Review: Twilight Saga: New Moon

When I decided to write this, I tried to come up with some Twitard joke attacking my own masculinity (or lack thereof).  But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't bring myself to insult the movie.  Are there glittery, pucker-lipped vampires?  Yes.  Are there werewolves who walk around unnecessarily topless? No doubt about it.  But the resentment could be caused by my lanky, muscle-less figure.  The movie definitely leans towards a more estrogen filled audience, so how did I walk out of New Moon enjoying myself with my masculinity still intact?  (Rhetorical question)

New Moon is the sequel to the ever popular Twilight, which follows Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) and her vampire lover, Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson).  One of the first scenes, setting the general tone of the film, starts with Bella's birthday.  While Edward does not give Bella a gift (he cannot give her what she desires), Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner), the Quileute werewolf boy, visits her at school exclusively to deliver his present.

After one of Bella's near death experiences - which seem frequent - Edward leaves her in hopes of protecting her from future risky situations.  Before he leaves, he asks Bella to promise not do anything reckless or dangerous.  Bella goes through depression, as is wont of anyone after a breakup, but soon begins to see hallucinations of Edward whenever she is in danger, pleading for her to remember her promise.  To keep these illusions from escaping, Bella purchases a couple of run down motorcycles and asks Jacob to help her fix them.  Jacob agrees and the two's relationship slowly starts to build from there.

While Bella is most definitely the protagonist, Jacob seems to steal the show.  While the rock-hard abs, which induce screams from every female in a 10-mile radius, definitely contributed, Lautner's enthusiasm keeps the audience from looking away.  Jacob's dual personalities, the werewolf and lovesick puppy, keep you focused more on him than anyone else.  His love for Bella is enticing, and creates a character that almost anybody can identify with.  Lautner makes Jacob believable, and his interaction with Stewart works well on screen.

One of the more subtle directive choices by Chris Weitz were the various illusions of Edward.  In the novel, Bella only hears auditory warnings from Edward.  To portray this on film the same way would not have transferred over as well.  Aside from giving the tweens and their mothers moments to swoon, the images of Bella's lover are much easier to conceive on a visual level.  Although Pattinson gets little screen time, appearing mostly in the first and last twenty odd minutes, the audience feels as if he has been there for much longer.

As I stated earlier, the overall plot is a dramatic love story.  But to make up for the overall femininity, Weitz added frequent action sequences.  If you've seen any of the trailers, you can grasp a general feel for them.  While some may disagree, as far as werewolf and vampire films go, New Moon may have some of the best action yet.  It's not as dirty or as gory as Blade, but each fight, chase, or otherwise is filmed cleanly.  None of it feels tacked on, which is important because many of the scenes were added exclusively for the film.  Despite the fact that New Moon is a drama, the action does not slow or detract from the overall flow of the film.

My only complaints about New Moon are the pacing and emotion.  Simply put, sometimes I felt the movie moved a little too quickly.  Although the audience knows how much time has elapsed between Bella's jump from Edward to Jacob,  on film it only took 5 or 10 minutes.  Sadly, I think the slightly quicker pace also contributed to a downgrade in emotion.  Although New Moon is a generally emotional movie, it did not completely succeed in resonating with the audience.  There were moments when I wanted to cry, but where other films pushed me over the edge, New Moon fell short. 

To sum it up, I really enjoyed the film.  Everything added together made a satisfying experience.  Within the opening weekend, New Moon made over $140 million, the third largest debut on record, and to date has made over $470 million worldwide.  That has to be an indication that something was done right.  If you enjoyed the Twilight books, you'll probably enjoy the film.  If you haven't read them, give the movie a shot.  You could be surprised.