Review: The 'Twilight' saga continues with 'New Moon'

Film: New Moon (Twilight)
Cast: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Ashley Greene, Jackson Rathbone
Director: Chris Weitz
Rating: * * ½

 The Twilight saga continues with New Moon. Edward Cullen(Pattinson) and his family of friendly vampires abandon the town of Forks following Bella’s ill-fated 18th birthday party. Bella(Kristen Stewart) affected by the split is listless , wan and lovelorn. Her only friend being Jacob(Taylor Lautner).

It’s a love triangle of sorts. Jacob loves Bella but Bella cannot forget Edward. She keeps seeing his image wherever she goes and she wants to get back with him. Her undying love of the undead forms the crux of this Stephenie Meyers’ pulp-fiction vampire saga adaptation.

The depiction is darker through the throes and woes of adolescent love. The pain when dumped is showcased in a depressively woebegone way. Bella engages in seemingly suicidal acts that leads her right into Jacob’s buffed arms and also within Edward’s far-reaching grasp.

The story has more depth no doubt but it’s tone is never consistent and because of an elongated runtime, the plot never really moves forward.- at least it appears that way because of the rundown pace and the overwhelming use of silences. Like the heroine, the narrative appears to be brooding.

Though the director has changed, Chris Weitz has taken over from Catherine Hardwicke, the overall treatment appears almost the same. Hardwicke’s 'Twilight’ may have been inelegant but it did have it’s strangely compelling moments.

Weitz (The Golden Compass) pulls out all the tricks he can manage but other than giving us some stunning visuals, there’s not much he can add. This time round the narrative does appear a bit more listless.

The hypnotic moodiness, trance-inducing cinematography and pace, stilted, short-on-words dialogues, tilted takes, somnambulant background score are remnants from the first issue. The CGI though is much better this time round.

The wolf-pack transitions are seamlessly incorporated and the Volturi appear much more menacing. Caught between Pattinson’s symbolic dreariness and Lautner’s over-buffed blandness, Kristen Stewart appears to be the only one who seems to put her heart and soul into her performance. Of course the others either have no heart or they lack soul- it’s a written-in handicap of sorts!