It doesn't really matter what I say about The Twilight Saga: New Moon because the "Twihards", "Twilighters", "Twibies" (Twilight zombies) or whatever other name you can come up with for Twilight
fans have already bought their tickets and will be making it the #1
film this weekend whether it sucks or not. For what it's worth I did
kind of like it.
After an incident at Bella's (Kristen Stewart)
birthday party, Edward (Robert Pattinson) tells her he and his family
are leaving for good, and do. Bella has an emotional meltdown where she
mopes around for months and has horrible nightmares. She eventually
realizes that if she does reckless things, like riding motorcycles, she
sees visions of Edward. This leads to her getting two old dirt bikes
out of a junkyard and asking her friend Jacob (Taylor Lautner) to fix
them up.
Time passes, she and Jacob grow closer and the pain
over losing Edward starts to subside. Jacob falls hard for her and just
when Bella begins to fall for him, he disappears. His father says he
has mono yet he won't answer his phone and won't return Bella's
messages. When she finally goes to his house a few weeks later he has
cut his long hair off and now has a tattoo on his arm. She's angry and
upset at him and then finds out the truth -- Jacob is a werewolf.
In the Twilight
world, werewolves and vampires are mortal enemies who only live
together in peace because of a treaty of rules they have. The treaty
wasn't written with teenage hormones or love in mind and Jacob moving
in on Bella is what eventually brings Edward and the rest of the
Cullens back to Forks, Washington.
That's the main chunk of the
story. There are a ton of other subplots, involving the wicked vamp
Victoria (Rachelle Lefevre), the super league of vampires called the
Volturi and a lot more back story and action from the werewolves.
Since
I am not the target demographic for this series, I was shocked that I
liked the first film at all. Sparkly vampires? Really? But there was
something about it I dug. That said, New Moon was far superior.
It was a tad slow to start, and the visions of Edward that Bella sees
are silly, but the wolves made up for it. When they fight it's awesome.
Even when they are just standing and snarling it's pretty cool.
Stewart
and Pattinson are their typical dowdy selves but Lautner, who
has beefed up in a major way, seems to be more confident with his
acting. Michael Sheen's Aro, one of the leaders of the Volturi, is a
wonderful addition to this ever-growing cast. And although he's not on
screen that long he does give one of the most memorable performances.
On the flip side, Dakota Fanning, as Volturi member Jane, was
completely wasted.
It's safe to say fans and the teen audience it's made for will be
pleased with the outcome of New Moon. Hopefully the third film in the
series, Eclipse, will appeal to a larger movie-going audience when it
opens next year.
*** out of 5 stars
Rated PG-13
Cast: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner
Directed by: Chris Weitz
Official Site IMDb
brian.mckechnie@citynews.rogers.com
ALSO OPENING THIS WEEK: Planet 51, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, Precious, Mary and Max, The Blind Side
Top image: Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson in The Twilight Saga: New Moon. Courtesy E1 Entertainment.