STARRING: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Ashley Greene, Peter Facinelli, Elizabeth Reaser, Kellan Lutz, Nikki Reed, Jackson Rathbone, Edi Gathegi, Rachelle Lafevre, Billy Burke, Charlie Bewley, Jamie Campbell Bower, Daniel Cudmore, Christopher Heyerdahl, Dakota Fanning, Cameron Bright, Noot Seer, Michael Sheen, Graham Greene, Tinsel Korey
People in this movie need to cheer up. Or, to put it more specifically, Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) needs to cheer up. I feel this way because the parts of New Moon that are enjoyable are when her mood isn’t one of depression. The reason for this is mostly due to the mood of the film mimicking hers, with the fun moments of the film being filled with humor, and the worse moments having Kristen Stewart looking sad and lonely.
Unfortunately for New Moon, Bella spends a lot of time in a funk. The result is a film that isn’t that enjoyable, and also one that becomes boring and tedious to watch after a certain point. I never thought I would say it, but I actually wanted to see more of Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson). Not because I like his character, or any of the characters for that matter, but because when he was around, Bella was happy, and the film was a whole lot more entertaining to watch.
The majority of the plot this time revolves around Bella being lonely after her boyfriend, Edward the vampire, leaves. He believes that his family endangers her life, and decides to up and leave the small town of Forks. He also cuts off all contact with Bella, and like I described earlier, makes her depressed. During this dark time, she becomes closer friends with Jacob (Taylor Lautner). Most of the film is spent with Edward out of town and Bella and Jacob’s relationship developing. Yes, that is as boring as it sounds.
I believe the reason that New Moon fails to be as good as Twilight was is the fact that far less happens, despite the fact that it takes longer to tell the story within it. There isn’t a lot going on within New Moon, and what little there is takes over two hours to tell. There is a good chunk of the film that easily could have been removed, but I suppose then the film will not have accomplished its goal: Translating the successful novel series onto film.
I suppose fans of the novel will be happy, once again, with the way the film turned out. The scenes are lifted from the book, quite clearly, even if they don’t always fit properly into a film. Fans are the main reason that these films are made anyway, and if satisfying them means leaving in scenes that easily could be cut, then that’s a choice that director Chris Weitz made, and I’ll respect him for it. You’ve got to please your fan base after all.
For people not already fans of the Twilight series, this film isn’t going to make you one. It’s also a step backwards from the previous film. Not a big step back, but enough of one to make you question watching the next film in the series. It doesn’t leave you wanting more, it doesn’t make you want to see the story continue, instead, it just makes you dislike the characters even more. There are small portions of the film that are good, and even some that are quite funny. Sadly, the majority of the film isn’t this way.
What the majority of the film ends up being plagued by is poor acting, plot and characters. Every actor and character is precisely one-note, there is little to no development at all, save for one plot twist that the trailers of the film have given away, and the plot is boring beyond belief. I can only speculate that fans of the series–ones who already like and relate to these characters–will really enjoy all parts, with the sole exception being the poor acting, but I can’t say that I did. It was just not engaging enough for me.
I’m going to have to issue a spoiler alert for the following paragraph. If you know absolutely nothing about the film, skip what I’m about to say about the special effects. While not that important, the special effects of the film were fairly poorly done. There are werewolves in the film, and they don’t look all that good. They are essentially just really big wolves, but don’t fit into the real world at all. They’re clearly CGI, which is a shame, because it’s distracting whenever they appear.
New Moon is a worse film than Twilight is. It’s too long, and tells a simple story that you won’t care much about. The characters are still one-note, and do not warrant much sympathy from the audience, despite the fact that they try to be sympathetic. The depressive nature of the majority of the film is off-putting, and also not all that enjoyable to watch. It’s a step backwards, to be certain, but will still satisfy the hunger of its target audience: People already fans of the series. In that regard, it succeeds. For non-fans, it is less enjoyable than the previous film, and will fail to draw you in to the series.
Unfortunately for New Moon, Bella spends a lot of time in a funk. The result is a film that isn’t that enjoyable, and also one that becomes boring and tedious to watch after a certain point. I never thought I would say it, but I actually wanted to see more of Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson). Not because I like his character, or any of the characters for that matter, but because when he was around, Bella was happy, and the film was a whole lot more entertaining to watch.
The majority of the plot this time revolves around Bella being lonely after her boyfriend, Edward the vampire, leaves. He believes that his family endangers her life, and decides to up and leave the small town of Forks. He also cuts off all contact with Bella, and like I described earlier, makes her depressed. During this dark time, she becomes closer friends with Jacob (Taylor Lautner). Most of the film is spent with Edward out of town and Bella and Jacob’s relationship developing. Yes, that is as boring as it sounds.
I believe the reason that New Moon fails to be as good as Twilight was is the fact that far less happens, despite the fact that it takes longer to tell the story within it. There isn’t a lot going on within New Moon, and what little there is takes over two hours to tell. There is a good chunk of the film that easily could have been removed, but I suppose then the film will not have accomplished its goal: Translating the successful novel series onto film.
I suppose fans of the novel will be happy, once again, with the way the film turned out. The scenes are lifted from the book, quite clearly, even if they don’t always fit properly into a film. Fans are the main reason that these films are made anyway, and if satisfying them means leaving in scenes that easily could be cut, then that’s a choice that director Chris Weitz made, and I’ll respect him for it. You’ve got to please your fan base after all.
For people not already fans of the Twilight series, this film isn’t going to make you one. It’s also a step backwards from the previous film. Not a big step back, but enough of one to make you question watching the next film in the series. It doesn’t leave you wanting more, it doesn’t make you want to see the story continue, instead, it just makes you dislike the characters even more. There are small portions of the film that are good, and even some that are quite funny. Sadly, the majority of the film isn’t this way.
What the majority of the film ends up being plagued by is poor acting, plot and characters. Every actor and character is precisely one-note, there is little to no development at all, save for one plot twist that the trailers of the film have given away, and the plot is boring beyond belief. I can only speculate that fans of the series–ones who already like and relate to these characters–will really enjoy all parts, with the sole exception being the poor acting, but I can’t say that I did. It was just not engaging enough for me.
I’m going to have to issue a spoiler alert for the following paragraph. If you know absolutely nothing about the film, skip what I’m about to say about the special effects. While not that important, the special effects of the film were fairly poorly done. There are werewolves in the film, and they don’t look all that good. They are essentially just really big wolves, but don’t fit into the real world at all. They’re clearly CGI, which is a shame, because it’s distracting whenever they appear.
New Moon is a worse film than Twilight is. It’s too long, and tells a simple story that you won’t care much about. The characters are still one-note, and do not warrant much sympathy from the audience, despite the fact that they try to be sympathetic. The depressive nature of the majority of the film is off-putting, and also not all that enjoyable to watch. It’s a step backwards, to be certain, but will still satisfy the hunger of its target audience: People already fans of the series. In that regard, it succeeds. For non-fans, it is less enjoyable than the previous film, and will fail to draw you in to the series.