Chris Weitz is a Genius ... better than the book

Rating: 10/10 (20 November 2009)

This is what we wanted. The book on the screen - Mr Weitz did not do that, Oh no, - he did BETTER.
As part of The Twilight Saga Obsession, Twilight left me spitting at the screen for its lack of content, dodgy dialogue and embarrassing acting from Stewart.
Chris Weitz just made a book which was three-quarters depression into one-whole adventure. The Jacob-Paul fight makes you cringe, Laurent's swift movements take you into shock-mode and you will find that Michael Sheen delivers the Aro that is straight from the book.
The script was (suprisingly) excellent - with dialogue taken out of the book and extra lines that make you think 'if only they said that in the book'. Some lines were so good, they added to the mood created by the scene.
Kristen Stewart is almost 90% there, in becoming Bella Swan. Taylor Lautner isn't Taylor Lautner - he IS Jacob Black: completely flawless performance. I'm so glad they gave Jackson Rathborne more Dialogue - he practically said nothing in Twilight. The Vote scene was excellent in introducing the different elements to each of the Cullens' personalities. The humour wasn't too much, but perfect to keep you engaged. LOVED Charlie Bewley's acting - his entrance, composure and first lines were so well done, it made you feel Demetri should be a much more important character in this series.
I love that at the end of the Birthday scene, even though in the book ALL the Vampires become ravenous after they see Bella's wound, (to cut costs it was obvious they couldn't do that) they still showed some hostility in the other vampires, with Alice admitting she couldn't be in the same room and apologising for the rest of them as well as feeling guilty the birthday party she planned became such a disaster.
Alice's entrance (Bella's House) makes you jump. Also, her first entrance into the movie will stun you, with her enthusiasm and flexibility. She probably held the most memorable quote for me.
The revealing of the title 'New Moon' at the beginning, using the phases of a real Moon was an excellent idea, I hope they do something like that for Eclipse, but instead use the red ribbon symbol rather than an actual Eclipse.
The werewolf fighting was ghastly! It really made you think THIS IS NOT A GAME! STOP!
I was so pleased, they showed Edward's reaction on the other end of the phone, which obviously Bella can't see in the book. However, I am a little irritated why to back himself up, Jacob did not say at least 'It sounded like Carlisle'.
There's a cool, subtle special effect where Bella throws a piece of Pizza to Jacob but the scene shifts to Jacob catching a spanner instead of a Pizza - very clever.
The music reminded me of the epic orchestrated pieces from Harry Potter, but obviously much more subtle and worked well in emphasising underlying moods of scenes.
Victoria's sequences were excellent and almost breathtaking.
Sam's cliff dive was the work of excellent cinematography.
CGI and Special Effects were not too overdone and crafted to create perfection amongst the audience's reaction and breathtakingly dramatic on-screen.
I thought the idea of a cliffhanger ending (although not like that in the book) - even though it required some re-sequencing of scenes at the end, was effective for the sake of the movie and keeping people on their toes for The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.
Now for the bad things: There is a REALLY cheesy scene near to the end of the movie, when Aro reads Alice's mind, portraying Bella as a Vampire - it looked like it came out of a Barbie movie - typical slow motion running and out-of-place music that made it seem like a comedy stunt. Jane's entrance was too stomp-like, she is described as a 'mini Alice' the way she glides swiftly across the floor. Her 'Pain' was done too effortlessly, it looked like she was bored and couldn't be asked to show it off. Here smile was extremely freaky though.
What was with the underground lift? That was not mentioned in the book and was utterly stupid to have it in the middle of Volterra, which looked pretty renaissance-like and medieval. Surely, if the Volturi Estate is underground - THERE WOULD BE NO WINDOWS WITH LIGHT COMING THROUGH THEM. Where exactly do you explain the light is coming from?
Overall, camera shots were much more imaginative, which added to making each scene so successful in keeping us engaged and constantly commending them throughout. It was only 10 minutes into the movie and I already thought it was better than the book. The "bad things" are so minute and more personal aspects for probably just me that were dis-likable, that I see it fit to rule them out. Another reason I give this movie full marks is because it didn't need you to rely too much on having watched Twilight first as they show you the clips you need from Twilight in this movie (something Harry Potter fails to do - as well as failing to pick out fundamental scenes that are self-explanatory for the audience to remain engaged in the movie).
The Twilight Saga: New Moon deserves a few Baftas here and there, but Oscars are still way out of its reach: it's not grand enough, yet (let us wait for the sequels).
It is evident that Chris Weitz is a dedicated, faithful and intricate director. Sometimes wanting every minute detail to be perfect can prove to bring a film down, but New Moon needed it.
All I can say is, if Chris Weitz is signed on for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - I have not a single doubt in my bones it will be a masterpiece.
10 / 10