Movie Review: The Twilight Saga: New Moon

by Justin Velasquez
November 26, 2009

With Harry Potter's book and film series nearing their near-decade run audiences need another popular book-turned-film series to latch onto.  The May-December romance with all things pirate also subsided and the time has come to sell a new gimmick.  Oddly, Hollywood's fascination with vampires has never waned and thanks to author Stephenie Meyer there is finally a way to market vampires to a younger audience.

The end of 2008 saw the release and massive success of Twilight.  Summit Entertainment, the film's major production company and its U.S. distributor, took note and immediately set out to release a follow-up.  Nearly a year later the Twilight saga continues with New Moon, and the intensity is turned up for this second go-round.

Now with any saga the first installment of any book or film series may be lax considering the amount of setup necessary to establish the characters and the story.  Twilight is no different and that film displayed major flaws both in front of and behind the lens.  New Moon, luckily, benefits from already having established its characters, its mood and its overall feel.  The story picks up after Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) and his family saved Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) from the nomad vampires Victoria, James and Laurent.  Edward and Bella are in love and they long to be together but it becomea apparent that their differences can potentially drive a stake (pardon the pun) through their relationship, and can also end with fatal results.  These points are driven home violently when on Bella's 18th birthday a small paper cut sends Edward's adopted brother, Jasper (Jackson Rathbone), into a wild frenzy and he attempts to kill her.

The difficulty of maintaining such a relationship is not lost on Edward and he acts quickly by breaking up with Bella.  The Cullens also move away from the small town of Forks, Wash., without as much as a hint of where Bella can reach Edward.

Heartbroken, severe depression consumes Bella but she finds solace in Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner), her childhood friend.  They hang out constantly and they form a deep, strong bond but they find enjoyment in each other for different reasons.  Bella looks to temporarily rid herself of pain and anguish until she can figure out how to get Edward back whereas Jacob hopes to win Bella away from Edward.  An obvious love triangle forms, with Bella caught in the middle.  Bella certainly loves Jacob - but she's in love with Edward.  And her decision to hang out with Jacob is merely for selfish reasons and her ruse only confirms Jacob's unrequited love for her.

To complicate matters further Jacob's true self is finally revealed.  He, along with others from the Quileute tribe that he hails from, is a werewolf.  The werewolves protect humans from the vampires and thus the two species are enemies.  With Edward gone it is now up to Jacob to protect Bella from a familiar threat - Victoria (Rachelle Lefevre) and Laurent (Edi Gathegi).  It's also up to Jacob to save Bella from herself - she partakes in dangerous thrill-seeking activities in an effort to "see" Edward.

In New Moon there is certainly a lot going on.  The aforementioned events only comprise about two-thirds of the film's 130-minute running time and we haven't even gotten to the Volturi, led by the mysterious Aro (the incredible Michael Sheen), and their influence over Edward and Bella.  What's important to realize is the truly persuasive power of love and the lengths that one may go to prove their love to someone.  The Twilight saga is, after all, a romance and all other storylines pale in comparison to the titillating love triangle involving Bella, Edward and Jacob.

A big drawback to this film is its pacing - and New Moon moves very slowly.  The tension is heightened, though, and is much more genuine than in Twilight, which is a relief.  Oddly, the actors don't properly convey that intensity, whereas director Chris Weitz (About a Boy) does a much better job at eliciting reactions and emotions from the audience than Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke did.  The acting is better this time around as all the actors are more comfortable in their roles - but not by much.  Robert Pattinson is a Hayden Christensen clone and Edward's moping is the polar opposite of Anakin Skywalker's anger and rage.  Taylor Lautner really got into his role by working out immensely, he just didn't work on the acting part - but at least Jacob's not moping.  Finally Kristen Stewart's portrayal of Bella is slowly improving.  She showed a lot of acting potential in Panic Room and in Into the Wild - it's time for her to realize that potential here.  In limited screen time Michael Sheen's role as Aro was easily the film's best performance and that's just not right.

In all, New Moon is certainly a step up from Twilight.  The film highlights personal sacrifice in the name of love and that is something that is very noble and pure.  This feature won't win over any new fans but it should keep the legions of fans who read the books happy.  But if you seek an adrenaline rush and delight in seeing vampires duke it out with werewolves then you're better off watching Underworld.  Those who desire a more traditional vampire better start with 1931's Dracula starring Bela Lugosi.  And there's a more convincing, much more pure love story between a female vampire and a male human in the Norwegian import Let the Right One In.  But New Moon contains a strong enough love triangle that's not overly corny or cheesy - it's authentic and sincere.  

2.5 Stars out of Four