The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009)

My Book vs. Film is already out, so maybe you want to start there and work back. I don't know. It's downright exhaustive, so I'm not going to get into the strength of the adaptation here. Let's focus on the movie as a movie.

I've got a complicated relationship with composer Alexandre Desplat, but let me tell you this much: he damn near ruined the movie for me. A lot of my other complaints about this movie are very much based in a comparison with Hardwicke's Twilight, which is just too bad for New Moon director Chris Weitz, but I am certain I would have found this score egregiously overwritten at every turn no matter what. He actually dings! when someone is supposed to have a moment of recognition. For all I know, there were dun-dun-duns, but I was probably working overtime to block it out. It's the most obvious and attention seeking score I have heard in years.

In talking it over with my viewing partner, she noted that there is a time and a place for a full orchestra, and New Moon is not it. Truer words, people. I liked Carter Burwell's work well enough last time around (okay, I do feel that the conspicuously-absent-from-New-Moon lullaby was not quite right), but I never realized before how his electric guitar and tribal drum driven work was modern, sexy, dangerous, and cool. Exactly what the score for our teen vampires and werewolves in love should be.

Regardless of the DP, director, or composer, these movies are bound to rake in a ton of coin. But does that mean that aesthetic concerns don't matter? Of course not! While cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe does lovely work in the lush coastal rain forests of Vancouver, he's sort of at a loss when people are in the frame. Aguirresarobe and Weitz make sure that Edward (Robert Pattinson)'s first real appearance is held long enough for fangirls to get in a good squee (there is a fan involved, I'm pretty sure), but they lose it shortly thereafter. To wit:

1. Carlisle (Peter Facinelli) sows up Bella (Kristen Stewart)'s arm in candlelight while pulling her close and listening to opera. Wait, who is she supposed to be dating? Because I just thought, "Kiss! Kiss!"


2. A tilt to suggest Bella is thrown by Edward breaking up with her? Is this Doubt?


3. The camera pushes in on her lying down in the woods, and I thought, "Why wouldn't the camer pull out to show how alone and vulnerable she is?"
   
   
4. Bella tosses Jacob a slice of pizza during a fixing-up-our-bikes montage, and he catches a socket wrench (montage!). Not only does the wrench catch look completely fake, but it comes in from a completely different height and angle than the pizza through to what looks like a different area of the garage. Intentionally funny?*
   

It's like they're not sure what story they want to tell. Hardwicke clearly wanted to tell a story called, "The Cullens are cool, and now you want to join their cult, too." If Weitz's angle was supposed to be, "The wolves are cool, and now you want to join their cult, too," he really didn't hit the mark.

Don't get me wrong; the wolves are pretty cool. You're not going to get a lot of arguments from me against good looking guys with their shirts off, and New Moon has those aplenty. They're also a lot less openly hostile toward Bella in the movie than they are in the book, which I appreciated. Taylor Lautner's baby-face doesn't quite match the 25-year-old man Jacob is meant to morph into, but he's got Jacob's tenderness, heartbreak, and barely suppressed rage down pat. It will certainly be interesting to see what he does with Eclipse and Breaking Dawn. Plus, unlike others, aging will work in his favour.

Others being Pattinson, of course. Not that he looks markedly older to me, but there's something in his aspect this time around that's less boy and more man. I already thought he was perfectly cast as Edward, and he certainly brings exactly what's necessary to the role, cutting through Stephenie Meyer's florid prose to the human underneath. Yes, human. While Edward's beyond obsessed about his status as a vampire, Pattinson manages to play him in such a way where you can see how, for Bella, that would be just one thing about him but not the main thing. There's a man there. That said, this change I see makes the decision to rush through production slightly more reasonable.

Stewart's also doing some more lovely work (I was especially cheered by the face she makes right after she makes a pointed remark. It's a great "Get it?" face), though not all her choices work out that well. Even so, I see her growing into the character as well as making Bella grow up with her. It's the kind of thing that just might be worth study over time.

All the usual suspects are back, and they're just as great and underused as they were before (although what is up with Jasper's hair? Why can they not make it work?), and, though Fanning might try to steal the show as Jane, it's all about Michael Sheen as Aro when it comes to supporting players because it is fantastic to watch him pull a dude's head off and then gleefully cheer happy endings a few scenes later. I always liked Aro, but I just might love him now. I can only guess what's in store for Sheen now after playing a werewolf and a vampire. Frankenstein's monster? Dr. Frankenstein? Zombie? Angel? Demon? The sky's the limit!

Limited, I hope, will be Weitz's involvement in any future installments of this series. He and his team just aren't a good fit. Harwicke gets teenagers better than most directors (she's like John Hughes that way), and Weitz just doesn't seem to have the same respect/understanding of the source material. I mean, it's the same screenwriter (Melissa Rosenberg) either way, so it's hard to place the blame/credit there. Overall, the experience is satisfactory but nothing more than that. C+

*Point number four was added on the 24th after I remembered it.