by Everett Jensen

Created on: April 06, 2010

The Twilight Saga: New Moon

directed by Chris Weitz

written by Melissa Rosenberg

based on the novel by Stephenie Meyer

starring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Tyler Lautner, Billy Burke, Ashley Greene, Anna Kendrick, Christian Serratos, Michael Welch, Justin Chon, Jackson Rathbone, Michael Sheen, Dakota Fanning, Peter Facinelli, Rachelle Lefevre, Elizabeth Reaser

“New Moon” captivates the reader mainly through its episodic devotion to the Romance Novel model.  It’s familiar yet different enough to lure one into a world of fantasy that is just a bit more heightened than typical, regular reality.  This film manages to convey two key relationships but seems to sacrifice some of the magic that one expects from a film of this nature.

Bella Swan (Stewart) is transformed into an adrenaline junkie upon receiving the news that her Vampire lover Edward Cullin (Pattinson) doesn’t want to see her any more.  This puts Bella in an exceedingly dark place where she can no longer enjoy anything about her and she succumbs to a most decided grief that lasts months.  She simultaneously discovers a bit of danger while forging a friendship with Jacob (Lautner) who truly wants to get into her jeans but who resigns himself to merely being her trusty friend.  

The film focuses a lot of attention on the personal relationships that author Stephenie Meyer spends so much time with in the novel.  Scenes seem terribly long as they are consumed with dialog that plays like the type of casual, throwaway conversation one does not expect to find in films.  It’s trivial and doesn’t really inform the narrative in a meaningful way.

The film is light on action and there is very little to do with the tenacious delights of the Vampire.  Mostly as in the novel it focuses primarily on Jacob’s werewolfism and the aggressiveness of his pack who do appear in all their grand form rather impressively.  They are ferocious, mammoth, and quite intimidating.  In contrast we barely see Laurent (Edi Gathegi) before he’s torn to shreds.  The Cullins stay hidden for must of the film leaving Victoria (Lefevre) and the Volturi near the end.  So for bloodsucking obsessives, the veins are awfully bereft in this film.  

The most thrilling part of the film comes with the Volturi and their dissolute, grand style which seems rather decadent leaving them eternally bored.  The leader of the Volturi, Aro,

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