Howling At New Moon

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Movies

Sunday, 20 December 2009 05:55

By Popcorn Junkie

It was the most anticipated sequel I can remember in a long time. Twilight had so captivated me that I couldn’t wait for more. I even dragged my less-than-enthusiastic husband along, promising he’d enjoy it.

Oops. New Moon is not Twilight. Not even close. Even the teenagers filling most of the seats around me were rolling their eyes and sighing.

I saw Twilight last year because I’d heard it was surprisingly good. And it was. It grasped a much wider audience than the teenagers it was intended for. Hence all the hype about the sequel.

I felt like a petulant Oliver Twist myself. I wanted more, more, more – a reminder of why I’d so loved the first movie and a continuation to all those burning issues left unresolved. I got more, but not of the right things.

There were definitely a lot more long, drawn out scenes that weren’t saying anything. It felt like the moviemakers didn’t have enough content, so they filled up the time with corny pauses and forested scenery. This movie is pretty long too, so that’s a lot of greenery.

There’s not that much of the vampire lead, Edward, played by overnight heartthrob Robert Pattinson, in this movie either. There’s lots of Bella (Kristen Stewart), but she’s not doing too much while missing Edward. In fact, the film has been criticized by feminists for its portayal of Bella as such a passive female under the male influence, and reinforcing gender stereotypes. I’m nowhere close to being a feminist, but it was kind of dreary.

New Moon is designed to introduce the werewolves, solving some of the mysterious questions from the earlier movie. Taylor Lautner (Twilight’s soft-spoken Jacob) is the new hunk of the day after his spotlight role, but there was just something missing.

What I wanted was a faster pace and more action. There just wasn’t enough of it; nothing to compare to part one. So disappointing - especially since I’d brought a guest who was edging out of his seat and promising to “meet me outside” every five minutes. I wanted him to see some of the action scenes so I could explain my excitement about this movie. There were some, but they were a long time coming.

Despite being bombed by official and non-official critics, the movie has netted mega-money at the box office. That’s pretty easy to explain. My friend N is a good example. She, likewise, was dazzled by the sparkly Twilight. She even went out and read the series of books the movies are based on. She’s now a huge fan.

She was busy the day I went to see New Moon, so she asked for my opinion. I told her it was dismal, but of course she still wants to go see it for herself, which I would recommend. It’s hard to tell someone the movie they are dying to see is not that great. No amount of bad reviews could have kept me away.

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