'New Moon' Eclipses 'Twilight'
By Joe Gross
Austin American-Statesman
In case you were wondering just how critic-proof the werewolf vs. vampire melodrama "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" (aka "New Moon," aka "Oh My God, I can't believe it's out!!!!") is, consider the following comment overheard at the screening, spoken by a young woman (aka the target demographic): "I have O.C.D. — Obsessive Cullen Disorder."
Yeah. It's that kind of franchise.
The source of her ecstatic distress is Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), the brooding, sport-coat sporting vampire, 108 years old, in passionate-yet-chaste love with human everygal Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart), 17. Their epic romance is at the heart of — 3/8 as "Twilight" novels author Stephenie Meyer might put it — this surprisingly non-awful movie.
It's surprising because its predecessor "Twilight" is pretty rough sledding for those of us who weren't hard-wired to get swoony at Edward's undead bedroom eyes. The dialogue was sub-soapy, the direction was weak and the acting weaker.
But "New Moon" improves on all of it. Director Chris Weitz ("About a Boy") brings a crisp, accessible pacing to the proceedings, trimming back the book's narrative excesses, dialing up the action (less sitting and brooding, more giant wolf combat) and inserting a bit of knowing humor here and there.
Don't expect a lick of help if you don't know the series; "New Moon" barely bothers to introduce the characters before diving into the chewy (sorry) plot. This "Moon" is strictly for those who have walked its surface before.
It opens with Bella entering her senior year, smitten with the deathless Edward and his startling cheekbones. But she's surprised to see her Native American BFF Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) all grown up, complete with an impressive abdominal six-pack and a lycanthropic secret he shares with members of his tribe.
When Edward and his vampire "family" leave town, Bella broods for months before toying with the idea of taking Jacob out of the friend zone, which he longs to leave. Jacob, going through some seriously hairy puberty, is just bad-boy enough to slake her new thirst for adrenaline, now that the heart-racing Edward is AWOL.
They bond over fixing motorcycles, but her rebound attraction for Jacob plays out as her reckless rage at Edward externalized. And given a lot of fur. A lot.
It's teen love triangle kids know by heart — girl loves boy No. 1 and is best friends with boy No. 2, who is ready to kill and eat boy No. 1. We've all been there.
Lautner spends most of his time shirtless in jean cut-offs, looking five minutes away from taking the stage to sing for a straight-edge hardcore band. (You'll be able to tell fans who identify themselves as "Team Jacob" by the screams when Lautner starts looking like Henry Rollins.)
But he has built up his acting chops along with his physique. Lautner's open-hearted vibe brings a warmth to Stewart's performance that she's lacking with Pattinson, which seems strange considering the constant rumors that she and Pattinson are a real-life couple, in tabloids weekly. (Lautner, on the other hand, is dating Taylor Swift, so, um, he wins.)
Intimidated by her attraction or not, Bella simply never looks happy with Edward, which sure betrays the idea that she adores him and longs for immortality. Which is to say that Stewart's acting hasn't gotten any better. She has two styles of line-reading: vaguely constipated and almost embarrassingly frustrated, as if she's five seconds away from giving a child a spanking in the mall.
The supporting cast, however, is uniformly solid, from Billy Burke's refreshingly naturalistic turn as Charlie, Bella's sheriff father, to veteran Oneida actor Graham Greene as bone-dry tribe patriarch Harry Clearwater.
Michael Sheen, aka that guy who keeps playing Tony Blair, even shows up as Aro, the leader of vampire executive committee, the Volturi. Sheen harkens back to the days when the British Hammer studio owned toothy (sorry!!) vampire flicks. And the cameo/stunt-casting of Dakota Fanning as Jane, the little girl vampire who scares everyone, is excellent. Rarely has Fanning's natural creepiness been put to such good use.
"New Moon" is at its this-close-to-campy best in such little moments, but that's not why the masses will see it. Whether pro-Edward or pro-Jacob, the hordes of kids who identify with Bella and her haunted love life will tear into this like a werewolf on a vampire.
