The Twilight franchise has been one of the most polarizing fantasy film franchises of all time. While it has mostly been panned for how artificial and stale it is, it has still managed to garner a cult following. And even if the public opinion of it is negative, one can’t deny the fact that it had everyone talking about it for quite some time. Its impact can be seen in the fact that it still negatively burdens both the lead actors Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart. Regardless of them being in some of the greatest films of recent times, most people would associate them with Twilight.
Chris Weitz’s The Twilight Saga: New Moon is a middling sequel to a fairly worse film. Unlike the first film, it isn’t something we’d advise you not to watch, but we won’t recommend even a fantasy fan to watch it. The only kind of person to recommend this film to is the one who liked the first film too.
How to Stream or Download The Twilight Saga: New Moon
To stream or to download the second part of the Twilight Saga from a digital store of your choice, click on the Download button that is located below this review.
The Movie Review
The plot’s context can sound hilariously stupid, but one will have to admit that the visual flair and music are the things that carry the campiness of the film or even the franchise itself to a major extent. But somehow, the direction fails to make the best out of even them. You may have rarely been superstitious about issues similar to those that make Bella Swan panic in this film. And the film makes such an intense dilemma out of this pretty general issue.
So apparently what worries Bella is a dream she has after turning 18, which shows her as a very old woman, alongside her vampire boyfriend Edward Cullen, who still stays young as ever.
While feeling ancient the moment one enters 18 years of age is normal, it’s the way the storyline intensifies the matter that’s funny. The Cullens give her a birthday party where things go south and their vampire instincts kick in, which leads to Edward ending the relationship for Bella’s own safety.
Things begin to even more south for Bella from there onward, and she starts seeing Edward every other minute. Her Quileute friend Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) tries comforting her during this time of stress. Superstitions from different ends create more and more misunderstandings, leading to consequences as serious as the potential death of the protagonists.
One, in particular, comes from Edward’s sister Alice, who witnesses the death of Bella in a dream. A romantic drama with such a degree of fantasy could’ve benefited from less corny dialogue writing and direction. Knowing the current skill of the actors, one can’t blame them for the stale performances either, because that is what their characters demand anyway.
The Twilight Saga: New Moon suffers from problems similar to its predecessors, but the premise is a little less weak, and the technical aspects are much better. The most commendable aspect would be Alexandre Desplat’s original score, which provides a slight boost to the mediocrity of this tale.
Javier Aguirresarobe’s cinematography does all it can to make the film look beautiful, and it does a better job than Elliot Davis’ work in the first film, but it’s all still hindered by the film’s relatively weak direction and campy source material.
The visuals are good to look at when not too bright, sure, but the visuals don’t tell the story enough, and when they do, it’s not subtle at all.
Chris Weitz’s The Twilight Saga: New Moon is certainly an improvement over Catherine Hardwicke’s first Twilight film, but only technically. The more important aspects like direction and writing are still bugged by similar issues, though the source material itself is to blame for the tale’s own mediocrity too.
The Twilight Saga: New Moon is worth watching only if you liked or almost liked the first Twilight.
