Yep you've guessed it... my first review is of the Twilight Saga's "New Moon". The film is great for what it is: a vampire- werewolf love mesh with a whole load of buff bods and sexual tension to boot. It just that I'm a modern classic vampire kinda girl (one of Anne Rice lore) and though Being Human (a BBC series which I highly recommend) has branched slightly from the vampires I know and love, Stephenie Meyer has done things which are wholly unthinkable... to not put a too fine a point to it... the diamanté skin is terrible. I guess this is more of a rant about the story than the film though so I'll continue.
The film, if you haven't been sucked into the franchise yet, is about Bella Swan who is now going out with Edward Cullen, our Romeo and incidentally a vampire (see "Twilight"). She's just turned 18 which means... legal! however he feels it would be safer for her if he left. Thus there ensues much wallowing (on Bella's part) followed by flirting with "best friend" Jacob, who is a younger and totally stacked werewolf, choosing to spend much of the film topless (no complaints here). And thus Bella must choose between the two. Well that's the bare bones of it. The other plot lines are very good there is a tie over from the first book with vengeful Victoria and we get to meet the vampire monarchy, the Volturi, in sunny Italy, the "king" played wonderfully, if not a little camp, by Michael Sheen.
The film is great especially if you're a girl aged 13 - 17 which I sadly am no longer. I just can't seem to empathise with the film. In fact, the parts which I should find intense or be crying along to I just find laughable (particularly the birthday party scene), which really grates as I quite like the plot and the film itself. There are a few camera shots which are too advanced and one which is positively nauseating but the photography is amazing and the music along to boot. The acting is very well done, though I can't help but notice that one or two of the Cullen clan look like their constipated half the time and the Volturi are campalicious and totally clichéd (a bit like the
Théâtre Des Vampires in "Interview with a Vampire"). I find that the only weak links in the film are the two leads Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, they just seem to be utterly unbelievable but maybe that's just the way they were written, or it's that abstinence has too strong a theme it's just unrealistic to be playing characters in such a way, but I guess that can't be helped when the author is a Mormon, and good on her for sticking to her beliefs, but it doesn't really allow for credible viewing as the world isn't lived through such rose tinted spectacles. The down and dirty would definitely have been done. I must admit though the cliffhanger was completely out of the blue it was utterly predictable, leaving us viewers wanting more and yet disappointing as it was such a cliché.
There is much of the ridiculous about this film and though I don't particularly like it I can't help but love it. It's like the little girl in me is just screaming to be let out again, I will definitely watch it again and the next instalment.
