over.

In New Moon, Edward gets his ass kicked by Felix. That, too, is not mentioned in any way in the book.

MrsMe's observation was that Edward can read minds and be a fraction of a second faster in a fight due to that. She feels that he should not have gotten so hurt by Felix. Like Emmett, Felix relies on strength rather than speed. Edward is the fastest of the Cullen's and as such should have had a huge advantage over Felix. While fighting Victoria, Edward continued to engage her as she tried to fall back. In that fight his advantages were obvious. His victory was never in question.

Last night, after leaving the movies, I thought a lot about this. Maybe that is silly, but I wondered if Stephenie Meyer wanted Edward to seem unbeatable. She writes Edward in such a way that leads you to believe that he is the perfect man, strong, fast, smart, and a romantic figure. I decided to go back to my books and do a bit of research, not to prove MrsMe wrong, but to give her a good argument, which I know she appreciates. This is what I came up with;

New Moon: Chapter 18, page 397--

Edward had closed on Jasper now, and the fight was more even than either of the others. Jasper had the century of experience to guide him, and he tried to go on instict alone as much as he could, but his thoughts always gave him away a fraction of a second before he acted. Edward was slightly faster, but the moves Jasper used were unfamiliar to him. They came at each other again and again, neither one able to gain the advantage, instinctive snarls erupting constantly. It was hard to watch, but harder to look away. They moved too fast for me to really understand what they were doing. Now and then the sharp eyes of the wolves would catch my attention. I had the feeling the wolves were getting more out of this that I was-- maybe more than they should.
Eventually, Carlisle cleared his throat.
Jasper laughed and took a step back. Edward straightened up and grinned at him.
"Back to work," Jasper consented. "We'll call it a draw."

So, here is my conclusion:

Edward may be very fast and have the added advantages of telepathy, but the unfamiliarity of his opponents would make the fight more even. I do agree that he should have made a better showing with Felix, but I also think the stress of the moment would have been another disadvantage to him.

MrsMe- Do you have anything to add?


All excerpts from the book belong to Stephenie Meyer- No Copyright infringement intended.