Review: The Twilight Saga: New Moon

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New Moon

Probably the most anxiously awaited sequel of the year, The Twilight Saga: New Moon is breaking records for pre-sold sellouts as Twilight fans prepare for the second installment in the series. Director Chris Weitz (The Golden Compass, About a Boy) takes the helm of this teen romance/fantasy, with screenplay writer Melissa Rosenberg returning to bring Stephenie Meyer's novel to life.

Bella (Kristen Stewart) and "vegetarian" vampire Edward (Robert Pattinson) begin to publicly display their romance, much to the chagrin of her other friends including childhood friend Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner). Following a potentially fatal incident at Bella's 18th birthday party, the Cullen family abandons the town of Forks, Washington. Bella is heartbroken and inconsolable, isolating herself completely from all friends -- until Jake helps her refurbish a pair of old motorbikes. Their relationship helps her to slowly heal from the loss of Edward.  However, it turns out that as a member of the Quileutes tribe, Jake has his own secret supernatural powers to deal with, which are tied to the reason why Edward ended his relationship with Bella.

Bella attempts to bring Edward back through in visions by participating in reckless activity, but her cliff-diving attempt backfires. After Alice Cullen (Ashley Greene) reports of a premonition of Bella drowning, Edward flees to Italy to provoke the Volturi vampire royalty so that he can die. Alice and Bella must try to stop him before it is too late.

New Moon is an improvement over Twilight in that the characters have matured noticeably, including Bella's dad Charlie (Billy Burke) who's no longer seen boozing it up all the time.  Bella isn't quite as simpering, and the film includes less narration, which was sometimes distracting. Despite Bella being in her senior year, not many scenes take place at school. Instead she is seen as brooding in her room for months. Jake plays a much larger role as he becomes both Bella's best friend and a werewolf as Bella struggles through her depression over losing Edward.

New Moon may hit its mark with its target audience of tweens, but for most filmgoers this film is lacking. The special effects in this film are overdone and not well-integrated, most noticeably scenes featuring the werewolves. As much as I can appreciate buff and tan males, I found the frequent presence of partially clothed characters detracted from the narrative. One scene in particular was so obvious it was comical, as confirmed by the audience reaction. It is only a matter of time before I expect to see the slash fiction interpretation of the lead male characters. Although I realize that Bella's characteristics stem from the Twilight series, I am still perturbed by the portrayal of a young woman who's constantly needing protection and rescue by others.

Tweens and Twilighters will be pleased with New Moon. However, if you are an adult looking for less emotional co-dependency, pubescent male flesh, and more of the expected brutal nature of vampires, then you would be better off watching Let the Right One In on video or waiting until the new year to see Daybreakers.