Early Reviews Say ‘Twilight: New Moon’ Is Horrible
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The D day has come and the second installment in “The Twilight Saga,” “New Moon,” also based on one of Stephenie Meyer’s novels, is about to open nationwide in most territories. As fans are eagerly booking their seats and purchasing their tickets, ready to turn this film too into a success at least as resounding as the 2008 “Twilight,” critics are rushing to trash it without the least remorse.
From early previews and premieres, most critics have already had the chance to see “New Moon” and, as painful as this may sound to some fans, the consensus seems to be that, while the community will undoubtedly pay money to see it, the film carries little to no value if compared to the hype it has generated. “New Moon,” directed by the famous Chris Weitz and starring the larger than life Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner, is slow paced, awkward and all sorts of lame, they say.
The film is tediously long and, no matter how much the director’s efforts are apparent in it, it does not manage to take the viewer (presumed to be an outsider to the “Twilight” phenomenon) into that magic world that Twi-hards can’t stop talking about. In doing so, it becomes a redundant sequel that has no justification for its existence other than making an extra buck off a very gullible fanbase, critics say.
Peter Travers of Rolling Stone even goes as far as to say that “New Moon” is among the few movies where one sees almost no acting at all. “I can’t comment on the acting because I didn’t catch Pattinson, Stewart and Lautner doing any. They basically primp and pose through the same humdrum motions they did before. Late in the film, a real actor, Michael Sheen (‘Frost/Nixon’), shows up as the mind-reading Aro, of the Italian Volturi vampires, and sparks things up. You can almost hear the young cast thinking, ‘Is that acting? It looks hard.’ So Sheen is quickly ushered out, and ‘New Moon’ begins swanning toward certain box-office glory,” Travers writes.
Jeff Walls of The Seattle PI agrees on the acting part. “The problem is that it is not interesting. […] The dialogue exchanges between the three main characters are so overblown and cheesy that I just can’t take any of it seriously. […] It wasn’t all bad. I did enjoy listening to the parody of big-budget action movies when Jacob and Bella go to the movies and there were a few humorous one-liners,” Walls writes. He then adds that, “It’s hard to connect with a movie that doesn’t seem to want us anyway.”
Of course, fans can always – and will undoubtedly do so – disagree with critics. To see what and who to believe, see “New Moon,” running in most theaters worldwide starting November 20.
I am a huge Twi-Head, and I agree with this article. However, after reading the book, I knew that any director would have had a hard time with the movie.
On the other hand, the director did an excellent job portraying Edward from Bella's conscious.
I did not like the fight scene with Edward and Felix. Even though we know Felix is the best fighter, Edward KNOWS what Felix will do the moment Felix decides his move, therefore Edward would be able to avoid being caught. They made Edward look so weak and inept.
The movie was butchered really bad. It had potential and they messed up.
They also could have been more romantic with the Proposal. The should have kept to the book and took it to the bedroom.
I have read all the books and can already tell that the movie is waaaay different which drives me crazy. Edward and Felix dont fight in the book, the confrontation with the Volturi is actually pretty peaceable. It would be pretty impossible to make the movie exactly like the book because it would be extremely long but I hate when they deviate so far from the original material. Still a Twi-hard but I'm a little disappointed.
I agree with both the article and with LC. I was hoping that they would honor the book better.
My favorite part of the book was the part with the Volturi and the bedroom scene toward the end, and they blew it. I mean what was up with the fighting with Felix. They did make Edward and Alice look "weak and inept" when they are the two strongest fighters the Cullens have. Edward can read the attack of the opponent before they make it and Alice can see the attack before they make it, they made them look dumb.
I could have live through the whole bad representation of the book in the movie as long as they got the bedroom scene right and they messed it all up.
I have never been so disappointed in my life.
There went seven hours of my life gone forever.
I don't think I will be going to see the other two. I'll just stick with the books; I don't think I could sit through another disillusion.
This movie was a joke, right? It MAYBE had three pages of dialog from the book, and the only person who delivered it correctly was Taylor Lautner. They need to burn this movie and start over, with a new screen writer and director. I am highly disappointed, but at least this movie was good for a laugh. I just wish I would have been drunk watching it.
ML: You are correct about the bedroom scene..They messed up the rest of the movie....how could they have messed up the proposal...
I watched New Moon during a Special Presentation at 9:30pm that Thursday. They were about 100 of in the theater...by the end of the movie, you could hear a pin drop...we were all in shock...
Eclipse is already made and with a new director, I hope he gets it right his time...
Catherine Hardwicke is probably laughing her head off knowing her vision was the best so far...
Comment #7 by: adrienne chan on 23 Nov 2009, 21:06 UTC
i agree with all of you with a few points
1. kristen is normally a much better actress. in the first one at least she tried. in this one it seemed like she's never read the book and was so lazy and could give a crap less. i mean it was clearly too much for her to look jacob or edward in the eye..haha and the funniest part? her lack of crying and her trying to "act" depressed. for those of us who have read the books, bella cries for about 75 percent of the freaking book. and though i also do love the character of edward, he's only supposed to be in it for about 20% of the book. the book is called new moon, its mostly about jacob and the introduction of werewovles into the story as the first book was about vamps. they don't tell sam and emily and all the other wolves' stories and don't do them justice. they just wanted to focus on robert pat to make money and had to sacrifice character development of jacob. jacob is a huge character in the rest of the books people!
Movies should earn the right to be have as much recognition as this series does.
I'm sorry if no one agrees with me but the acting was bad save for a couple of secondary characters, Lautner, (and very few scenes from Pattinson). There might be alot of sexual connection between the leading actors, but there is a HUGE lack of an emotional one...even if there was, the relationship seems rushed and not entirely convincing. I won't get into everything I thought was wrong with it. But Kristen Stewart should have portrayed her darker emotions a little better.
