THE GOOD...1. Improves on the first movie in almost every possible way...it's bigger, brighter, sexier, sassier, cleverer, more expansive in scope (hello Italy!) and (yes!) camper than ever before... The script's hardly Harold Pinter but so what? This is big, dumb soap opera fun, so earnest and overwrought and OTT (especially in the delivery of some excruciating dialogue) it could almost be a Bollywood movie...
2. Vampire vs. werewolves add badly needed dramatic zing... Ironically, the first movie lacked any real bite and it never really felt as if anything was at stake (ahem)... here, the IMMENSELY homoerotic Jacob vs. Edward tensions really spice up the movie and provides Bella with some proper dilemmas to (sorry!) sink her teeth into.
3. Hellooooo Taylor Lautner!...dude completely aces it in what is probably the most difficult role in the film...After all, the majority of his screentime is spent hanging around half-naked, spouting syrupy shitty dialogue and trying not to look ridiculous... A tall order, which the he pulls off with ease - he's every inch the teen idol he needs to be when facing off against the mighty quiff of R-Patz... Oh, and not only is the guy completely and utterly pecked to the nines, Lautner also makes you care about Jacob's journey from adolescent loner to teenage werewolf (Twereolf?)
4. Speaking of R-Patz, he comes of age as a solid leading man in New Moon and smoulders like he's never smouldered before... And to think that in the 1970s, George Hamilton was considered to be the very definition of vampire chic (Love At First Bite = AMAZING.)
5. There's so much testerone flying around the screen you'd forgive Kristen Stewart for wanting to take a back seat but thankfully she's having none of it... On a roll this year following the terrific coming-of-age comedy Adventureland, Stewart takes the whole conflicted teen heartache thing and runs with it.
6. Hang on - was that Dakota Fanning? Yes, yes it was!
7. Production values massively improved this around - compared to it's rather lo-fi predecessor, New Moon actually looks like a proper film courtesy of some top notch cinematography (some of the mistier, in-the-woods stuff even evokes Hammer. Honestly!)
8. Too many other bat-shit crazy scenes to mention: the first reveal of Lautner's mega-chest..the jaw-droppingly brilliant/awful flash-forward "vision" sequence in which Edward and Bella run through the forest dressed like extras from The Sound Of Music (it's Edelweiss via The Bold & The Beautiful)...Bella's unfortunate foray into the world of dirt-biking (!)...Jacob & Bella's trip to the cinema to watch new cutting-edge action thriller "Face Punch"... Seriously, this film is NUTS.
9. A great cliffhanger that paves the way nicely for Eclipse (its director David Slade cut his teeth on "all men are fuckers" flick Hard Candy so at the very least it should be interesting.)
THE BAD...
1. Not enough Michael Sheen...as the sinister master of vampire sect the Volturi (and token Brit baddie - tick it off!) Newport's finest barely gets 15 mins of screen time in the whole movie, popping up to wreak havoc in the final act (It's as if the film suddenly goes "must have baddie now!") And while that's just about enough to get his big Welsh gnashers into a reasonably substantial piece of scenery, it would have been nice for him to show off his not inconsiderable acting chops for a little longer. (Note to producers: Michael Sheen needs to be cast in every film ever produced from hereon in.)
2. Director Chris Weitz still can't handle big "beast vs. beast" fight sequences..this is his second chance to stage a massive set-piece battle after cocking up the bear fight in The Golden Compass, and once again he misses by a long way...the CG's unconvincing and the action's uninvolving...wobbly.
3. Uncomfortable subtexts...basically, in Twilight-land (Twiland!) if you're a girl, you're pretty much 100% subservient to the man in your life, so much so that (added bonus!) if you ever dare piss him off, the likelihood is you'll get beaten or damaged in some very real, very physical way and (thank heavens!) it's almost always going to be your fault... Essentially, yes, you CAN have your uber-hot alpha-male vampire/werewolf boyfriend but only as long as you're prepared to bake him muffins and take a little rough and tumble along the way. INCREDIBLE. Still, while the film may not depict everyone's exact idea of a feminist utopia, it's obviously doing something right (I left the cinema drpping in oestrogen, just don't tell Doris Lessing...)
VERDICT...
Almost overpoweringly angst-filled...be warned, New Moon is pain-riddled, acne-stained emo through and through. In other words, this is the Paramore of stupid vampire movies and Twi-hards won't be disappointed... (despite wonky sexual politics.)
***
No comments:
Post a Comment