Thoughts on Chris Weitz’s NEW MOON
Since I am currently working on a book dealing with faith and the current vampire craze in pop culture, I will save all metaphoric connections and more in-depth thoughts for my longer work. However, I do have a few thoughts on NEW MOON that may fall beyond the scope of the book, so here are a few of those.
Having long been a fan of films that deal with vampires, werewolves, mythical creatures and the supernatural as a whole, my natural bent is to appreciate the Twilight films. Admittedly, I have not read the books, so my scope of appreciation will have to stay within the celluloid walls that directors have constructed for these stories. And while there was a time in my life, I would have deemed myself too hip to even go and see the Twilight films, I suppose I have abandoned (most) preoccupations with letting others judge wether they like me based on what I like, rather than what I am like. I can truly say that I liked the first Twilight film. I wanted to like the second.
The story in the second film was based much more around interior conflict, residing in our central characters, as opposed to the external conflicts of the first film. I found it quite interesting to watch vampires battle other vampires. Though the trailer for the film would have you believe otherwise, there are only one or two scenes where the external conflicts between vampires and werewolves grace the screen. While this had the potential to be visually arresting, I am guessing the story (from the books) just did not steer in that direction. The acting in this film felt phoned in as well where I felt passion in the performances of the first episode. I recognize the Twilight films for what they are. I realize these films are not meant to appeal to my demographic and certainly not meant to bring home a Best Picture gold statue from the Kodak next year. However, good storytelling is good storytelling and that defies demographics, finances and awards. I wish New Moon had given me more room to defend it.
