New Moon, the second filmic instalment in Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series, is a lifeless film.
Directed by Chris Weitz, New Moon continues the story of the supposedly tragic romance between Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart), a 17-year-old with no personality, and Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), an eternally 17-year-old with no pulse. In the film, Edward realises that dating a vampire might negatively impact on Bella’s health and longevity, so they break up and Edward leaves town. Bella sinks into a deep depression, but finds herself drawn to her super-buff best friend Jacob (Taylor Lautner), the only person who can make her feel alive. Jacob, however, is going through some changes – he’s a werewolf – and so Bella finds herself in the middle of a supernatural love triangle. Throw in some last minute suicide plans and evil vampires, and you have yourself a plotline.
New Moon is as much about wish fulfilment for teenage girls as ever, and unsurprisingly as anti-feminist as its predecessor. Bella can only feel alive when she has a man in her life, and her favourite pastime is cooking dinner for her father. Meyer’s religious beliefs are still apparent: abstinence is sexy, and teen marriage a-okay. Aside from the dubious male dependency message, the film is also technically inept, with strained dialogue and stilted direction. The teen leads – good-looking though they may be – also cannot do justice to the pain they are supposed to be feeling. Or, er, to any emotion, really.
The special features on the standard DVD are also disappointing. At least, I expect that one would be disappointed, if one were a fan. With one (1!) special feature – a “Team Edward or Team Jacob” featurette that splices together footage of fans on the street screaming either character’s name incoherently – I cannot imagine what might induce someone to fork out money for the privilege of owning this DVD, when there are so few incentives.
New Moon sucks – pun definitely intended.
