New Moon
Starring: Kristen Stewart. Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Ashley Greene, Chaske Spencer
Directed By: Chris Weitz
Written By: Melissa Rosenberg, Stephanie Meyer (book series)
Grade: B+

As big as the first Twilight film was, the hype for New Moon has been even bigger. With the bigger budget and improved special effects not to mention Taylor Lautner’s new look and enhanced chemistry with Kristen Stewart, the anticipation was high and the film did not disappoint. Most people either love or hate the Twilight series. Although, I think New Moon is a definite step up from Twilight and an all around better film, most likely this isn’t going to gain many new fans (except for those that Taylor Lautner’s killer screen presence converts). It’s in the same spirit as the first, but with more action, tension, and gets deeper in to the world of the supernatural rather than having to bother with all of the introductions.

Bella (Stewart) isn’t too excited about her 18th birthday, she’s now older than Edward (Pattinson), at least in the physical sense, although he’s got a good century on her still. She feels like the longer she waits in trying to convince Edward to turn her in to a vampire, the farther she is getting away from spending eternity with Edward. She fears that once she grows old, Edward could never love her like he does now. The Cullens have a party for her. Opening one of her presents Bella gets a paper cut and Jasper falls under a blood lust spell, attacking Bella as Edward pushes her away, throwing her in to glass and just causing her to bleed more. After this happens Edward thinks that he is putting Bella in too much danger and might not be able to protect her. He wants her to have a normal life and he thinks the only way for that to happen is for him and his family to disappear. They leave town and he makes it so it was as if he never existed.

Bella lies in the woods, gone for so long that her father sends the sheriffs department out after her. Sam (Spencer) rescues her and brings her back home. For the next few months Bella goes in to a massive depression, having horrible, violent nightmares and feeling constant pain. She looses touch with all of her old friends since she just doesn’t care about anything anymore. One day, she comes across a group of bikers similar to the type of guys that Edward saved her from in the first movie. When a mirage of him appears before her, warning her to walk away, Bella decides to walk towards danger, believing it is the only way she can get a glimpse of Edward, to keep him alive. From then on she chases danger or anything else to get her adrenaline going as those are the only moments she can have with Edward even if they are in her head.

Bella finds some scrap bike parts and gets Jacob (Lautner) to help her rebuild the motorcycles for the two of them. They work on them everyday, brining them closer together. Jacob serves as a great distraction to Bella’s mourning. Being around him makes her forget and just embrace his warmness. He becomes her best friend and the only person around who can make her feel good again. As they become closer, Jacob makes it clear that he will never give up trying to win her over. Bella likes Jacob, but isn’t over Edward yet. Still she knows that she needs him. This becomes even more clear when he disappears from her life too. Supposedly he has mono and can’t have any visitors. Bella calls him constantly and becomes more desperate to see him. When she’s alone, without Edward or Jacob, she starts to loose it again. She decides to cliff dive so she can at least see Edward. Jacob saves her from drowning. She learns what Jacob truly is; a werewolf. At first she is uneasy about this. When she learns that his pack, previously thought to be a cult, are hunting Victoria, the vampire out to get revenge on her, she becomes fearful for his life. Jacob just wants to protect her, but when he detects a vampire in her home, he claims he cannot save her since they’re on the Cullen’s territory. It turns out that Alice had a vision of Bella jumping off a cliff and misinterpreted it as Bella committing suicide. When Edward calls and Jacob tells him Bella’s father is arranging a funeral, he assumes it is for Bella. Not wanting to live without Bella, Edward goes on a suicidal mission to Italy, where the Volturi, powerful vampires who enforce vampire law, will either convert Edward to be one of their own or give him the death sentence if he makes a big enough scene. It’s up to Bella and Alice to save him from exposing all vampires and to save his life.

Robert Pattinson’s horrid portrayal of Edward nearly ruined the first film for me. The thing is in general I don’t think he’s a bad actor; he just has no understanding of his character. He gets huge bug eyes and talks slowly with big pauses in his attempt to just play creepy rather than really playing a character. It’s just laughable for me and kept me from liking the movie version of his character although I liked him in the books. Pattinson has the same approach here, but luckily he isn’t in the majority of the film. Occasionally we see visions of him through Bella’s perspective, but he has limited dialogue. He says, “don’t” or “watch out”, making his screen time much less annoying. Kristen Stewart does pretty good as Bella. She tackles the depression stage, adrenaline rushes, spark and easy going attitude towards Jacob, and desperation and charge in the ending.

Taylor Lautner completely steals the show as Jacob Black. He shows a number of changes from his character in the first film, physically, emotionally, and mentally. As he’s turning in to a werewolf, his body is changing before Jacob even knows what this transformation means. Lautner added 30 pounds of muscle for the film, not just to give Edward some competition, but to show his changing form. Lautner is charismatic, sweet, energetic, and has incredible chemistry with Stewart. He has such spark and his character is impossible not to like. I think even a few Edward fans might even be tempted or swayed by his charm and engaging character. Chaske Spencer did very well as the alpha werewolf, Sam. He’s strong, knowledgeable, and dominant, while having a caring side to him that he shows towards his fiancé. All of the pack members have the same charismatic, aggressive nature that Jacob has. It was quite a joy whenever any of them were on screen. Thank goodness for their buff physiques and that they usually didn’t bother wearing much clothes when changing between their forms. They were all quite easy on the eyes; the Cullens don’t seem like much in comparison.

I really liked Dakota Fanning as Jane. Having recently done some slightly darker material I thought she had potential in the role. She captures the cruel, sadistic, chilling Jane perfectly. I look forward to seeing her play a larger role in the future films. All of the Volturi members projected this same evil-natured, power hungered nature. Those that aren’t so happy with the tamer, moralistic Cullens will be more satisfied with the Volturi as they show the more tradition cruel vampires. They play a much larger role, especially in the fourth film.

One improvement that the film made upon the first is that it doesn’t dwell on things or take too long to establish the mood, tone, or state of the characters and what they are going through. In the first movie there was a bit too much time spent on Edward and Bella’s staring looks when that time could have been spent on some key conversations, facts of the vampire’s lives, and parts of Edward and Bella’s relationship that would have made us care and believe in their love more. The film shows Bella’s depression and the months it spans, by displaying the months that it goes on for and the physical and emotional pain is causes her. I was really glad they showed this without spending too much time on it.

In the books Bella figures out Jacob’s true nature on her own, just with a few hints from Jacob. She is coming towards this conclusion, but she isn’t really able to figure it out herself until Jacob and his packmate, Paul, turn in to werewolves and expose their nature to her. It makes her seem a little less intelligent for not being able to figure out on her own. This was just a minor difference though and really one of the only things I think would have been better the other way around. There’s a lot more action, fight sequences, and excitement in this movie. The evil vampires are on the hunt and one even attacks Bella. The werewolves battle against the vampires and hunt them down in return, out to wipe any vampires that come near. The werewolves show their territorial and fierce nature. At the end, Bella is quite blunt and almost cruel towards Jacob when he is territorial and tries to protect Bella from Edward.

This confrontation sets up the further rival and conflict between Jacob and Edward as they nearly rip each other’s heads off in the end scene. The action and horror elements come in to play a bit more in New Moon. I think those that aren’t as in to the romantic elements of the Twilight Saga will like the future films more. There are massive battles, developed rivalries, evil vampires, revenge, and much more bloodshed. The horror elements come in to play and there are some very interesting turns and perspectives in the next two films. New Moon is a thrilling ride with great excitement, temptation, fight sequences, and appeal, widening the view on the supernatural world.