Review: The Twilight Saga, New Moon

Pull a Moonie

Ok, it's a bit of a poor pun but after the film I felt I needed a little bit of gratuitous punning, if only to defuse the intense emotion of the film.  It's a shame really, I loved the books - I was desperately waiting for Edward to turn up admittedly once he disappears after the first 20 minutes - but when he does in the film he's just sort of ... wooden.  Many of the actors are - Ashley Greene as Alice is especially so but she's on the screen for a much larger chunk than Robert Pattinson so perhaps it's just more evident.

Whatever the intent it just seems as if Bella and Edward spend such little time on screen together that their truly emotional scenes are a bit rushed and awkward - something of the depth and warmth of the first has been lost and replaced with a chilly steeliness.  Their romance doesn't seem as plausible as it did in the first so her trauma over losing him and his leaving in the first place doesn't quite ring true. 

My companion pointed out to me that really without Edward and the Cullens in the mid-section it's really just a teen-drama a-la Dawson's Creek.  Now,  I am usually entirely susceptible to that kind of heart-and-hand-wringing drama but I found myself to be a bit bored as the young actors don't seem quite as capable of pulling off those deeply wrought emotions but regardless, the sections of the film where there are adults and/or more experienced actors are where the story is more interesting.  I loved Michael Sheen's slightly camp and quietly evil Aro - that's a guy you wouldn't want to meet on a dark night.   Dakota Fanning's Jane, although only on screen briefly, is chilling - the potential for the Volturi storyline is large and looks like it could be excellent.  And as in the first film Billy Burke as Charlie, Bella's dad, carries most of the comic moments - projecting warmth and concern in all the right places.  Compare that to the teen actors and most of their scenes seem to consist of wrinkled brows and pensive posturing - there's also a lack of tone to their voices so aurally it literally doesn't come through, hampered as they are by some overwrought dialogue that requires more than just a speed-read through.

So, to sum up: see it, just because well, you loved Twilight and you have to get the rounded set before we work our way through to Eclipse and Breaking Dawn - but don't be surprised if you're a bit disappointed.  Some of the subtlety of Catherine Hardwicke's direction and visual flair has been lost under Chris Weitz's heavier hand but if the following films are as true to the books as the past two, then there should be plenty of meaty action to distract from the teen-angst.