Review

Review Date: 22-November-09
Spoiler Rating: Medium
Juju Judgment: Just OK

The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009)

After watching Twilight I expressed a wish that the series would develop a mythology, acquire a strong villain, and throw more obstacles in its lovers' way, i.e., blossom into a juicy romance worthy of the hype. The sequel New Moon leaves me feeling the same way. The vibe that first intrigued me remains intact with the new director, and the leading lady still evinces an enigmatic charm, so I am not fully fed up with the tale. I just wish that a movie about extreme carnivores had more meat on its bones.

New Moon opens promisingly with loss, desperation, and the renewal of hope and hormones. The beautiful Bella (Kristen Stewart) turns 18 and begins to worry about aging because her vampire beau (Robert Pattinson) will remain 17 forever. At the same time Edward begins to worry about her safety among his kind, even with members of his "family" who are philosophically opposed to eating humans. In an act akin to ripping the heart out of his pasty white chest, he leaves Bella and lets her believe that he never loved her so that she can find a secure life and not perish from despair. That is the plan, anyway, but it does not work. Bella sinks into a deep funk, nicely described by the change of seasons outside the window where she sits, unchanging herself. She only comes alive when contemplating death. (It is a good state for Stewart, so phlegmatic she cannot muster a tear.) Finally she turns to her old pal Jacob (Taylor Lautner) who rekindles a spark within her breast.

It makes sense for the all-American boy next door to spring from the native peoples of the land, and I throw in with Team Jacob when he first appears all smitten and long-haired and eager to help. But when he morphs into Calvin Klein's version of all-American by losing his locks and his shirt (to reveal absurdly sculpted abs), his IQ seems to drop 40 points and I start to lose interest. This happens after Bella comes to rely on him as a bulwark only to have him try to ditch her like Edward did. For Jacob discovers that he is a werewolf, and dogs do not make good boyfriends (you thought other teenage boys pawed their dates). But his plan to abandon Bella for her own good also fails and she learns his secret.

So here we have a love triangle in which the two males are (supposedly) scrumptious examples of different romantic types as well as supernatural creatures whose tribes share a complicated but unexplained history. That is a decent dramatic lead-in, but it is becoming apparent that the series is all about moodiness (or mooniness) devoid of action. No Jacob-Edward smackdown worth mentioning occurs (they respect their beloved too much) and no external villains emerge to add menace or focus to the proceedings. The vampiress hunting Bella accomplishes nothing, Bella and Edward's reunion in Italy is a yawn (and a jarring change of scenery), and cameos by Michael Sheen and Dakota Fanning make no impression whatsoever. If at first I was willing to accept that the Earth stops turning every time Bella and Edward kiss, after a while I craved some determination, some expression of passion that does not look like laziness or overstuffed nobility. To cap it off, the ending mocks what efforts the characters have made and reduces the story to a dime-store paperback. How can Edward's last line mean much after he and his true love have traveled the globe, offered up their lives and happiness in sacrifice, and now face a literal eternity together? Star-crossed lovers for the ages are immune to convention, but I begin to suspect that this Twilight saga is nothing but boilerplate fluff, or maybe soggy fur.

Copyright © 2009 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.