Review: NEW MOON

Movie: New Moon
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for action and some violence
Running Time: 130 minutes
Stars: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner
Writer: Melissa Rosenberg
Director: Chris Weitz

Love is a complicated emotion. It can make us feel great or it can make us feel like utter crap. The latter is what Bella Swan feels when her 'beloved' Edward leaves her after an accident with his family, in this the first sequel to last year's phenomenon "Twilight".

I shall not bother with explaining the story, because you're either a fan of Twilight or you're not, and you're gonna be seeing it or avoiding it like the plague, with or without my opinion.

I shall preface by saying that, I consider myself a medium fan of the series. I've read 3 of the books and am 3/4 of the way done with the fourth. I've seen the first film more times than any straight man in his right mind should have and I was anticipating "New Moon" as if it was the latest movie from the Coen brothers. I've gotten flack from everybody about liking the series, and you know what, who cares? I like what I like, you like what you like. Now with that out of the way, I will begin my opinion on the film itself.

The acting in the film goes from bad to pretty good varying on the actor, but most of this film's audience won't be paying attention to that, but Lautner's 8-pack (Christ dude, give me some tips on growing those!). The movie itself actually has much more of a mainstream studio look to it thanks to Weitz, than the indie look that Catherine Hardwicke had on the first film. It serves the film well, as the special effects have also been improved thankfully (although the body glitter, seriously?!). One of the negatives I have about this is, many people who have not read the books will probably be confused by some of the film. A lot of things are not made clear from the outset or are never explained at all. For someone who's read the book, I did not have a problem with it but I can understand if many others do not get it. It is obvious that this was made for the fans and for the fans only. Some other negatives include the lack of chemistry between Stewart and Pattinson, there are several shots where he looks like he's gonna vomit just kissing her. Doesn't make for a very convincing scene, especially when he's trying to show the internal agony he's going through to not kill her. A highlight would definitely have to be the well put together soundtrack for the film. Although at times it seems that we're watching a bunch of music videos strewn together to make a feature film, the songs are great and the score works well too.

"New Moon" is not gonna be winning awards any time soon (ones that count anyway) but for being a sequel and also being part of one of the most divisive series' of all-time, it is actually a very decent viewing experience (waits while all of the hecklers throw their taunts and insults). I expect to lose a lot of respect for the grade I'm gonna give it but you know what, you can't say anything about the series unless you've actually seen it. Chances are I'll agree with many of the things you say, but it doesn't mean I can't enjoy it for whatever merits I see in it.

And with that, I give the film a solid 3.5/5 stars.