Please, don’t hate me for writing about such a (what’s the word), trivial movie. What I mean is that New Moon has a simple plot, there are no hidden, deep meanings or metaphors, and it doesn’t deal with important issues. Like all the fans (especially females) would tell you, it’s a love story. And although I watched Twilight, after that I wanted nothing to do with the series. So what’s changed? Well, I saw it only because of two things: natural curiosity and Michael Sheen. I am a fan of the latter ever since Underworld, so when I found out he signed up to play Aro, I was shocked. He is a good actor, what made him (except the money) do it? Well maybe it was the growing popularity of the series, or maybe he just wanted to be a vampire for a change, because after seeing the movie, I can tell you it wasn’t because of the greatness or the originality of the script.
Let’s start with the plot. Hadn’t I read the books, I would have had no idea, what exactly this movie was about. Is it Bella and Edward? Jacob and Bella? Edward and Jacob?
Bella (Kristen Stewart) is in relationship with Edward (Robert Pattinson) at the start of the movie, then he leaves because he is “no good for her” and takes his whole family with him. Months pass, Bella cant get over him, but still she chooses to befriend Jacob (Taylor Lautner) , who is (surprise, surprise) in love with her (and also a warewolf). Just when they get close to each other, Alice (Edward’s sister) comes back to check on Bella and tell her Edward is on his way to Italy. He wants to ask the vampire royal family to kill him (yeah, you guessed it, he still loves Bella).So in the last 20 minutes, this movie tries to introduce some action. Alice and Bella race against time to save Edward.
Sounds simple, so why does this movie last over 2 hours? It’s because rather than base the script on the books, it literally follows them. Although the director Chris Weitz did a pretty decent job with what he had, I still believe he should have insisted on cutting more scenes out. Most of the actors do well. I especially liked the young kid Lautner, he played very convincingly, and turned mostly cliché dialogue into a bearable one. Stewart is just watchable as Bella, although every time she and Edward kiss, she looks as though he had bad breath. But Michael Sheen and Dakota Fanning as creepy, red-eyed, people eating vampires were just great! It seems whether a warewolf or a vampire, Sheen has a knack for playing monsters. Fanning as the unemotional Jane looks very much the part. Billy Burke as Bella’s concerned father was just as good.
The huge warewolfs (read:wolfs) done all in CGI, I actually liked. It’s not easy to make fur look real, but I was nearly convinced here. Overall the special effects wouldn’t win an Oscar (well they didn’t), but you are not going to squint at the screen either.
So what’s the verdict? Well, I give it 5/10. It’s not the worst story, although one we heard and seen a million times before. Should have been made shorter and more to the point. But if one is feeling particularly bored, and this is the only DVD you haven’t yet seen, I give it a green light. But if you want to see some action, or are looking for a properly romantic movie to watch with your girlfriend, watch something else. Oh, and I just want to say the all the commercial stunts for this series, the whole team Jacob/Edward thing, are awfully off-putting. If it hadn’t been for that, I would have given it 6/10.
I do hope the new movie is better.
