The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Great Box Office, Not So Great a Film

The Twilight Saga: New Moon is almost exactly the film I expected: teenage angst, a love triangle and a smattering of violence. What I did not expect was the overwhelmingly (though few) great action scenes, the excellent cinematography and CGI. Unfortunately New Moon suffers from absolutely uninspired dialogue and lack of sexual tension. It was nearly impossible to believe that Bella (Kristen Stewart) and Jake (Taylor Lautner), two legs of the love triangle, are friends let alone potential lovers. I blame this almost entirely on the writing, that, and the lack of physical contact between them. I just did not believe the love story.

All the characters are back: Bella, Jake, Edward, the Cullen family and Charlie Swann but I got none of the feel of the first film. The original characters, except Charlie and Alice, seemed almost paper cutouts of themselves. I’m sure part of the blame lay with the director, but the actors, including Stewart and Robert Pattinson and, with the exception of Billy Burke, seem not to have grown into the characters. I found myself wanting to leave the theater until the first action scene I was so disengaged. I expected much better.

I also wasn’t pleased with the direction or editing. New Moon uses way too many cinematic tricks to elicit emotional response (e.g. changing seasons while Bella doesn’t move and flashes of Edward showing in the air all the time). A few tricks are fine, but too much ends up being silly and obvious. Eliciting response should generally be a function of character interaction and New Moon has too little. Surprisingly Jake and Bella have way too little chemistry and Bella is so lost in self-pity I wanted to yell at the screen, particularly when she places Jake in such an untenable “just a friend” position, but wanting so much more.

Unfortunately I found the bulk of New Moon to be boring and self indulgent, but with flashes of absolutely brilliant tension and danger. There is just too much Bella-centric moping. Not to belabor the point and trying not to be a spoiler, but teenagers are generally resilient over time. Bella’s character just didn’t seem like the frozen in pity type, at least not for several months. The second installment of the “Saga” seems to be a very weak link in the story. New Moon should break first weekend records if the early returns prove to be accurate.

I will say that, had the entire film been based around the action with the love story being secondary, The Twilight Saga: New Moon might have been great action flick. I hope they rethink the series and make it for all of us movie maniacs not just those looking for the sappy love story. Maybe a director’s cut?

Sad to say: Rating 1.5 stars out of 5.