Twilight Saga: The New Moon (2009)

I was probably one of the few guys on the planet that actually enjoyed Twilight, but the cinematography instantly had me hooked and I had to admit it. Not since Ginger Snaps had there been such a dark, rainy, "grey" tone to such a movie filmed in some of the most beautiful forests on the planet.

So when I heard about New Moon, and saw the trailer, I looked forward to the movie for months. It seemed to have everything that would make it great- the same setting, a good vampire story, werewolves, great special effects, and lots of action. Of course it would have the same cheesy love story, but with all the cool stuff, even a guy like me could tolerate that part for a little while.

But how wrong I was, and I felt more ripped off than I did when I paid $4.50 for a soda refill!



The movie attempts to pick up where the first one left off, but I never felt a connection to the first, and to me the story went too far off on a tangent.

The werewolf idea was cool, and worked into the plot well, as it was set up in the first movie, though subtlety. And the special effects and coolness of the werewolves was great! At least for the 12 or 13 seconds they actually made an appearance. And the vampire part of the vampires are in the movie even less. I don't remember seeing a single fang.

Instead of being the action packed vamp vs werewolf flick I imagined, it spiraled downhill into a monotonous two plus hours of watching a broken hearted teenage girl mope around. The weather changed as the seasons rolled, but the horrible plot continued to agonize for the entire length of the movie.

There was several times during the movie I thought, "This is it!", but each and every time I was disappointed. The letdowns were frequent, and seemed to drag the movie out for longer than it was. The werewolves would appear, snarl, and then a few seconds later they were gone. Poof. I felt cheated, and their HUGE size and coolness made it even more frustrating, because I saw potential in those beasts. Lots of potential, that unfortunately never came around full circle.

The only saving grace for the entire movie was one scene where one of the female vampires tossed out a few "dog" one liners about Bella's new, shaggy boyfriend. But even after a few of the comments, that little comedy break grew old and had everyone in the audience moaning at how ridiculous it was.

I've heard the book is good, and if this is the case, then visit your local bookstore and pick up a copy. It would also make a great Christmas gift for friends and family, in the hopes they would get their Twilight fill from the pages, and not waste their time or money on this movie.

Many times I will disagree with the critics, but in this case, I think most are right on track.