Twilight New Moon Okay But Not The Greatest

Rating: 5/10 (21 March 2010)

Let me first say that I have not read any of the books so I don't know how close it follows the source material. This film is certainly a chick flick but I got it for free from the library and I saw the first one so I figured how bad could it be right. After watching it I can see why many critics and audiences didn't like this sequel. I for one thought New Moon was okay but not the greatest from director Chris Weitz who does a decent job of making this movie but there are many flaws that weigh it down which I'll get into later. Kristen Stewart is okay as the lead Bella despite the films problems. This may not be her best performance but she's still somewhat believable as the character. I wish she could have shown more emotion of what Bella is supposed to be going through instead of just blank stares and blinking her eyes. Robert Pattinson is all right as Bella's brooding vampire love Edward in his very limited screen time. Pattinson fans will probably be disappointed because don't expect him in it that much. He shows up early on and then his character disappears for most of the movie only to reappear before the climax. Pattinson doesn't have much to do this time around but he does what his role requires I guess. Taylor Lautner is impressive as Jacob Black whose part is much larger in New Moon than the first one. Launter and Stewart felt more like the leads in this sequel than her and Pattinson in Twilight. Taylor does a convincing job as Jacob and makes the best of his larger role in the film. I did feel they had him take his shirt off a bit too much which felt unnecessary except to make teenage girls go crazy over his six-pack abs but Lautner improved on his performance from the previous one none the less. The rest of the cast including the Cullen family, Bella's father Charlie, and the werewolf shape shifters are okay despite only having a few minutes of screen time. Michael Sheen and Dakota Fanning have what amounts to cameo appearances as dangerous vampires who feed on humans. Sheen and Fanning are decent in their villain roles but lack screen time and development considering they don't even show up until late into the third act. Sheen does make an appearance near the beginning of the movie but his character along with Dakota's Jane aren't in it long enough to leave an impression and don't have a lot to do either. The same can go for Edi Gathegi as the vampire Laurent who returns from the first one for a brief appearance before apparently biting the dust and Rachelle Lefevre as the revenge driven Victoria. Lafevre turns in an okay performance even with no dialog and only a few minutes of screen time. Pattinson and Stewart had nice chemistry together just as she did with Lautner. The special effects including the CGI werewolves were pretty good and the few action/fight sequences the film did have are well executed but aren't anything memorable. With the good things out of the way now I'll get into what I thought could've been better. The movie seemed to be juggling way too many characters with most of them (Sheen, Fanning, and the other members of the Volutri to name a few) getting the short end of the stick and the dialog was a bit cheesy at times. New Moon was a little slow at times making it drag which weighed the movie down a bit for me. Also Bella's "reckless" attitude that put her in danger got a bit old at times because I mean how many times does she need to be rescued in one film. With it's flaws aside though, New Moon isn't that bad it just could've been better. It'll probably please almost any die hard fan of the book series. Overall Twilight New Moon has some action, a little suspense, and good performances from the cast for the most part but this wasn't the best movie I've seen. Granted I honestly didn't expect much since New Moon got mixed reviews but if director Chris Weitz improved the flaws somehow this sequel could've been much better.