The Twilight Saga

The long-awaited second installment to the Twilight saga was released on November 20, 2009. I was part of the crowd anticipating to see Edward’s glittery chest. For those who are unfamiliar with the series, the movies are adaptations of the books written by Stephenie Meyer. The second book, and the sequel to the film, is titled New Moon. The film opens with the celebration of Bella’s birthday at the Cullens’ residence. Everything was going according to Alice’s plan until Bella started opening her gifts. Bella opened an envelope and got a paper cut. At this point, the frame focused on Bella staring at her finger as blood beaded on her finger. Then the frame focused on Jasper who is the newest member to the Cullen family and has the least control over his appetite for blood. Then the frame shifted to give a full view of all the members of the Cullen family whose shocked stares bounced between Bella and Jasper in slow motion. Edward, of course, was on guard to protect his love and jumped right in front of Bella just before Jasper reached her. Then the rest of the family helped calm Jasper down and Carlisle, Edward’s dad, looked at Bella’s injuries. Edward felt horrible for risking Bella’s life and convinced himself that he is no good for Bella. So Edward and the rest of his family moved away and left Bella all by herself in the gloomy town of Forks.

Bella fell in a deep depression and she started participating in dangerous activities. In one occasion, she started learning how to ride a motorcycle with her friend Jacob. She was accelerating too fast and suddenly a mirage of Edward’s head appeared on the screen telling Bella to stop. Edward’s head floating randomly on the screen ruined the romantic and protective feeling that this part of the story was supposed to evoke. Instead, I found the scene awkward and quite hilarious. I also observed that the best parts of the movie are those that are shown in the trailer. The rest of the movie seemed like fillers to make the movie last for two hours.

The acting in this film was disappointing, though it could be expected from the actors’ performance in the first movie, Twilight. Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson seemed like they were just reading their lines from a cue card. They lacked the emotion and passion that the characters Bella and Edward were supposed to have according to the book. Their facial expressions did not match the emotion that they were supposed to convey in a scene. When Edward was saying goodbye to Bella at the beginning of the movie, Pattinson tried to show his character’s pain by wrinkling his forehead and looking down towards the ground. This did not convince the audience that Edward was solemnly conflicted between leaving Bella forever and endangering her life. Kristen Stewart also lacked the facial expressions throughout the movie. Though I cannot remember specific scenes, most of her acting consisted of shaking her head a little when her character is confused. Both actors played down their roles in the movie; their portrayals of their characters were too nonchalant. But do not forget about Jacob Black played by Taylor Lautner. As many people knew, Lautner gained about twenty pounds of pure muscle for his role as Bella’s friend. If they did not know, then they found out in New Moon. Jacob hardly wore a shirt in this movie and as I recall, half of the audience screamed when they first saw Lautner’s abs. Based on their performances, the casting in the movie was based on the fans the actors were able draw to watch the movie rather than their acting skills. The movie was just trying to sell Steward, Pattinson and Lautner.

I was disappointed when I saw Twilight but I also considered the fact that there was probably not a lot of money to fund the movie. Thus, I was hopeful for New Moon since Twilight seemed like it was successful in the box office. However I decided that the reason the movies are not good is due to the poor performances of the actors. A constant thought in my head while I was watching New Moon was how Pattinson and Stewart needed improvements in their acting. It was very disappointing to see them portray Bella and Edward, characters whom I loved in the book. The film also lacked an intricate plot but this may be due to the book itself. I would recommend New Moon only for lazy summer afternoons when there is nothing good to watch on the television, but I would not recommend lining up outside the theater at midnight to see this film.