Review: The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009)
New Moon is the second film in The Twilight Saga. It opens with Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) on her birthday, a celebration that highlights her worry over how she will age alongside her ageless, secretly vampire boyfriend, Edward Cullen (played by Robert Pattison, or "R-Patz", as some people called him when these films were at the height of their popularity). After Bella cuts herself in front of Edward's family and triggers their desire for blood, Edward breaks up with Bella. He claims that people are becoming suspicious about his non-aging family, and so they have to move away. Once the Cullens have left town, Bella sinks into a deep depression that lasts for months, until she reaches out to Jacob Black (Taylor Launter) an old family friend who is two years younger than her. She and Jacob become best friends, and although Jacob wants something more, Bella still yearns for Edward. Which boy will she choose? And what will Bella do when she learns of Jacob's dark secret, as he begins to succumb to it?
I have a lot less to say about New Moon than I did about Twilight. The first film in this series definitely works better as a standalone out of these two, and is certainly more iconic, yet I believe New Moon is the better film.
I think this largely comes down to Kristen Stewart's Bella being a more interesting character, and Stewart's portrayal of her certainly improved here. For a start, she actually looks a lot better, by which I mean they put blusher on her in this film, so she doesn't blend in with the deathly-white Cullens so much this time around. She isn't quite so awkward, they thankfully cut the weird character trait of having her fall over all the time, and we see her actually making an effort to interact with people besides Edward. We even see her genuinely smile a few times.
Bella (Kristen Stewart) showing her rare ability to look happy, next to Edward (Robert Pattinson)
My main concern with this character continues to be her unhealthy obsession with Edward. She isolates herself for months when he leaves, and has horrendous nightmares that result in her screaming each night. A key problem I had with the film overall is that the audience is never shown Bella's nightmares: instead we only see her poor father Charlie (played by Billy Burke) race up to his daughters room each night to try and stop the screams. What is it that she dreams of each night, keeping her so tormented that she cannot get over this breakup? It creates a lost chance to further understand Bella.
Additionally, Bella genuinely appears to need to be in some kind of rehab during these scenes, and I can't help but wonder how this portrayal of a supposed "True Love" impacted its teen girl audience in their beliefs of what it means to be in love, or how to express their romantic feelings. Obsession does not equal love, and I really don't like how this was romanticised.
Charlie (played by Billy Burke) confronting Bella about her post-breakup behaviour
However, I really enjoyed the relationship developing between Bella and Jacob. This is a slower film with less happening in it than the first one, and this largely comes down to the relationship between these two characters (along with Bella's moping scenes). Bella seems a lot happier around Jacob than she was with Edward. About that...
You know that love triangle teen girls harped on about when these films were being released? You know, the love triangle where there were girls who were Team Edward, wanting regular girl Bella to get with a vampire, against other girls who were Team Jacob, who wanted Bella with a werewolf? A love triangle that went on to be one of the most iconic yet mocked parts of the series? Yeah, this is one of the best love triangles I have ever seen on screen. Not for the romances themselves, but on paper, how these people view each other makes an engaging and intense love triangle.
This isn't the terrible kind of love triangle I'm used to and expected this to be, where one person is pining for two people but it's so gosh darn hard to pick one because they're both beautiful, and so are their abs.
In New Moon, It's very clear that Jacob has feelings for Bella from the beginning, and although Bella becomes closer to him here, her feelings are still very much for Edward. Jacob tries to hold hands with Bella at one point, but she clearly rejects this. Later on, Jacob and Bella almost kiss, but it's interrupted, and Bella never pursues it again, choosing to try and reconnect with Edward. I may not like the Edward-Bella romance, and although I prefer Jacob as a character, it seems very clear that Bella only wants to be with Edward and will always choose him. Therefore, I respect the film for not having Bella lead Jacob on by fluttering between the two boys, which would have made for more cliche and irritating film viewing for me.
