Front page story, continued

Twilight – New Moon: Lost in translation
By A.C. Hall

It’s been some time since a movie had this much of a buzz surrounding its release. Midnight showings
were packed out and the weekend crowds were a truly impressive sight. While hardcore fans of the
book series flocked to theaters there was still one important question to be answered; will this movie
be any good? The first film did a great job of bringing this vampire love story to life but with a more
complicated plot and much more series lore to be covered in the second installment New Moon was a
much bigger undertaking for the filmmakers. Sadly they seem to have crumbled underneath the added
weight of the expanded story and this film doesn’t come close to living up to the first movie.
Bella is 18, in high school and madly in love with her boyfriend Edward. The only problem is that
Edward is a vampire and this film opens with their relationship in a strange place. Bella wants to
become a vampire so that she can be with Edward forever but he believes his presence in her life will
put her in danger so he and his vampire family move away. Heartbroken, Bella takes solace with her
friend Jacob but soon finds that he and his family also harbor a dark secret. As things spiral out of
control in her life she seeks out Edward to try and stop him from breaking a vampiric law that would
cause him to be destroyed.
There’s a lot of great story represented in this film. It’s truly sad that they couldn’t find a way to
integrate the deep lore and emotional stories from the book into this second film because it’s obvious
that there’s a lot to it. These filmmakers did a poor job of translating the book into a two hour movie
and it shows in a big way. The story feels rushed and cut to pieces. The actors are forced to try and
cram hundreds of pages worth of relationship development into a few minutes of screen time and the
result is a few too many overdramatic scenes that never quite feel justified.
Visually speaking this is a great film to watch. The special effects are top notch and the setting of the
film is really a joy to take in. The rainy, wooded town in which they live provides a perfect backdrop to
this moody, angst filled film. The ladies in the theater used whistles and gasps to show their
appreciation for the model like good looks of the two lead male actors in the film, one of whom spends
most of the movie shirtless. While I never felt embarrassed to be a man who enjoyed the first Twilight
film this one certainly felt much more geared to the females in the audience than the men.
THE VERDICT: I’ve reviewed plenty of bad movies in my time and it rarely bothers me. What does
bother me is when a movie that could’ve and should’ve been good simply isn’t. That’s clearly the case
with New Moon. There’s such a rich lore and world here but it’s so jumbled and mispresented in the
film that it’s more of a mess than a compelling story. If anything all I want to do now is read the book as I’
m certain it does a much better job than the film did of telling the ongoing saga of Bella and Edward.
Twilight fans could care less what I have to say here, they’ve already seen this movie. For anyone else
out there who like myself is more of a fringe fan of the series I’d have to suggest that you just wait and
“RENT IT”. I’m sure you’re interested in what happens next in the series but you’d be much better
served just reading the book for now and watching the movie later when it’ll just cost you a few bucks
as a rental. Hopefully the filmmakers will learn from what went wrong in this second installment and fix
it as they prepare to bring the next Twilight book to the big screen.
Twilight Saga: New Moon is rated PG-13 for some violence and action.