Based off the bestselling novel, New Moon continues the love story of Bella Swan (Kirsten Stewart) an accident prone human and Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) a “vegetarian” vampire. When Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner), a young werewolf, is thrown into the mix, the book becomes a fantastical love triangle.
Before reading the rest of this review, ask yourself these questions: “Did I go to New Moon to see New Moon or did I go to see Taylor Lautner shirtless?” and “What type of twihard am I?” If you went to see Lautner, then you were not disappointed, but those who went to see Stephanie Meyer’s teen-sensation masterpiece play out on the silver screen, you might have mixed feelings, depending on the type of twihard you are.
First, what type of twihard are you? I’m one of those who absolutely loves the books. So New Moon was a huge disappointment to me. But, without my being biased, the movie was still poorly done. I didn’t realize at first that the movie was confusing, but when I went to see it again with my twin brother he kept saying, “ What’s going on?” and “I don’t get it.” If you didn’t read the book first, you were totally lost. Also, you’d think with the bigger budget the special effects would be better, but when the wolves were first introduced in the meadow scene, my friend and I thought it was mechanical! Not until I could clearly see the wolf’s neck did I realize that it wasn’t. On top of this, the camera angles were bad and all the spinning was really annoying. It left me feeling slightly dizzy.
Also, the movie was more comedy and action than romantic and sad, the two main feelings throughout the entire book. Although it did make people giggle, the joking was pointless and I think it was put in there simply so that there would be another set of “twihard quotes” to go on blogs. I would rather have Chris Weitz (the director) scrap the worthless jokes and actually put in some sort of explanation of what’s going on for those who haven’t read the books.
Then there was the acting. I wasn’t too satisfied with Kirsten Stewart’s performance. I kept thinking ‘Man she’s got a weird twitching problem’. Then I realized this was her trying to portray an emotion. Stuttering and blinking a lot is not what I think of when I hear the word depression or when I’m trying to persuade someone to do something.
Next is Taylor Lautner. Many went to see New Moon just to see Taylor Lautner and that’s just what they got. Don’t get me wrong, even I went to see Lautner flaunt his stuff. But I wasn’t even paying attention to his acting until I saw it a second time. At first I didn’t like it all, but as the movie progressed I saw that this is just the tip-of-the-iceberg in this young actor’s career. He really tried to portray Jacob Black and all of his passion. If given a chance I could really see Taylor being a superb actor, but for now, showing off his muscles is what’s getting him the fame.
Just when I thought I could stop giggling about the jokes, I remember Robert Pattinson’s acting. As British librettist W.S. Gilbert once said, “My dear chap! Good isn’t the word!” Now, usually when I tell this to people they defend him with arbitrary things like, “He’s trying to cover up his accent, cut him some slack!” but no! This has nothing to do with that! He either under or over-acts every time. In each of the fight scenes, he over acts. During the love scenes, I don’t feel any spark or romantic vibe at all.
The mix between the bad effects, camera angles and less then par acting resulted in the utter disappointment of the movie that is New Moon. Although I love the books, I’m not in love with the movie.