Unlike Catherine Hardwicke’s Twilight, which dealt with the highest highs of falling in love, Chris Weitz’s New Moon sequel pinpoints the lowest lows after a breakup.
In many ways, this is much more interesting territory to explore. How does one survive after a teen romance dissolves? How does one carry on after the most important person in the world leaves?
Unfortunately, instead of showing the journey of a youth growing into a better person, The Twilight Saga: New Moon tells us to stay with the people that hurt us. It’s a very strange message to be sending such a wide audience, especially one composed of so many young and impressionable girls.
(Spoiler alert: Minor plot points follow.)
In New Moon, Edward Cullen (played by Robert Pattinson), the brooding vampire boyfriend of Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart), ends their relationship after his brother tries to make a meal out of her. In doing so, Edward treats Bella as he did in Twilight — coldly and with a constipated look on his face. He’s also that annoying type of ex that orders you around long after you’ve broken up.
Bella is crushed and understandably annoyed. She wakes up in the night screaming; months roll by as she stares longingly out her bedroom window. She loses close friends as she writes and narrates e-mails written to Edward’s sister, Alice Cullen (Ashley Greene) — none of which makes for particularly compelling cinema.
Eventually, Bella befriends and teases Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner), a man-boy werewolf who looks like he stepped out of Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch’s “Good Vibrations” music video. He is charismatic and often shirtless, but tells Bella that he could mutilate her if he gets the least bit angry. She just kind of goes along with it.
Much of what is problematic with this film can presumably be traced back to Stephanie Meyer’s popular Twilight novels, which serve as source material for the movies. (I have not read the books.)
While some find fault in the handling of female identity in Disney movies, New Moon comes across as far, far worse than a pack of helpless animated princesses. Bella’s reliance on men who can physically and emotionally abuse her is disturbing. Not only that, but we are meant to dismiss questions about the unhealthy nature of her situation because, to her, what she is experiencing is love.
There is something very peculiar about any pop culture phenomenon, especially when one does not feel part of the in crowd. New Moon set a box office record with its midnight openings this week: Fans clearly adore the Twilight story and the actors embodying these fictional characters.
But why do “Twi-hards” love these despicable characters so much? Cullen fans must see something in this character other than Pattinson’s perfect bone structure. Perhaps they project their own fantasies onto the character’s blank canvas, as the teen vamp really doesn’t have much to say aside from the occasional empty statement. Furthermore, he denies Bella any kind of physical intimacy. Why would she even want to be with him?
In terms of directing, Weitz does an adequate job of taking over for Hardwicke. The Twilight director may have been more appropriate to convey teen angst (she did, after all, direct Thirteen), but New Moon ‘s payoffs are more about cliff-jumping, werewolf transformations and grand theft auto.
However, don’t let that fool you into thinking that the sequel contains numerous action-packed scenes. Much of this movie is composed of Bella montages, in which she sits in fields and mopes. Screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg did a much better job the first go-round than here: New Moon puts viewers through quite a few long stretches without dialogue, which seems very out of place.
One saving grace helps cover the flat nature of the film and its blatant issues surrounding femininity. Any teen movie would fail without an appropriate soundtrack, and this is one area where New Moon rises. No story of angst would be complete without the cries of Thom Yorke, Death Cab for Cutie and Lykke Li. We all go though heart-wrenching breakups where this music is at the forefront, and these songs work perfectly here.
Weitz probably did the best he could after picking up the powerhouse Twilight franchise. New Moon is competently directed, aside from the long scenes where nothing happens. The scope and budget have also clearly expanded. The last third of the film has our “heroes” battling the evil Volturi vampires in Italy. All of this should be incredibly exciting, but it’s just not.
Likewise, I believe Stewart is very talented. She did a great job in David Fincher’s Panic Room and Sean Penn’s Into the Wild. However, the role of Bella — which has catapulted her to stardom in a league with actors from the Harry Potter films — does not do her justice.
Having given both Twilight films fair and honest chances, I still don’t get the appeal of the angst-ridden, bloodless relationship at the saga’s core. If New Moon ‘s anti-feminist ideologies don’t make you gag, maybe the bad special effects will.
WIRED Vacations in Italy.
TIRED Fanged creatures, socially conservative messages.
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