New Moon

The second film in the Twilight saga starts to open the story up onto a bigger canvas and adds a few more complications to the Bella-Edward love story that has made the novels and first film such enduring successes. The template for this kind of teen-aimed fantasy franchising is, of course, Harry Potter, but here New Moon suffers a little in that it feels like it doesn't really have that much of a story of it's own to tell. The biggest thing it has going for it is the development of Jacob (Taylor Lautner) into the most interesting character the films have so far given us (good-natured native american werewolves just seem to make a bit more sense than twinkly 'vegetarian' vampires). New Moon also introduces the Volturi, a powerful and ancient vampire group who live in Italy. Unlike Harry Potter's second film though, it doesn't really seem to go anywhere by the film's end.

It's Bella's (Kristen Stewart) 18th birthday, and Edward (Robert Pattinson) decides he needs to ditch her because the Cullens are moving on and he can't handle the way she tempts his vampirism. There's lots of talk about who will protect the other if they are apart, with Bella wanting Edward to turn her into a vampire so that she won't out-age him, and Edward refusing because she's his only link to being human. Edward goes off to Italy to face the Volturi for his actions in the previous film, and while he's gone Bella begins to get involved with Jacob - who's currently going through some wolf-like 'changes'.

Whereas I actually liked the first Twilight film, and I liked the way this second installment used a gold/tan autumnal colour scheme to set itself apart, there's a lot in New Moon that really rubs me up the wrong way. Part of this is that it's a product of a cynical kind of filmmaking where it's acceptable to show clips from the previous film, like it's reminding the dense viewers of what they need to know rather than assuming people will have seen the first movie. There's also the dramatic, 'hip' soundtrack that's designed to hit all those right buttons with the film's demographic rather than having any sort of relevance to the film's setting or characters. Also (and I understand this is more the fault of the novel's author, Stephanie Meyer, than the director or screenwriter) Jacob is established as the 'better' guy to the brooding, 'dangerous' Edward. To push our sympathy buttons he also happens to be a native american, which automatically puts him into an underdog position (werewolf pun unintended) to help manipulate the audience into liking him as an alternative to the previously-established love interest. Way to go guys, you took an interesting idea and cheapened it beyond redemption.

Other issues I had with the film includes the way it tries to suggest a familiarity with all these supporting characters (the school friends and the other Cullens) though the audience (unless they've read the books) didn't really get to know them all that well the last time round. Also, Bella's fear that she will out-age Edward doesn't really ring all that true... I mean, I know she likes him but give me a break! How long have they been going out for? A few months? Have they even had sex yet? New Moon continues to build their love up into this massive, unbreakable thing but if this obessessiveness is related to Edward's vampiric powers then it should be reinforced a bit more that she's under his influence rather than suggesting that Bella is some kind of stalker-ish nutcase. Also, while we're on this subject, why is Bella so desirable to all these supernatural beings? Kristen Stewart's not exactly ugly but for a character that's clearly meant to be average-looking it doesn't make sense for both a vampire and a werewolf to both be going gaga over this boring schoolgirl with no apparent hobbies or defining personality traits.

I think the overall problem is that it's both melodramatic and anticlimactic. It feels like each film is just building to a bigger picture and that they therefore haven't bothered to structure New Moon in a way where it can stand on it's own two feet in a dramatic sense. The problem niggled me a little in Twilight but I couldn't quite put my finger on it, whereas here in the second film it's as plain as day. The Volturi are boring, and Edward's suicidal streak seems to come out of nowhere as the action suddenly shifts to Italy. Also, the character of Alice (Ashley Greene) appears and disappears without much consequence. It's like Meyer couldn't be bothered creating new threats or plots for each book so she just structured out one book plot across four novels (or in this case, five films) and filled the rest of her pages with endless soap opera dramatics. I'll continue to watch the rest of the series just to see it through to the end, but my expectations for Eclipse have become significantly lower as a result of this film.

Also, the CGI wolves look fake.

DIRECTOR: Chris Weitz
WRITER/SOURCE: Screenplay by Melissa Rosenberg, based on the novel by Stephanie Meyer.
KEY ACTORS: Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner, Michael Sheen, Anna Kendrick, Ashley Greene, Peter Fancinelli, Rachel Lefevre, Graham Greene, Dakota Fanning.

RELATED TEXTS:
- The novels written by Stephanie Meyere - Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn.
- This film was preceded by Twilight, and followed by Eclipse, Breaking Dawn Part 1 and Breaking Dawn Part 2.
- The idea of mixing werewolves with native american folklore isn't a new idea... many native american tribes speak of 'skin-walkers', people who could shapeshift into animals. It's possible that the werewolf myth travelled to the Americas with the vikings in the 11th century.

AWARDS
Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson won acting awards at the MTV awards. The film also won Best Movie at the same awards ceremony.

Nominated for a handful of other popular choice awards in the acting categories.