New Twilight flick “really sucks”
Thursday saw the long awaited release of New Moon; the second film adaption of Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series.
While fans generally won’t be let down, does the movie live up to all the monumental hype? Does it do the book justice?
Based on 162 reviews collected by the film aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, New Moon has received a “Rotten” rating of 30%, with a weighted average score of 4.8 out of 10.
Digital Spy gave the film 2 stars out of 5, praising Kristen Stewart for “carrying the film on her shoulders and, once again, bringing plenty of soul to a character who might otherwise come across as self-indulgent”, but was critical of its lack of action, ultimately calling it “a draining experience”.
Despite these grim assessments by critics, the film has been hailed by fans as the best yet. In it’s first four days, it has amassed an estimated US$274,939,137 at the box office so far.
New Moon sees favourites such as Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Ashley Greene, Peter Facinelli and Jackson Rathbone reprise their roles from the first film. Upon first viewing; New Moon is what some might deem as disappointing.
Director Chris Weitz faithfully promised fans late last year that “The extraordinary world that Stephenie has created has millions of fans, and it will be my duty to protect on their behalf the characters, themes and story they love. This is not a task to be taken lightly, and I will put every effort into realizing a beautiful film to stand alongside a beautiful book”.
With such noticeably sized chunks from the novel missing from the big screen version, it seems this is something Weitz clearly never had within his power to promise. Either that, or he has a completely different idea of what “true to the book” entails.
At this point, before all the bloodthirsty Twilighters come beating a path to my door to rip my throat out (no pun intended), I should probably make two things perfectly clear:
The first of which is that I quite enjoyed reading all four of the novels. I found the characters, settings and situations to be nothing short of addictive. The style of writing as a whole was both cohesive and aesthetically pleasing – without being too verbose. The larger narrative as a whole is both witty and touching.
The second thing I need to point out is that New Moon is on the whole, still a pretty amazing movie. The special effects are top notch. Taylor Lautner is every bit as buff as they led us to believe. The acting is sterling - even Kristen Stewart makes a vast improvement from her obvious portrayal of Blinky Bill.
The soundtrack, which features offerings from the likes of Muse, Bon Iver, Deathcab for Cutie, Thom Yorke, Grizzly Bear and numerous other artists, is every bit as and brooding as you’d expect of a teen vampire movie. It even features a bonus track from Australian wonderband Eskimo Joe.
Despite some serious over-paraphrasing and the fact that, yes it IS slightly disappointing as far as doing justice to the novel, New Moon IS worth going to see. Like most level headed adults, I too have grown tired of garments that proudly proclaim the wearer to be “Team Edward”. However; critical condemnation be damned, New Moon is actually pretty damned good.
Like most films, New Moon (while still very good) is nowhere near as good as the book. Also, like most films, it’s something that individuals should make up their own minds about. View the theatrical trailer 
To purchase any of the Twilight books, click on the image of its cover:
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I really loved the movie. I think new moon was so much better then the first one.
I can't say I'm a fan of Twilight, the books or the movies… But I DO, on the other hand, like your review. It doesn't just praise or condemn it, it shows both sides. Very well written =D
yeah especially the heading 'really sucks' could be a bad thing, but it could be a very good thing
I'm yet to see New Moon. I went in to see the first Twilight movie with virtually no expectation for it but I found myself surprised at how entertaining it turned out to be. People also need to consider that the movie can't conform exactly to how millions of fans imagined the characters.
It should also be kept in mind that its target audience is teenage girls. If it seems a little beneath you, you should stop being so stuck up and go read one of the "big kid's" books.
i like how emmet is so ….. sporty? yeah thats it. he looks kewl with his hat like that too.