Okay guys can we start with a huge sigh of relief? -siiigh-! I was honestly frightened that a positive (although not exactly glowing) review of Twilight would ruin me. And yet here you still are. Thank you for hearing me out, guess I'm better at this than I thought! So onwards to part two of the Twilight Saga so far... enjoy!
By the time my review for Twilight went up, I'd already seen the movie a good five times. I've also watched Eclipse once or twice because I heard that was more of an action movie than a romance one but New Moon? Never seen it. Well obviously I have now, but humour me for a few paragraphs.
You know why? Because it reminds me of everything I hate about women. Okay that is a tad extreme, but you know, quirky and stuff. I've been cheated on, a LOT, in my time (which makes it worse I guess since I'm only twenty years old), I guess I just attract it somehow.
I'm all for Meyer adding a love triangle to her story if that is what her fantasy desires but I'm really not going to back Bella up on this one. No matter how good her life gets, she just whines constantly and no matter how happy she is with the person she is with, she's always painfully indecisive that she ends up cheating so casually by the end of Eclipse I had no idea who the fuck she was even with any more. But we'll get more into that in the actual review for Eclipse.
And I understand that this can be read as an almost snidey comment by Meyer at both herself and at every teenage girl posting stuff on Facebook like 'OMG MY LIEF SUKZ IM GUNA KIL MISELF' with two hundred responses basically amounting to 'OMG BABI NU I LUVCHU! XXXXX' when really the girls problems amount to little more than a zit on her chin - yeah we all know the type. But even if that is what she is going for, firstly why? And secondly these people aren't even likeable in real life, so why the hell would I like them as the empty shell in my movie for me to put on? I was a bit of an outcast too, but I can't relate to the absolute twat that is Bella Swan.
Basically, in short, Twilight is basically the perfect beginning middle and end for the series. Bella is saved, she has found love, the end. It ends pretty much like any other teen romance movie would and I was pretty much happy to pretend it was really that way after I heard New Moon was all about love triangles and other such crap. But well as a reviewer, I can't exactly ignore its existence any more so here goes, New Moon.
So if we treat Twilight as the 'Edward Movie' this one is the 'Jacob Movie'. My question is why? I understand that there is the whole lore that Werewolves and Vampires are some ancient enemy, blahblah. But if we went on the films alone, Jacob was just like a completely pointless character in the first movie aside from a little foreshadowing and exposition, I have no idea why he has his own movie. Lautner is nowhere near as good an actor as Pattinson but I found his on screen chemistry with Stewart much more convincing. I guess that is all the reason I need.
Despite my issues with Bella as character, New Moon is a vastly improved film in practically every way. Because well...it works as a film in terms of construction where the first never really did. The heavy handed visual symbolism throughout the film is an absolute nuisance but in terms of cinematography, editing and special effects (though they still aren't exactly what I expect from a blockbuster), it just doesn't have quite that straight to DVD/ TV movie feel the original Twilight had. Everything just feels better here, I don't know if it comes from New Moon being a much better book than Twilight or this film simply has a better team behind it. Either way, the pacing feels nowhere near as rushed, the emotions feel so much better realised, it just all in all feels very grown up from the teenage girl fantasy that the original Twilight was.
One thing I have to say that for all it's worth, for a romance set of films Twilight had some great action set pieces. Although they were never particularly long, the fight between Edward and James was easily one of the highlights of the first movie for me, the crappy wireworks aside. This movie really kicks the action into overdrive and thanks to Chris Weitz much more competent direction than Hardwicke's in the original movie, this really pays off. I find this though, at the same time, an odd choice.
Although this is by no means an action movie, the inclusion of so many action set pieces nonetheless really changes the focus and dynamic of the film. This movie feels a lot less your generic teen romance movie with super powered people and into a much more generic sort of action/horror story about werewolves fighting vampires, just with romance elements and super powers thrown in to boot. This is by no means a problem, I just thought Twilight was all about the romance. Given the dynamics shift in this movie and the direction it takes into Eclipse, I find it hard to call this a straight romance series.
Storywise, there is something I have to say. Did I miss something in the first movie? Bella comes into the second movie with knowledge Victoria is still after her and what all the Cullen's powers are and she knows all the character names, some of which I didn't even know. Maybe I'm just remembering wrong but she doesn't know all of this at the end of Twilight, does she?
Secondly, for all the pacing improvements, at least the first half of New Moon felt like it should have been the ending for Twilight. It centralises around Edward realising that Bella, a human, doesn't belong in a world of vampires unless he wants to get her killed and runs away because of it. This is more logical than what most characters do in this sort of situation. So props to that. And then deals with Bella getting over him, and moving onto the next monster that comes her way. Although I said Twilight ended perfectly for me and this first half of New Moon does have a direct impact on the second half, it just feels strange that most of the movie's time is used to resolve the last one, just to make a few new conflicts before the end of this one.
The entire second half really hinges on an ongoing 'mystery' of the 'mysterious' animal attacks, much akin to the first movie. This time however we are lead to believe werewolves are the culprits not vamps but we find it is Victoria after all..for some reason this is all just rather pointless and a real waste of build up. And if anyone was surprised Jacob was a werewolf by this point then... do you live under a rock?
Further still the werewolves first proper introduction was a fight with that black vampire guy, Laron? I have no idea, his name was said like once. And they all lined up, looking all badass and then the vamp just kinda swatted them away like nothing. I mean sure they kill Laron but only when they gang up on him. I always liked the idea that a werewolf in full werewolf form was unstoppable, the downside was it only happened once a month. Here werewolves seem pretty weak.
Meyer does marginally better with werewolves than she does with vampires, at least in the sense that the werewolves are more than just guys with pointy ears and a mono brow or glorified dogs. One thing I really like about her lore is that these guys aren't turned, but born, but the werewolf 'gene' lies completely dormant until a vampire rolls into town, which awakens them. Since werewolves and vampires are seemingly permanently intertwined in folklore, I thought this was a really cool concept. Werewolves can't exist without vampires.
So do I recommend this? New Moon is very far from a perfect movie, very far from a great one even. But it is certainly a good one. And that for me is good enough, Twilight was merely passable but for simply being all about pleasing the crowd and nothing more, I couldn't see a reason not to recommend it. New Moon is both the crowd pleaser that Twilight was but a competent film to boot, so honestly I couldn't ask for much more without being greedy. If you are a Twilight sceptic, I certainly think this movie will be the one to change your mind.
Think About It!
-Locke.
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