The Twilight Saga: New Moon

First Review:New Moon, the second in Stephenie Meyer's blockbuster teen-fiction saga adapted for film, is stronger than its predecessor, Twilight. Director Chris Weitz (The Golden Compass), taking the helm from Catherine Hardwicke, brings a lighter, more assured touch to the sequel, which continues the star-crossed love story of mortal Bella (Kristen Stewart) and vampire Edward (Robert Pattinson). Incidentally, Edward is absent for most of the film; after an accident on Bella's birthday reminds Edward that her life is always at risk when he's around, he chooses to abandon her, sending her into a deep depression. The only person who helps her heal her broken heart is her friend Jacob (Taylor Lautner), a member of the Quileute tribe who, as he grows taller, beefier, and more aggressive (with less clothing), comes to realize he's not entirely human either. But even his love for Bella doesn't prevent her from throwing herself in the path of danger, because that's the only time she can see visions of Edward. One such fateful misunderstanding sends Edward into the coven of the Volturi (a sort of vampire Mafia, if you will), where the most dangerous vampires hold both Edward and Bella's fate in their cold, dark hands. Much of New Moon rests on the shoulders of Lautner, so scrawny in Twilight, who famously packed on the muscle to avoid getting recast. He's very nearly successful in carrying the load, but the cheese-tastic beefcake scenes disservice him, and Jacob and Bella's complicated friendship stumbles on its way to any kind of love triangle. Some of that blame lies with Stewart, who understandably holds her emotions close to her chest but reveals much too little (c'mon, even an angsty girl has to be a little joyful in the arms of two different hunks). As is with the book, the film is just a bridge between sagas, so the plot drags and not a lot happens. Fortunately, while Twilight was trapped in its own self-consciousness, the wobbly-legged cast seems to have found stronger footing in New Moon; the jokes come faster, the writing (by Melissa Rosenberg, who also scribed Twilight) is a hair wittier. (Even Pattinson seems more comfortable in Edward's skin.) The Volturi, highlighted by Michael Sheen's Aro and Dakota Fanning's Jane, also make an all-too-brief impression, but at least there's more to look forward to when Eclipse, the third installment, is released.

Category: Drama
All Genres: Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Romance, Thriler
Release Year: 2009
Country: USA
Runtime: 130 minutes
Rating: 5.0/10
Languages: English

Director:

Chris Weitz

Sound: Dolby Digital, SDDS, DTS

Writing by :

Melissa Rosenberg
Stephenie Meyer

Produced by:

Bill Bannerman
Marty Bowen
Wyck Godfrey
Mark Morgan
David Roker

Music By:

Alexandre Desplat

Cast:

Kristen Stewart - Bella Swan
Christina Jastrzembska - Gran
Robert Pattinson - Edward Cullen
Billy Burke - Charlie Swan
Anna Kendrick - Jessica
Michael Welch - Mike
Justin Chon - Eric
Christian Serratos - Angela
Taylor Lautner - Jacob Black
Ashley Greene - Alice Cullen
Jackson Rathbone - Jasper Whitlock
Russell Roberts - Mr. Berty
Cam Gigandet - James
Michael Sheen - Aro
Jamie Campbell Bower - Caius
Christopher Heyerdahl - Marcus
Peter Facinelli - Dr. Carlisle Cullen
Curtis Caravaggio - Rogue Vampire
Daniel Cudmore - Felix
Charlie Bewley - Demetri
Rachelle Lefevre - Victoria
Elizabeth Reaser - Esme Cullen
Kellan Lutz - Emmett Cullen
Nikki Reed - Rosalie Hale
Chaske Spencer - Sam Uley
Gil Birmingham - Billy Black
Graham Greene - Harry Clearwater
Adrien Dorval - Bob Marks (Neighbor)
Michael Adamthwaite - Chet
Alexander Mendeluk - Frat Boy #1
Hunter Jackson - Frat Boy #2
Gavin Bristol - Frat Boy #3
Sean McGrath - Frat Boy #4
Kiowa Gordon - Embry Call
Tyson Houseman - Quil Ateara
Alex Meraz - Paul
Bronson Pelletier - Jared
Edi Gathegi - Laurent
Tinsel Korey - Emily
Corinna Russo - Italian Child
Mariagrazia Pompei - Italian Mother (as Maria Grazia Pompei)
Roberto Marchetti - Italian Father
Alessandro Federico - Police Officer
Dakota Fanning - Jane
Justine Wachsberger - Gianna (Receptionist)
Cameron Bright - Alec
Noot Seear - Heidi
Tom Townsend - Grath
Peter Lambert - Romeo

