New Moon

2009, Rated PG-13, 130 minutes, Directed by Chris Weitz, written by Melissa Rosenberg, based on the book New Moon by Stephanie Meyer, Produced by Wyck Godfrey, Cinematography by Javier Aguirresarobe, Original Music by Alexandre Desplat

With: Kristen Stewart (Bella Swan), Taylor Lautner (Jacob Black), Robert Pattinson (Edward Cullen), Billy Burke (Charlie Swan), Ashley Greene (Alice Cullen), Anna Kendrick (Jessica)

I am not a die hard Twilight series fan. I let the young teenagers handle that department. I avoided seeing the movie in the theaters in order to avoid the rabid screaming fans that would have hindered the viewing experience. So the time finally came to watch New Moon  this weekend and overall, the movie is a marked improvement from the first installment but lacks certain cinematic essentials that make it a slightly below par flick.

The movie opens in the dream world. Bella finds herself in a green pasture with Edward and an old woman who she thinks is her grandmother. When she proceeds to introduce Edward it turns out that she is the old woman, aged and wrinkled, standing next to Edward who has not aged a day. And so the stage is set for Bella and Edward to debate the logistics of a relationship between a never aging vampire and a rapidly aging, in Bella’s eyes at least, human. Bella wants to celebrate her birthday by letting it go unnoticed so she does not have to acknowledge that she is now older than Edward. 

She soon finds herself at the Cullen’s house celebrating with the family. Bella, being the uncoordinated teen she is, manages to cut herself on a birthday card which is a very bad idea in the company of vampires. One of them tries to attack her and is saved by Edward, while some of the rest of the family has to vacate the area in order to not be tempted. And that is where Edward makes his decision. He loves Bella so much that he does not want to put her in danger so he and his family leave. He tells Bella life will be better for her if she just forgets about him and she will never see him again as long as she does not do anything stupid. 

So far I have told you only a little more than the trailer presents. From this point Bella mourns her loss only to find solace in death defying stunts that bring back visions of Edward. And she discovers that her friend Jacob, who is substantially bigger and consistently shirtless, is willing to fuel that behavior to spend time with her. A relationship develops between the two and just when she thought the mourning process was over, Jacob disappears to hang with a rabble rousing group of shirtless boys. I don’t want to give away any more of the plot but let’s just say there are more ferocious beasts in the wild than just vampires, Edward has no desire to live in a world where Bella does not exist, and Bella is not happy with the person she is... and Dakota Fanning is up way up there in the vampire world.

The movie itself was a marked improvement from the first one but still left a lot to be desired. Having not read the book, I found myself asking a lot of questions that went unanswered in the movie. There were many points in the story line where characters were left undeveloped or events left only partially explained. Many of the scenes felt like their own entity and disconnected from the movie as a whole. The flow was poor as the story jumped from point to point too quickly. While lightly explained, much was left unarticulated when it came to Jacob and his family, and why do the boys always have to have their shirts off (aside from appealing to the target audience of young teen girls).

Much of the movie happened very quickly: the Cullens were there and then all of a sudden they were gone which left a gaping hole in the story; although, maybe that was the intention as it left a gaping hole in Bella’s life. If that was the case it could have been better handled.

Good music in a movie is little noticed in and of itself. A good soundtrack integrates music so deep into the movie that while you may notice it, it is simply part of the movie. The music on New Moon, while very fitting for the moods of the film was too loud and when it played that was all you really noticed about the film at the time. The visuals took a back seat when the music wanted to convey the mood instead of working together to create a deep sense of feeling and connection with the movie.

The visuals effects of the film left much to be desired. The CG werewolves did not fit in their environment at all. It was easy to tell that they were a created element of the scene that was layered on top of the backdrop. The creatures need a lot of work to look believable as part of the environment.

The movie was not altogether awful however. The actors improved significantly since their turn in Twilight and they gave their characters a great sense of depth. Kristen Stewart especially did an excellent job of playing a archetype of a teenager whose world  so revolves around them and when something in their world crashes, the whole world crashes. The talk of Kristen Stewart from the movie was her panting and biting her lip acting, but upon examination of the film this occurred much less than I expected and when it did it fit the moment well. 

New Moon does a good job of painting a teenage world filled with love, loss, and self-centeredness. It shows the lengths a teenager will go for their love and the sacrifices and people they will leave behind to accomplish that. While the script could have been much more developed and explained, the story does convey it’s main message well. The many technical balls dropped in the film significantly detract from the film and contribute to it being a below average film.

C+

Content Advisory

very little language, a few intense action scenes, and shirtless boys throughout, some adult themes

Food for thought/discussion

1. To what lengths is Bella willing to go for love? How does this affect her and those around her, ie her friends and family?

2. The movie depicts two perspectives on family, Bella’s and her father’s. How would you articulate those views? Which one best fits your personal views on family?

3. The vampires often talk about their lack of a soul and how meaningless that makes their life. How would the movie define a person’s soul? What is so crucial to life about having a soul? How would you define a soul and its importance?