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The first Twilight film was pretty good, while not necessarily being my cup of tea. It wasn't a 5-star masterpiece or anything like that but it was watchable. New Moon was okay, but its many problems make it disappointing too. I am one of those who hasn't read the books, but I have friends and relatives who have and while some say the books are good and the movie keeps to the style if not the details of them others say both the books and films are not good. My sister belongs in the former category, though she remarks that the book New Moon was her least favourite of the series and yes she liked the movie. I didn't like the movie as much as her, it had some good moments but it felt dragged out and unconvincing.
I will say there were some good things. There are some scenes in the film that are quite nicely shot, with some decent cinematography and lush scenery, plus the CGI wolves and the special effects in the fight sequences were fairly impressive to say the least. Secondly, Alexandre Desplat's score did have some pleasant parts to it. I will not say that it is particularly memorable or anything like that, and Desplat has done much better work before, but there are some themes that are very nice, particularly Hearing Damage. About Chris Weitz, initially I thought he was a curious choice for director, as I know him best from The Golden Compass, which I admit was a better film. But while he lacks the style of Catherine Hardwicke, he does a decent if not entirely exceptional job directing.
The quality of the acting was uneven, at best it was decent, at worst it was wooden. Taylor Lautner was not bad at all as Jacob not to mention incredibly hunky and handsome, I could tell he was trying to bring some life and momentum into this film and it showed, and Robert Pattinson was a marginal improvement from the previous outing as Edward. Dakota Fanning despite her role being brief is fine as Jane even if it required a lot of staring. Billy Burke is also amusing as Charlie, his and Lautner's acting came off best. Michael Sheen is a great actor, he was perfect in The Queen, and while he has an intriguing and imposing presence he does have a laugh that is quite irritating, even more irritating than Tom Hulce's laugh in Amadeus. However, I wasn't impressed at all with Kristen Stewart as Bella, her facial expressions are limited and her delivery didn't convince.
Other than Stewart's performance, there are other things wrong. One is that the dialogue is incredibly corny and disjointed. Second, the chemistry between Bella and Edward is non-existent, it is better with her and Jacob but it still feels awkward. Thirdly, the story drags so much, not much happens, and when you think something exciting is going to happen, it is just another dragged out scene. I think the most exciting the film got was some bike stunts and some werewolf-vs-vampire scenes. Fourthly, while the scenery is nice, the editing and transitions from scene to scene was rather choppy. Fifthly, the pacing is quite pedestrian, the first 20 minutes or so were so slow moving I almost bailed out but decided not so as it isn't really fair. Finally, the ending, way too abrupt. When Edward said "Marry me Bella", then pause, then finish, I was like "That's it?" I even re-winded to see if I had missed anything, no I did not.
Overall, it was okay, but it wasn't really my cup of tea. 4/10 Bethany Cox