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Plot: On her 18th birthday, Bella Swan wakes up from a dream in which she sees herself as an old woman. She expresses her distaste with growing older than her boyfriend Edward Cullen, a vampire who stopped aging at 17. Edward's family throws Bella a birthday party. While unwrapping a gift, Bella gets a paper cut, which causes Edward's adoptive brother, Jasper, to be overwhelmed by her blood's scent and attempt to kill her. Realizing the danger he and his family pose to Bella, Edward decides to end their relationship, and the Cullens move away from Forks, Washington.

Edward's departure leaves Bella heartbroken and depressed for months. However, when her father, Charlie, attempts to send her to live with her mother, Bella agrees to spend time with her friends. After seeing a movie with Jessica, Bella sees a group of men who remind her of a time when Edward rescued her previously, and she is surprised to see a vision of Edward warning her against approaching them. Bella discovers that all thrill-seeking activities grant her visions of Edward. She also finds comfort in her deepening friendship with Jacob Black, a cheerful companion who eases her pain over losing Edward. When Jacob is unable to see Bella for weeks, she discovers that he is a werewolf, an age-old enemy of vampires. Jacob's pack members are on constant patrol for Victoria, a vampire searching to kill Bella, leaving Jacob little time to spend with Bella. Alone, Bella returns to seeking thrill-inducing activities.

A series of miscommunications leads Edward to believe that Bella has killed herself while cliff-diving. Distraught over her supposed suicide, Edward flees to Italy to provoke the Volturi, a powerful coven of vampires who are capable of killing him. Alice, Edward's adoptive sister, and Bella rush to Italy to save Edward, and arrive just in time to stop him. However, the Volturi decide that Bella, a human who knows that vampires exist, must either be killed or transformed into a vampire herself. Alice stops them from killing her by showing them a vision of the future in which Bella has been transformed. Once they return home to Forks, Edward tells Bella that he has always loved her and only left town to protect her. She forgives him, and the Cullens vote in favor of Bella being transformed into a vampire, to Edward and Jacob's dismay. Edward gives Bella a choice: either she lets Alice change her after their graduation, or, if Bella agrees to marry him, he will change her himself. However, Jacob reminds them of a treaty the Cullens have made with the werewolves: they will not attack each other, as long as the Cullens never bite a human.

Goofs:

• Revealing mistakes: At the birthday party, when Dr. Cullen is stitching Bella up, they show a close up of a syringe with a type of liquid in it. Regardless of the type of liquid, in order to inject anything into the human body, the syringe must be free of air bubbles. The syringe clearly has a large bubble of air.
• Continuity: While Bella and Edward are embracing each other right after they met up in Volterra and are interrupted, Edward's body is not completely "whited-out", only his face is. This is going on the entire time he is speaking to someone in the Volturri. His face is extremely pale, but his neck and abdomen is the color of a human being.
• Continuity: After fighting with the Volturi, Edward's robe changes between being tied closed and completely open.
• Revealing mistakes: In the scene in Bella's bedroom after Edward's return, the camera shakes as if someone has bumped into it.
• Continuity: In the scene when Bella first joins her friends at the table in the school cafeteria after her long depression, as she is talking to Mike, if you look at her hair by her left ear, you can see a bobby pin that may have fallen out of her hair piece or is just not hidden well. When the scenes changes to Mike and then back to Bella the bobby pin is gone.
• Continuity: During the scene where Charlie is telling Bella she is going back to Jacksonville because of her depression, the part in Bella's hair changes slightly between shots.
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Ben takes the fingerprint of Abigail to be able to descent to the conservation room via the lift. When in the elevator, he removes his glove. He should have kept it to be able to call the lift again.
• Continuity: Bella's hair color changes frequently. In some shots it is clearly black, whilst in others it is Bella's normal brown. This is because the actress portraying her, Kristen Stewart, cut and dyed her hair during filming.

