Written by: Melissa Rosenberg
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Ashley Greene, Rachelle Lefevre
Rating: [2/5]
Starting out with an already-shaky foundation presents a greater challenge for a sequel to take off and stand on its own. However, when you have something commercially untouchable, the show must go on, which we receive in Twilight: New Moon. Somehow falling deeper into a hole to the issues plaguing the first feature, this sequel takes away its greatest element and simply stews in everything that does not.
Now fully in a relationship with her vampire boyfriend, Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) believes she has everything she needs in life. However, when Edward (Robert Pattinson) believes his presence in Bella’s life will continually put her in danger, he decides to leave. Completely heartbroken, Bella begins to rely on the friendship she has with Jacob (Taylor Lautner) and the unreciprocated feelings they have for each other.
As the much-maligned story continues on with its commercial success but critical and societal panning, New Moon steps into a new level of bad storytelling by mostly eliminating what worked the most in the preceding film: The Cullens. This family unit became the lifeblood of what worked because we could see the care they each have for each other and then Bella as well. We get a small bit of them in the beginning but for the most part, they remain fairly absent in the film, which heavily disappoints because the feature gives nothing else to compensate the gap left behind. We get more time Bella spends with her heartbreak and relationship with Jacob where he continually tries to woo her and she rejects him in this vicious cycle that drags on for the majority of the second and third acts.
If the first feature served as an introduction to the vampires of this story, New Moon displays the werewolves who hold a tenuous treaty with bloodsuckers. Jacob and his people represent those who turn into werewolves, which certainly had the potential to show something worth investing in, but unfortunately, it never had a chance because of Taylor Lautner. As discussed in my review of the first feature, it truly speaks to the bad direction where tremendous actors like Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattison cannot make the material work, but this film demonstrates how it does no favors to those who do not already have the natural talent. Unfortunately, Taylor Lautner steps in to fill the hole Edward left behind and the scenes between Jacob and Bella prove quite difficult to watch.
This dynamic spurred far into popular culture where individuals had to choose whether or not they stood in Team Jacob or Team Edward and based on what gets presented in the feature, it never quite makes sense why there would even be a divide. The chemistry built between Bella and Jacob does not, in any way, sell as something that ever had a chance or feels right in the way everything plays out. These moments made me miss the look of Edward looking constipated at the thought of how much he cares for Bella making the film feel much longer than it had any right to.
The feature, as a result, becomes an exercise of waiting for what it takes for Edward to get back in Bella’s life as he remains absent for the vast majority of the feature. Perhaps, this could all get flipped over to demonstrating how much we yearn for Edward and Bella to reconnect not because we care that much about their relationship but rather to save us from what alternative sits on the other side, which well and truly looks like nothing more than an abyss. Unintended consequences one could surmise but the impact does make a difference and gets felt.
A complete and utter misfire that in the attempt to deepen the lore of the werewolves to the society of vampires that make all of the rules, New Moon just does not cut the mustard in delivering a worthwhile story. Instead, it pieces together an unwatchable film for vast stretches of the runtime where we see poor Taylor Lautner try to sell this one-sided romance between Jacob and Bella in a manner he did not have the facilities to take on and received absolutely no help from the writing or direction involved. A complete step down from an already mediocre feature.
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