THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Fans made Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight a phenomenon when it’s film adaptation arrived in 2008. Due to the box office success, it was a given for the rest of the series to be adapted. And lucky for them, they didn’t have to wait too long.
PLOT
New Moon starts with Isabella Swan turning 18 years old. Because of her relationship with the immortal vampire Edward Cullen, she is afraid of getting old. When his family host a birthday party for her, things take a turn for the worst when Jasper (Jackson Rathbone) gets overwhelmed with the scent of her blood when she gets a paper cut. Luckily, he is restrained before it could get any more worse. But because of this incident, the Cullens decide to leave Forks, Washington, as they fear of putting her life in danger. This would break Bella’s heart as she would have to end her relationship with Edward. When she tries to search for him in the woods to make him stay, but ends up falling asleep after putting herself deserted and depleted. Luckily, a Quileute man named Sam Uley (Chaske Spencer) finds her and takes her home. As months go by, she would become depressed as she would have night terrors, lessen hanging out with her school friends and choose to commit thrill seeking activities to evoke his image. This part of her almost disappears when she starts hanging out with her Quileute friend Jacob Black. The more they hang out, she notices how other Quileute teens obey Sam. Her frienship with Jacob would then drift after he starts following him, cutting his hair and getting a Quileute tattoo. After their fallout, she encounters the vampire Laurent (Ed Gathegi), a companion of Victoria (Rachelle LeFevre). He attempts to kill her to avenge James, but he is stopped and killed by giant wolves. When she confronts Sam's group, she calls him out for making his friend feel scared. When she slaps the teen Paul (Alex Meraz), he turns into a giant wolf, and Jacob turns into one as well to protect her. As both werewolves scuffle, Bella is taken to Sam's house and meets Sam's fiance Emily (Tinsel Korey) who welcomes her and explains that the pack means no harm. When Sam comes back with Jacob and Paul, the latter apologizes for scaring her. Some time after this, Jacob explains that werewolves only kill vampires, minus the Cullens based on their ancient treaty. He shares that they killed Laurent and have been tracking Victoria for a while. When the pack goes after her again, she ends up killing fellow Quileute Harry Clearwater (Graham Greene), another friend of Bella's father Charlie Swan (Billy Burke). The vampire gets away by jumping into the beach. As that happens, Bella resumes to be thrill seeking by jumping off a cliff, still missing Edward deeply. Luckily, Jacob is able to save her before Victoria could get to her. When he takes her home, she finds Alice Cullen waiting for her. She came back because she saw a vision where Bella jumped and Edward has distanced himself from the family. He does decide to call her but when Jacob answers, he believes that the love of his life had died. Alice sees another vision that he is planning to take his own life to join her in the afterlife. Both women go to Volterra, Italy, where he plans to reveal his true self to humans. If he does that, the vampire coven known as the 'Volturi' will execute him. Fortunately, Bella is able to reach him in time and save him before being spotted. Relieved that she's alive, Edward promises to not leave her again. The Volturi are against the idea of humans confiding in vampire society and contemplate on killing her, but Alice saves her by sharing a vision to Volturi elder Aro that Bella will turn. After seeing it, he agrees to spare her as long as she eventually turns. When they return to Forks, the Cullens vote for Bella to turn, minus Edward and Rosalie (Nikki Reed). Jacob does confront Edward that the treaty will end if he turns a human. But Bella makes clear that it's her choice. The film ends in a cliffhanger where Edward agrees to turn her personally, under the condition that they get married.
THOUGHTS
I remember this film arguably being as hyped as Avatar. I chose not to see it at the time because I just wasn't into it. When I got around to seeing the first film though, I knew that it was a matter of time for this to come around. So even after giving in to this one before Eclipse, I find myself disappointed to say that I don't like this one at all. I honestly should've not been surprised with director Chris Weitz messing this up, since he had already messed up The Golden Compass as well. At first, I respect the attempt of depicting one's isolation, but then I'm just annoyed of it referencing Romeo & Juliet because it shouldn't have been so obvious. At this point, his direction diminishes the decent path that was made from the first film. The one thing that actually works is the perspective of unrequited love. It feels this way when the focus is on Jacob Black. Enter Taylor Lautner, who likely gives his best outing as the iconic werewolf throughout the franchise. This guy deeply cares about Bella and that care becomes love. He starts feeling this way because of how close they bond when Edward is gone. Bella only briefly feels the same because he eased the pain she was going through and appreciates how protective he is. But in the end, her first love overpowers the second. As I go into the rest of the cast, it's hard to like Bella here because while Kristen Stewart's mannerisms don't improve, the character doesn't make the best decisions. I understand that she misses Edward during this period of time, but it doesn't condone putting herself in danger. She makes it come off like enjoys being a damsel. I also don't like how she doesn't condone his actions as a werewolf since her boyfriend killed James to protect her. That is hypocrisy at its finest here. However, I do respect Edward here because Robert Pattinson does a good job reflecting the character's emotional pain, originally distancing himself from the one he loves out of fear of losing her. This is one of those few times where letting go of a loved one is sensible. He doesn't want her to be a vampire like him because he knows that she'll miss the family she'll leave behind and he gives her the ultimatum because it is the one way they'll be together forever. Alice definitely grew to me since Ashley Greene maintains her to be a caring sister to Bella. The main villains are the Volturi and they make their mark on being strict, calculating figures. This is the only time Michael Sheen makes the scenery work when playing the main elder Aro, because it all goes downhill after this. Having said what I said with the cast, there were way too many things I hated in the overall story. Like I can't be the only one annoyed of how Edward parallel parked at school in the opening. I don't care how dramatic the entrance looks, that car should've been towed. It's even weird of how he introduces the Volturi during class. That's just one of so many things that are highly misplaced. I also gave up on in this movie because I don't think he was trying at all to put up with Bella's depression. Of course he handled things differently with Renee but if he really cares about Bella, he should've not tried to make her leave. Making her more isolated is just making it worse. I also didn't like how Jacob was not straight up on telling Bella he's a werewolf. It would've been easy for her to believe man, she's dating a vampire. I mean I saw it coming from the first movie and never read the followups because it was that obvious. I was even tripped out of how he got a shirt after fighting Paul. Did he literally go back home just to get a shirt before heading to Emily. It's kind of pointless if you think about it. And honestly, I blame Rosalie for Edward's suicide attempt because had she not told him why Alice left, he would've not done what he did. If you really think you can ignore these issues, then I wish you the best of luck because New Moon is an overall hot mess and I find it difficult to accept that fans actually enjoy this entry.
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