MOVIE REVIEW: ‘New Moon’

By Kaitlyn Teabo | kteabo@flagler.edu

Team Jacob fans are howling for New Moon, the second installment of Stephenie Meyer’s series Twilight.

For those of you who aren’t quite up to speed on the Twilight series, hardcore fans affiliate themselves with either Team Jacob or Team Edward, as Jacob Black and Edward Cullen are the two love interests in the Twilight Series. In New Moon, Bella Swan, a human, must choose between the two supernatural characters, Jacob being a werewolf, while Edward is a vampire.

New Moon progresses the story line between the mortal and supernatural world of vampires and werewolves. As Bella Swan, played by Kristen Stewart, turns 18, she is reminded of her age and wants nothing more than to leave Forks, be turned into a vampire and live forever with her star crossed lover, Edward Cullen, played by Robert Pattinson.

After a dangerous situation with a paper cut, Edward decides Bella would be better off without the supernatural world and leaves her. Bella is devastated and turns to her best friend Jacob Black, played by Taylor Lautner.

Ironically, Jacob discovers that as a member of the Quileute tribe, he is prone to turning into an exceptionally large wolf at a moment’s notice, a wolf whose main objective in life is to protect humans from vampires.

The movie is focused on Bella and Jacob’s newfound love for each other, while the love triangle gets more complicated.

For fans, this movie is everything they expected and more. With 30-pound heavier Lautner and fierce Pattinson, this movie has every girl crushing.

But when it comes down to it, the fans should not only happy with the cast, but the new direction New Moon has taken. In place of Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke, the filmmaker who disappointed a lot of Twilight fans and made a joke out of the series, New Moon has taken better direction with Chris Weitz.

As opposed to Hardwicke’s use of dark and vague colors while trying to portray Fork’s mood, Weitz uses more gold, red, and bright colors that make the scenes pop. Weitz’s vision is to keep the movie as close to the book as possible. Thus, small details were changed from the first movie, the vampire’s eyes had a fuller gold or red color and the vampire Victoria, has fiery red hair as opposed to strawberry blonde.

The overall quality of the movie was professional and visually pleasing. Staying true to the book, the most heart throbbing quotes were used, allowing the audience to feel for the characters. The wardrobe was more fitting for the time period and the characters.
Although the acting was an improvement from Twilight, Stewart still has that horrible screech of a “scream”, awkward screen presence, and lack of talent to pull off a Hollywood box office film. The CGI of the werewolves could have been better with the budget the movie had, and the movie ran long for those who do not want to see every last detail of the book.

There is a scene that over emphasizes the feminine characteristics of Edward as a vampire, as he frolics in a forest, which gives critics something else to talk about.

This movie is not a supernatural movie with a hint of romance; it’s quite the opposite. With quotes such as “You are my whole world now” and “I Promise this is the last time you will see me” draws me into the story line and makes me feel for the characters. It is a modern day Romeo and Juliet.

For those who do not like romantic love stories, this is not the movie for you. For those who can get caught up in a fairytale, be prepared to be on the edge of your seat.