With all of the hype and hate out there for The Twilight Saga: New Moon, it can almost be difficult to merely sit back and judge whether or not the darn thing is any good without it seeming like a political stance. There are fans eating up every morsel of Pattinson and Lautner goodness, fans that hate every second that is changed from the novels and an equal amount of people who just want to the whole franchise to go away. Well, if you end up somehow outside of those camps, like myself, and merely want to see if the movie is entertaining or not, with no grander knowledge of the series besides having watching the original Twilight last fall, than this is the review for you.
New Moon picks up on the heels of its predecessor. Bella Swan (Kristin Stewart) is all gaga for Edward Cullen (Robert Pattison), a heartthrob vampire who, along with his family, refuse to dine on humans, which is always appreciated. Bella is turning 18 and worries about becoming an old lady, wrinkled, dull and unattractive to the forever-young Edward. She wants to become a creature like him. Yet, he refuses to change Bella, fearing the damning of her soul and all of the suffering that comes with constant cravings for a drop of blood. After a birthday bash gone wrong, Edward decides to take the tried-and-true heroic route, to leave his lady love for her own protection. Heartbroken, Bella weeps, her only solace coming from Jacob (Taylor Lautner), a childhood friend whose abs having apparently come in overnight. However, just because Edward is gone, doesn’t mean that Bella is safe, from his fellow kind nor from a mysterious beast that is tearing apart hikers in the forest nearby.
As a second outing, New Moon is a distinct improvement over Twilight. Much of the awkwardness has been shedded, or at least has become tolerated (sparkling vamps), and Melissa Rosenberg’s adaptation of the insanely popular Stephanie Meyer book sneaks in a good deal of intentional laughs, though some of the other variety still remain, particularly a frolic in the woods that is far too on the nose. Christ Weitz’s direction is a step up over Catherine Hardwicke’s, though admittedly, he has a far larger budget to play with. Also, Weitz isn’t restrained by having to set up the rules of the game. New Moon hits the ground running and makes few attempts to re-ingratiate non-Twihards, which may be difficult, but is the same route the Harry Potter series has taken. Allowed to play in a previously established world, Weitz concocts several invigorating scenes, especially dealing with a pack of werewolves, the best involving a chase through rain-soaked, moss covered trees set almost solely to the sound of Thom Yorke’s fantastic song “Hearing Damage.” Weitz overdoes the Zack Snyder styled action (regular speed, then fast and a quick reverse into slow-motion), but when the tone is light or someone is running for their lives, New Moon is a fun, if flawed romp.
However, when the movie focuses on our heroine Bella, things drag to a complete halt. Stewart, an actress who has proven to have some range (Adventureland) moans and whines, before moaning and whining some more. One loses track of the amount of times Bella looks down and softly pouts mid-conversation. To be fair, this seems more a character problem than an acting one. The moody teenager is fine by me, but Bella has no passion for anything minus the boys in her life; not the best message to send out. She even complains to Jacob about a nearby radio, claiming that she doesn’t “like” music anymore. It’s going to be a tough life for her. As Bella turns to adrenaline charging actions (motorcycle riding, cliff-diving) so that she can see a ghostly figure of Edward for seconds (a ridiculous literal interpretation), New Moon turns back into an eye-roller. When a story steeped in romance is at its worst when that element is at the forefront, you have quite the problem.
Pattinson is fine as Edward. He isn’t asked to do much other than look good and not flub his lines, though you can sense a magnetic presence lingers under the often atrocious dialogue - if you say you can’t live without this person, why aren’t you dead already. Lautner is a more mixed bag, reminiscent of early Daniel Radcliffe performances. In the playful times, Lautner is charming, struggling only when given lengthy monologues, none of which are particularly good. The outskirts of the cast are still strong, from Ashley Greene’s pixieish Alice to Michael Sheen’s turn as Aro, a pseudo King of the Vampires, who brings a real sense of gravitas and camp to the picture.
There are far better things to go out and see right now, but there are far worse too.
The Twilight Saga: New Moon is now open all across Seattle.
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