Trivia:

• Catherine Hardwicke, director of Twilight (2008/I), the first movie in the Twilight Saga, was set to be the director of 'New Moon' as well. Unfortunately, due to scheduling conflicts, Hardwicke had to back out.
• After months of speculation and rumors, director Chris Weitz and the novel's author, Stephenie Meyer, confirmed on her official website that Taylor Lautner would be reprising his role as Jacob Black. It was doubted as the filmmakers feared he would not be able to become fit enough in time. However, he was given the go-ahead after gaining 26 pounds of muscle.
• Each member of the wolf pack had to have papers proving their Native decent. Spencer is Lakota (Sioux), Pelletier is Cree-Metis, Meraz is Purepecha (Tarasco), Gordon is Hualapai, and Houseman, who was discovered at an open casting call, is Cree.
• Actors of the wolf pack went through "wolf camp" together to get buff and bond with each other.
• Shares filming location of Montepulciano, Italy with Diane Lane's romantic comedy Under the Tuscan Sun (2003) and the coming of age/study abroad documentary Di passaggio (2009).
• During the filming of Bella's birthday party, Jackson Rathbone got so into character that both Peter Facinelli and Kellan Lutz had to hold him back. During one of the takes, Elizabeth Reaser was knocked to the ground.
• Because it took 36 hours to turn Nikki Reed's brown hair blond, it was reported that she would wear a wig to play Rosalie.
• Noot Seear was painted completely white, in spite of not tanning for the previous two months.
• Chris Weitz's third movie based on a bestselling book.
• This is the first (and to date only) time director Chris Weitz handles a movie about vampires. However his grandmother had a lead role in the Spanish vampire film Drácula (1931) and his brother Paul Weitz directed Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (2009) featuring vampires.
• Director Chris Weitz said this was a easier process than his other film The Golden Compass (2007) as he found "a lot less interference from Summit [Entertainment] and a lot more understanding of the books than New Line had of The Golden Compass" - which Chris said ended up being "completely re-cut" by the studio. He thinks that Summit Entertainment "understands the importance of the [Twilight] books - members of which who have read the books and appreciate them - not just see them as engines of possible profit".
• This film is the first sequel Chris Weitz has directed. He was signed on to direct a sequel to his previous film, The Golden Compass (2007); like this film, the sequel was scheduled to be released in late 2009.
• Ashley Greene wore a different wig than the one she wore in Twilight, to portray Alice Cullen. She also cut her hair quite short so that it could fit under the wig.
• Jamie Campbell Bower, who stars as Volturi member Caius, originally auditioned for the role of Edward Cullen in Twilight (2008/I).
• "New Moon" is actually Robert Pattinson's favorite book in the Twilight series.
• Peter Lambert edited a portion of the film during his daily commute. This may be the first major motion picture in which the biggest portion of the first assembly of the film was edited in the backseat of a car.
• Summit Entertainment greenlit this sequel one day after Twilight (2008/I) had opened in theaters.
• The film's American premiere was held on 16 November 2009, which, in the lunar cycle, is a new moon.
• WILHELM SCREAM: resounds twice during the movie FacePunch that Mike, Bella, and Jacob are attending together.
• Broke the record for the biggest one-day gross in the US with $72.7 million. Former record holder was The Dark Knight (2008).
• The ring Bella wears on her index finger the whole movie is set with a large moonstone.

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