Following the events of Twilight, Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) is happy with vampire boyfriend Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson). She is also happy to have best friend Jacob (Taylor Lautner). But when a paper cut slams home just how dangerous it is for Bella to be around him, Edward leaves. Bella goes into a depression that only deepening her friendship with Jacob can bring her out of. Then Jacob reveals a supernatural secret of his own, and Edward enters the picture again in a way that will have long-lasting repercussions for them all.

CRITIQUE

By now, you would have to have been living under a rock to not know that Twilight is a series of books and films that are insanely popular, especially among young women. Merely a year after the remarkable financial success of the film version of the first book in the saga, fans were treated to this second installment on screen and the money again followed. New Moon is a thorough and exciting adaptation, though the miscasting of the lead role and the flaws of the source material still make themselves felt.

The film franchise of the Twilight saga switched directors for this film, with Catherine Hardwicke handing the reigns over to Chris Weitz, who helmed American Pie and About A Boy. Where the color palette Harwicke chose was full of cool-toned greens and blues, Weitz infuses this film with the warm side of the spectrum and adding a blast of red near the end in the sequence where Bella and Edward encounter the Volturi, who are essentially the lords of the vampire world. Both approaches are effective. Weitz also exhibits a bit more technical skill in accomplishing details like vampire speed and diamond skin, though the first film had considerably cut down on the trial and error needed in that process. As with the first film, wonderful stunt work and even better special effects do a lot.

The story and acting is where the film falters. Meyer’s books, though enjoyable, veer toward the melodramatic in a bad way at frequent intervals. The triangle between Edward, Bella, and Jacob begins here and is the plot where this flaw is most evident. Though she is a relatable enough character, Bella on the page is simply not impressive enough for the reader to buy all the male attention she gets. The attempts to make this palatable by having Bella be tougher or funnier than she is in the book again fall flat.

Weitz, forced to use the same cast, does his best to draw depth out of them all. Pattinson again keeps it solid and lets Edward be what the fans love. Lautner is extremely likeable but needs more time to grow into his actual acting skills. Finally, Stewart is hit and miss. She still doesn’t show the level of talent her success should indicate, but certain moments are better than others. In the rain with Jacob is an okay scene, but it comes after a laughable screaming-in-her-sleep scene. And her yells of “Please!” to the Volturi at the end come with the silliest hand gestures I have ever seen on screen.

New Moon will heartily satisfy fans of the Twilight book series, especially in it’s direction and production values, though the flaws of the narrative and the acting are still apparent.

THE VIDEO

With such ambitious visuals, the anamorphic widescreen transfer of the film looks very good in terms of colors and is technically flawless. Available subtitles include English and Spanish.

THE AUDIO

The Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround track is pretty good with dialogue and music working on all channels. There is also a Dolby 2.0 track. The foreign language option available is a Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 dub track.

THE EXTRAS

Audio Commentary by Director Weitz and Editor Peter Lambert: It’s fairly interesting as these two develop a nice rhythm of information sharing, with a joke here and there as well. The audience gets to know even more about the extent of the CGI used in the film and Weitz points out details you probably won’t notice otherwise, such as the tilted angle on Bella, but not Edward, in the breakup scene. Definitely listen to this at least once.

Documentary: This six-part, 65-minute behind-the-scenes documentary is the best extra here. The amount of information imparted is truly impressive. Interviews and on set footage give the viewer tons of fun moments to watch, such as Lautner doing his own jumping and running and harness work for Jacob’s transformation scene. It is a tickle to see Pattinson as the beloved Edward with special effects tracking dots all over his face. Also of interest is the level of effects that went into Bella’s cliff dive and how the new representation of vampire speed was a bit of an accident. Fans will devour every second of this.

Music Videos: Videos from Death Cab for Cutie, Anya Marina, and Mutemath show up here, as does rehearsal footage with Meyer’s favorite band, Muse. The videos are mostly fun to watch, with a lot of clips from the film in the Death Cab offering. Fans of Muse will be a bit disappointed, though, as the footage of that band is simply a very brief black and white bit of a song, with not even much in the way of lyrics.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Imperfect source material and a miscast lead role in New Moon are balanced out quite a bit with the vigorous direction and striking visuals of the film. Twi-Hards will certainly find no fault with it, and even those who are casual fans will probably find enough to prompt a viewing of the third in the series, Eclipse, set to be released in June of this year. The extra features on this set are good viewing, though, particularly for film fans or Twilight fanatics. For most viewers in general, owning, rather than renting, New Moon will be the preference.