My main problem continues to be that Bella and Edward's romance is not a healthy one. The climax of the film is really good, with Bella racing to stop Edward from doing something foolish. She runs through this sea of people wearing red cloaks (which are part of an anti-vampire celebration) and leaps into his arms. He's so happy to be reunited with her, while she's relieved to have reached him in time. This should be such a good scene, and for people who liked this romance, I'm sure it works. However, these two are not good for each other and I found I just couldn't enjoy it as much as it was intended. Additionally, I wasn't a fan of the final cliffhanger regarding Edward and Bella here, which didn't feel natural to the stage of their relationship and it seems like an awkward message to send out to its young adult audience.
I don't have much to say about Edward as a character here, as he wasn't in the film that much. I didn't like that he kept appearing to Bella as a vision when she was about to do something dangerous, as it seemed controlling from his character, yet I couldn't take it seriously as a visual. I also didn't know how to react when Edward tried to save Bella after a cut made her vulnerable to his hungry vampire brother Jasper, by chucking her back against a wall that worsened her injuries in a big way. It seemed ridiculous, and worrying that either he doesn't know his own strength, or . Pattinson was fine while he was there, but I'm glad Edward wasn't around so much in this one.
Edward appearing to Bella as a vision only she can see, in an attempt to stop her from doing something stupid
I do want to talk about Jacob more in depth, but I'll start with his actor, Taylor Lautner. In my research of this film, I found out a lot about Lautner and how this role impacted him. Apparently, he was at risk of losing the role, as Jacob undergoes a big physical change in this film that required him to go from having an average body type to becoming muscular and lean, which matters because Jacob is always shirtless (and whatever reason you give to try and justify this, I'm sorry, it's ridiculous). To keep his job, Lautner dedicated himself to working out, and he acquired the body type necessary for Jacob's transformation. This made him a sex symbol at the time with a dedicated and loud fanbase, yet Lautner was only seventeen and his character was a year younger than that. It's quite uncomfortable. In following film projects, producers wanted Lautner to take his shirt off, seemingly for the sake of it, and the potential Twi-hards it could appeal to. Lautner now refuses to be shirtless onscreen unless it is completely necessary for the character he is playing, at that moment in the script.
Taylor Lautner as Jacob Black, with Bella.
So, why did I feel the need to tell you all this? Well, Edward's not in this film that much, which leaves Lautner to carry it as the male lead alongside Stewart and he did a good job. Yes, it's laughable that Jacob has to be shirtless so much, but I respect Lautner, who was really still just a kid at the time, pushed himself physically to stay in this role. I just hope there wasn't any real lasting damage regarding how the man views himself physically.
As for Jacob as a character, he can be possessive at times and I didn't like that about his character. While it isn't okay, these moments occur a lot less than Edward's controlling behaviours did in Twilight, and Jacob's nice moments with Bella genuinely feel better and more sincere than Edward's nice moments with her. They hug each other frequently, they have a good chemistry with each other and genuinely want what's best for the other person, even if they don't always agree what the best thing for each other is. While I don't think they would make a good romantic couple, I would rather Jacob was in Bella's life than Edward. I'm glad I can understand the fan appreciation for this character now, although I think the level of fangirling may have been a little extreme. A shop near the town Twilight is set in even sold bottles of sand labelled "Jacob's Treasure" for $8 (approximately £6.50) each, amongst other Twilight stock around the time of this films release.
Jacob hugging Bella: Edward and Bella aren't as tender with each other as these two are
On a technical aspect, I've been kicking myself that I didn't mention the soundtrack of Twilight in the review in that film. Luckily, I can make the same point about the music used here that I would have made in my review of the previous film: the music in these films is really good. The scores are fine, but the actual songs they choose to play are from talented Indie bands, and I really like the soundtracks to both of these films. Visually, most of the film looks really good, to the point of looking better than the previous one. The shots of Bella sat in the same chair mourning the end of her relationship with Edward for months at a time while the seasons change outside were well done, and my favourite sequence was the above mentioned scene of Bella running through the red-cloaked crowd in an Italian town to reach Edward. I thought it was beautifully shot and choreographed.
