DVD Review: The Twilight Saga: New Moon

Posted Mar 19, 2010 by Kevin Walker

Updated Mar 19, 2010 at 10:56 AM

The Twilight Saga: New Moon
Director: Chris Weitz (“The Golden Compass”)
Stars: Robert Pattison, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner
The plot: Bella (Stewart) celebrates her birthday with the Cullens, a family of vampires she met in the first installment (‘Twilight”). She and Edward Cullen (Pattinson) are in love, but they split up early in the movie when Edward realizes that he does not want to make her an immortal vampire, and she begins to fear he’ll lose interest in her as she ages and he remains forever young (even though he is 106 years old). In his absence, she gets closer to her friend Jacob (Lautner), a nice kid who has a bit of temper and doesn’t realize that’s because he’s about to turn into a werewolf. He’s in love with Bella, too. That complicates things, but it gets even more complicated when Bella discovers Edward plans to kill himself because he thinks she’s dead.
Bottom line:  I know the course of true love never did run smooth, but come on, enough already. Much of this movie’s two-plus hours are devoted to lingering looks, angst-ridden speeches,  and, particularly in Edward’s case, a lot of “no one understands me” pouting. Of course, that level of self-involvement and angst is what defines being a teenager, and this is marketed toward teenagers, so who are we beyond the age of 19 to judge? If your age does not have a “1” as the first number, I’m not sure what you’ll get out of this (although I’m told by ladies in my office I am really, really wrong about that). This probably goes without saying, but for a movie filled with vampires and werewolves, there are zero thrills and very little action. I’d also like to note here that no matter how he looks, Edward is a 100-year-old man dating a 17-year-old girl. Am I the only one a little creeped out by that?
Extras: A behind-the-scenes documentary, commentary from Weitz, music videos.
Quote: “I promise never to put you through anything like this ever again. This is the last time you’ll ever see me.”
130 minutes (PG-13; some violence and action)