THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON (Chris Weitz). 130 minutes. Opens Friday (November 20). For movie venues, times, and trailers, see Movies. Rating: NN
The best thing about New Moon, the second film in the Twilight series, is that the producers have replaced original director Catherine Hardwicke with The Golden Compass’s Chris Weitz, who at least has a basic understanding of directing actors, editing action and creating mood.
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Weitz also seems to realize how ridiculous and emotionally stunted Stephenie Meyer’s epic teen romance is, at its core, and as a result New Moon allows itself to be self-mocking rather than laughable. This is the closest thing the film has to a saving grace.
With Weitz in the driver’s seat, New Moon moves with a little more confidence. The effects are less cheesy, the story moves faster and the actors don’t look quite as confused. Robert Pattinson, as manic-depressive sparkle vampire Edward Cullen, even seems to be enjoying himself this time around, and supporting players Anna Kendrick and Ashley Greene are allowed to emerge from the background once in a while. So that’s nice.
The story’s pretty simple. Having won the heart of her beloved Edward in the previous chapter, sullen Washington State teenager Bella (Kristen Stewart) is shattered when her beloved and his “family” abruptly leave the tiny town of Forks for parts unknown. Bella eventually finds solace in the company of her best friend Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner), but soon he too grows moody and aloof, telling Bella they can’t be together … or something really bad might happen.
This time it’s werewolves, but the ugly point is still the same. For all of its swoony nods to teenage alienation and contemporary culture, the Twilight saga is a creepy abstinence allegory based around the absolute terror of sex and the subservience of women to the male will that its author doesn’t fully understand.
The only thing to do is make it entertaining, and Weitz doesn’t quite pull it off. The whole wolf-boy thing, revolving around perpetually shirtless Native American youths, is kinda snicker-worthy, particularly once you notice Lautner’s neck muscles changing shape from one scene to the next. (That’s what happens when you shoot out of sequence without tweaking your workout regimen.)
In its final movement, which finds Bella racing to save Edward from the most convoluted suicide attempt in vampire history, Weitz seems to understand the material’s potential for high camp. Michael Sheen, in a brief appearance as vampire royalty, totally gets it, but by that point it’s too late to do anything but ride it out … and brace ourselves for Eclipse, coming next summer.
