1331. The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009)

Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner

Director: Chris Weitz

Running Time: 130 mins

The Twilight Saga: New Moon is an American film and the second in the Twilight saga. After Edward leaves Bella and disappears, Bella falls into a depression, but finds solace in Jacob, a neighbour who turns out to be a werewolf.

So, my unexpected tolerance of this series didn’t last long. The first film was watchable, but this is bordering on painful. New Moon suffers from a combination of nonsensical and boring storytelling, whilst retaining the poor performances that plague the first movie, and also loses the first’s most striking feature.

That’s the thing that really disappointed and annoyed me about this movie, was that the got rid of the blueish-grey filter from the first film. A lot of people might not like it, but I felt like it was the only thing making Twilight stand out as a story trying to tell something more than a teen romance, and actually look at mythological creatures.

However, in New Moon, we’ve got none of that striking imagery, making this look even more like a dull, bog-standard young adult franchise movie.

The biggest overall issue with this movie is its story. Again, the first film, while not good, managed to engage me enough to the point that I could at least care about what was happening, even if it was ridiculous. Here, however, the story is both repetitive of the last film, full of incoherent and preposterous new characters and story lines, and fails to do anything to really grab your attention.

The movie attempts to create some drama by bringing Jacob into play, creating a love triangle with Bella and Edward. However, New Moon completely contradicts itself by constantly showing us Bella’s undying love for Edward, and although it attempts to allude to romance between her and Jacob from time to time, it’s a romance that’s never convincing enough to create the drama and tension that this wants, and really needs, to spark.

Another major issue is the directing. Chris Weitz, taking over from Catherine Hardwicke, has taken the series down a peg with his far more generic directing. There are a couple of inventive shots, and he sometimes tries to introduce some darker themes, but for the most part, this isn’t a well-directed movie, really failing to inject any life or tension into what is clearly a hugely flawed story.

Overall, New Moon is a hugely disappointing second instalment in the Twilight saga. I had a glimmer of hope after watching the first film, but after this crazily messy, dull and plain sequel, I don’t think this series can improve, and that’s why it gets a 5.0 from me.