Shots from the anti-vampire celebration featured in the films climax
The main thing that didn't look right to me was the wolves. When we first see a wolf in this film, it's this big ball of fur with legs and eyes, yet the nose and jaws didn't look like they were properly in place to me, and it threw me off a bit. Additionally, there is nothing particularly distinctive about each wolf, about from a slight variation in the colour of their fur. I was really surprised when I worked out which wolf Jacob was (because I had to work it out. I expected a black wolf, a) because Jacob's surname is "Black", it seemed like an obvious idea to me, and b) because a black wolf would have added to the angst of his character, i.e. black dog imagery (alluding to the phrase "black dog" in reference to depression). In fact, the first wolf we see is black, and I was really confused when it was revealed not to be Jacob. Instead, he's brown, which looks fine, it's just not very exciting or unique for the character.
The black wolf (not Jacob). Do you see what I mean about the nose and jaw almost appearing to be separate from the face?
I didn't think anyone in the wolf pack was particularly memorable or distinguishable, apart from Jacob. This is an advantage the Cullens have over the wolves, as each member is shown to have some unique personality traits of their own. However, I still feel that the Cullens are a bit underdeveloped, notably Edward's adoptive siblings. For a start, every vampire apparently has at least one special power: Alice (played by Ashley Greene) can predict the future, Edward can mind read and run fast, and Carlisle is compassionate towards the kind he should be mindless about. However, we don't know why any of them have these traits, or what gifts the other members of this family have. Additionally, it still doesn't seem right that all of them -Rosalie and Jasper excluded- seem to adore Bella, when we haven't seen much of them together. Bella spends a lot of the film sending emails to Alice, and Alice seems to be very fond of Bella, yet I don't feel like we really saw this friendship develop at all.
Bella with the Cullens (minus Edward)
I think it's a shame we don't know much about the Cullens, as I feel like the all have the potential to make Edward look like the most boring one. I'd like to know more about Rosalie (played by Nikki Reed) in particular, as she has a strong grudge about being a vampire. I can only assume she is living with the person who transformed her (presumably Carlisle, as he transformed Edward and Esme), and that could create some interesting tension and backstory. What would it be like to live with the person who cursed you to live a life you don't want? And why is she only one who (rightfully) worries about Bella being in their lives?
Also regarding the vampires, I almost didn't mention the Volturi in this review, as I nearly forgot about them entirely. I found those parts of the film boring, and kind of laughable at how this series is now trying to be a little scary. However, I appreciate the attempt to develop the idea of why and how vampires exist in this world, plus I was surprised to learn that Martin Sheen is apparently in these films now.
Michael Sheen as Aro (centre), with his fellow Volturi leaders: Caius (played by Jamie Campell Bower, right) and Marcus (played by Christopher Meyerdahl, left)
My favourite scenes are the red cloak sequence in Italy, and the scene between Carlisle (played again by Peter Facinelli) and Bella. After Bella's birthday party goes wrong, Carlisle stitches Bella's wounded arm and he explains to her the consequences of being a vampire. It's a quiet scene that, pointed out to me, contains an awkward attempt (as did Twilight) to include the seemingly unrelated image from the book cover, but it gave us some more context for these creatures in this universe, and it offered some time with my favourite character, Carlisle, who continues to be lovely.
Carlisle (Peter Facinelli) looking after Bella after the incident at her birthday party
Overall, New Moon is flawed in its own ways, but with more likeable characters, good production work and better development of this world, it isn't laughably bad in the way Twilight is. If the films continue to get better like this, then I might find myself watching an almost respectable film series here.
I am genuinely worried that I may be, slowly but surely, turning into a Twihard. What have I become?
THE SCOREBOARD
Total: 17
Is this really a chick flick or will men like it too? Total chick flick
Would I recommend this film? Yes, but only if you've seen the first one. This doesn't work as a standalone.
Quote of the film: "Guess the wolf's out of the bag." - Embry
Film rating: 6/10
