[The Twilight Saga:New Moon]
Plot:In the sequel to "Twilight", after Bella recovers from the vampire attack that almost claimed her life, she looks to celebrate her birthday with Edward and his family. However, a minor accident during the festivities results in Bella's blood being shed, a sight that proves too intense for the Cullens, who decide to leave the town of Forks, Washington for Bella and Edward's sake. Initially heartbroken, Bella finds a form of comfort in reckless living, as well as an even-closer friendship with Jacob Black. Danger in different forms awaits.

Cast: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Bronson Pelletier, Dakota Fanning, Chaske Spencer, Alex Meraz, Kiowa Gordon, Tyson Houseman, Noot Seear, Jamie Campbell-Bower, Michael Sheen, Ashley Greene, Peter Facinelli, Edi Gathegi, Elizabeth Reaser, Kellan Lutz, Nikki Reed, Jackson Rathbone, Rachelle Lafevre, Billy Burke, Charlie Bewley, Daniel Cudmore, Christopher Heyerdahl, Cameron Bright, Graham Greene, Tinsel Korey, Boo Boo Stewart.

My Thoughts:A lot more tolerable than the first movie.

Review:I was not impressed with "Twilight" at all. Although I knew going in, it was a horror-fantasy-drama pic aiming for the 17 and under crowd. Still, I felt it should've tried to be a bit darker and more hardcore. "Twilight:New Moon" brings back the same sappy element "Twilight" introduced into the film series, which is based off of the Stephanie Meyer books, but it also takes things in a much darker, more mature direction. Which atleast makes the movie a lot more tolerable that it's predecessor. "New Moon" once again drops us into the middle of the Bella and Edward saga, and furthermore, documents their..."complicated" relationship.

Ironically enough, despite nearly being killed by Victoria and her clan, Edward and Bella at the beginning of the film are happy, and still in love. Bella's birthday is upon them, and to celebrate, Edward takes Bella to a gathering at the Cullen homestead. However, when Bella ends up getting accidentally cut at the gathering, and Edward has to fend off a few relatives who can't control their lust for Bella's blood, he comes to a realization at how much danger he's putting Bella in by being with her. So Edward pretty much drops her like a hot potato, and goes into vampire seclusion, basically living off the grid. Bella cannot find him, nor can she contact him.

And with Edward, the Cullen family vanishes as well. Although Bella still stays in contact with Alice. The recent bailing of Edward, leads Bella to become closer to Jacob, who is sorting out his own personal baggage, which has strong ties to his lineage. But with Jacob and Bella getting closer, and Edward no longer around to protect Bella, enemies from the past seek to prey on her. And some new players are not yet revealed to her as friend or foe. Can Bella stay alive long enough to reconcile with Edward? "New Moon" is basically all about change.

Whereas in the first movie, everyone was pretty much doing the teenage thing, in this movie everyone has matured like 13 years seemingly. Jacob is a lot more stoic and confrontational now, as opposed to the shy, kind of lovesick kid he was in part 1. Jacob's personality changes tie into his physical changes which have deep roots within his wolf lineage. In fact in this film, Jacob's side of things is explored a lot more as opposed to "Twilight' which was pretty much all about the Cullen's and their lineage. Thus the secrets Bella learns about Jacob, and his new friends, pushes her away from him slightly.

Which is ironic considering once Edward leaves, Bella seeks out someone new to latch onto. Only to learn later on Jacob might have more personal issues than Edward does. If there's one thing this film doesn't do though, it's prop up Bella (Kristen Stewart). Unlike "Twilight", which made the whole Bella/Edward/Jacob triangle look cute and angsty, this film makes Bella look like an undecisive, co-dependent game-player. The kind of girl any sane man would want to avoid. Bella just cannot seem to walk any path alone, and she bounces from guy to guy in this film, even at one point hopping onto a motorcycle with a biker who's old enough to be her father. All because Edward left her high and dry.

Of course, it wasn't because he wanted to, he wanted to prevent her from having anymore incidents where she might get eaten, but Bella doesn't seem to understand this for some reason. She runs to Jacob, but you can tell she is just angling a temporary relationship with him until Edward gets his shit together, and comes flying back into town to reclaim Bella. Thus, you really feel sorry for Jacob (Lautner) in this movie because he seems like the more noble of the two boys, as he wants to protect Bella from the vampires, not only the Cullen's, who although his kind has a treaty with, he (Jacob), still doesn't trust, but also an angry Victoria, and her lackey's who are all after Bella.

Yet you can obviously tell Bella just sees Jacob as a rebound guy, and the minute Edward comes calling again, she'll drop Jacob like an anvil and flee back to Edward. This is even made more evident by the fact that Bella is constantly haunted by visions of Edward speaking to her, warning her not to do stupid stuff. But Bella at this point is suicidal, heart-broken, and insane, so she finds many different ways in this movie to put her life in danger. If you're looking for cool sequences in this film, you'll find most of them with the wolves, Jacob, and a chase scene where Jacob's pack pursues two vampires which return from the first "twilight" film, in separate scenes however.

I think these collection of scenes are a lot better than the baseball game confrontation which was the only cool moment "Twilight offered up. But "New Moon" is short on villains, and the Volturi, who we heard so much about as this movie was shooting, are relegated to a footnote in the picture. Which is sad because their scenes top every other scene in this film. If this movie had given me more Volturi, and less Bella freak outs, I might've liked it better.

The finale of "New Moon" is very thrilling, mostly because it involves the Volturi, but then after that, Bella has to make her choice between Jacob and Edward, and this moment brings the film down because it's so lame and predictable. "New Moon" fails because it makes the main character Bella look like one of the most annoying, and easy-to-hate characters of the series.

And this is not good for a character who is the main focal point of the next two movies. While making everyone one around her grow up and become more mature in the sequel, it's obvious the writers failed to give Bella any growing up to do. Hopefully "Eclipse" is the movie where Bella gets her shit together, because I don't know how much more of this character I can take.

Positives:Jacob is the star of this movie, given a great backstory in the sequel and brought to the forefront wonderfully. Lautner also gives a great performance. Three scenes in particular are well done visually, the scene where Jacob and his pack go after one of Victoria's lackey's, the scene where they pursue Victoria in the woods, and the Volturi versus Edward scene. Alice Cullen (Ashley Greene), comes off as more likeable this time around.

Negatives:Bella, god she was annoying as hell. And Edward wasn't that much more tolerable with his self-loathing and pity-me BS. The Volturi do not get enough screentime or story arcs. They're wasted in the film, and it would've been nice to see more of Victoria going after Bella. The finale where Bella makes her "choice" is one of the films more predictable moments.

Overall:Two and a half stars out of four.





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