I haven’t read any of the Twilight books.
And I know that New Moon, the newest film in the Twilight franchise, was not made for me. I know this. It was made for those who LOVE the books, LOVE vampires and LOVE Robert Pattinson.
That being said, as a writer, I respect the success that author Stephanie Meyer has had with her hyper-emotional yarn about vampires, werewolves and the pretty girl who pines for them. I found the first film to be decent enough, so I checked out the second:
New Moon picks up where Twilight left off. Bella, the awkward but pretty protagonist, and Edward, the “gorgeous” vampire with sparkling skin (don’t get me started), are in love. Things get complicated when a member of Edward’s family tries to gobble up all of Bella’s blood and the lovebirds realize that their being together may not be wise. Enter Jake, a hunk whose skin doesn’t sparkle (I like him better already!), and we’ve got a love triangle on our hands.
It’s not all romance and emotion, though. Don’t get me wrong, it’s MOSTLY romance and emotion, but there is a handful of fun little action sequences to break up what is otherwise a compilation of very long, very intense conversations about feelings.
The director Chris Weitz has decided to stick very closely to the source material for New Moon – perhaps in an effort to keep fans of the books happy. This was a mistake. Novels and films are two very different beasts. A leaner, more focused version of New Moon would have left a greater impact.
Female fans of the book series are obsessed and enthralled with Edward, the sublime, apparently perfect, vampire boy. But the best part of this movie is Jake, played by the now super-muscular Taylor Lautner. He steals 100% of the scenes he’s in. Robert Pattinson’s Edward fades into the background this time around (quite literally) and his chemistry with Kristen Stewart (present is the first movie) is no longer present here.
The worst part of this movie isn’t the special effects on the werewolves, even though they’re pretty bad. The worst part of this movie is that it takes itself so dang seriously. Take. It. Easy.
Like I said, this movie wasn’t made for me. It was made for fans of the book and they’re going to see it no matter what I say. But I’ve written this review for the rest of us. New Moon is nowhere near as bad as 2012, which I saw a week ago … but at least 2012’s extreme badness was also a ton of fun.
2 Comments
Ha!
I just got caught up on all the wonderful blogs!! Fan-wait-for-it-tastic!
New Moon- Haven’t seen it yet, you’re the second person to tell me it’s not too amazing. Oh, how I wish we could sit in our funny little orange kitchen and debate the pros and cons while dramatically reliving the characters’ experiences.
But this will have to do.
Goodie- expect me to read everyday from now on; and I love the photo with the tape; wickedly cool and very effective; made me think, “good one, francy.”
You’re the best!
Shae
ps.. stop stalling; go buy “The Big Bang Theory” season. You’ll laugh a lot. The characters remind me of you, Adam, and Jacob.
what do you mean 2010 was bad? It was good. rio de janeiro Jesus fell over Francy. That was an epic moment. not quite as good as when the colosseum blew up in The Core but close.