Sincerely,
- someone who experiences the hell of manic depression and other psychiatric disorders on a daily basis, who is offended by this mockery.
kristen stewart is the most boring actress ever. she may look like bella, but even when she's supposed to be happy (in the end) she looks like they woke her up and she's still groggy.
the slapping of paul was also not in accordance with the book; in book 3 bella hits jacob and she breaks her hand. at least an "ow" would have been needed! the motorcycle is weird on all levels! she gets on the motorcycle of a could-have-been pedophile? then in the middle of the road she just says stop and he stops? there was never a mention of a motorcycle, she doesn't even approach them. anna kendrick is a billion times better actress than kristen. kendrick saved that scene! taylor did a great job, he actually seemed to be into the movie. alice and edward were made weakkk by the fight scene. the ending was totally rushed and it looked bad when "bella" was like, "read his mind edward." edward would never read a mind for that kind of a reason, he can't help itttt! ugh. the books are by far, better.
seriously im a twihard and although i liked the movie's set and everything, robert and kristen did really bad at acting. people in the audience were laughing at robert when it wasn't even supposed to be funny. all they did was stare and make wierd faces. robert's lines were all the same. kristin made wierd stuttering sounds.
Comment #11 by: idril miller on 10 Dec 2009, 06:24 UTC
i hated the movie and everyone in the theatre left dissapointed and ashamed of there love for twilight sagas and books everyone laughed when it wasnt ment to be funny it was a total joke and i cant believe they got paid to do it. robert pattison seems like he did extremely better acting in his new film 'remeber me' maybe the chemistry between the actors had gone after i watched that poorly made acted film i had to watch twilight again to remind myself of the good days when people get paid to do a movie and do it right. i must admit the jacob scenes were steaming hot but seriously talk about taking my attention away with taking his top of every minute like seriously what has the world come to if they cant make a simple book into a great movie . i was a twi-hard fan but i resigned because of the bad acting , bad story line well wrong storyline , and bad actors . i still love you taylor launter but seriously dude come on you did a better job in shark boy and lava girl lol
This movie sucked. I dont read the books but my bff told me dat da book is totally different and 100 times better. I was so annoyed by the repitition of edwards lines and kristens bad boring acting. Okay and why was the volturi barely in it! The trailer made it seem like they were a huge deal! And the werewolves looked cool but I would have liked to know more bout dem. Dey barely touched the other werewolve actors. I give it to taylor and alice they were da best actors on dis movie. They actually cared about their part. Da stupid part w da motorcycle guy?! this should not have been in da movie. Also, kristen in the bed having wat looked like a seizure was annoyin, they could have just showed this part one not over and over. The movie was run on with no meaning... At the end of he movie I was like wat?! Didnt understand this movie! The fight scene was oky but even I w/out reading the book; from the first movie know that alice sees da future and edward has a power 2. So y was he beaten up so bad. and the way the director had the camera in this scene was wack. All I can say is I'm glad I didnt pay for this movie!!lmao
It was terrible. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY!! I got sooooooo bored I starting playing on my phone, it is completely overrated, but the books are too. Michael Sheen was the best actor but even then Aro was lame. My grandma could beat that guy up. Why was he so happy????? Do you see Voldemort laughing like a little girl?
Bad, bad movie. Sorry, but I really didn't like it.
Comment #14 by: Cali Girl on 29 Jan 2010, 10:21 UTC
SOOOO DISAPPOINTED!!! I dont even now where to start. First I'm just glad that there are other people that hate this movie as much as I do. This movie was wayy to slow on all the parts it should not have been and super rushed everything else. Chris Weitz butchered Stephanie Meyers vision of New Moon. Lol and Kristen Stewart has always hella annoyed me because she blinks only 1 billion times in one scene but when she is trying to act like she is screaming in pain/sadness/sleep/whatever she was trying to do I almost got up and asked for my money back. I'm mean don't get me wrong the girl can act just not in this movie. My goldfish would make a better Bella. Omg and the proposal scene at the last min of the movie, Come On Chris!.... but I mean I don't what I expected from the man that gave new meaning to warm apple pie. Sorry chrissy should have stopped at American Pie. What was Summit thinking letting go of Catherine Hardwicke? I just hope Breaking Dawn is not going to be done by him.
New Moon was so disappointing ..i felt as watching that someone was throwing ice on my head. The twiglight saga is all about the amazing emotional connection between bella and edward. while reading the book you can really feel the love between them, but when you watch the movie :nothing, totally cold expressions. Kristen stewart in my opinion is totally annoying in that role. she is cold and can't really act Bella, as if she doesnt understand the books. She was my biggest disappointment in that movie. And what about that screaming???was that supposed to express her heart being broken?? Not convincing at all really. One request from the production team from the third movie, please dont ruin eclipse it's the best book.
They didn’t let go of Hardwicke, she refused to direct the next one "new moon" at the time because they wanted her to start shooting literally within 3 months, and if you’re not familiar with the movie biz, giving a director a 3 month heads up before shooting a movie is literally like asking you to take a Greek final the very day you learn to say “hello” in the language.
As for the film, overall I have to agree with the majority on here, it was a big let down. Im in know way personally trying to attack any of the actors, but their acting in the film was pretty painful to watch, especially when I know they can do so much better than that. That said, there were some good scenes, the one with Kristen (Bella) sitting in her chair looking out her window as the song “possibility” played was a perfectly shot piece by Weitz and I was moved by it. Weitz did try to take a different angel on this film, with the scope (coloring) of it, he added more warm tons to it, were as twilight was quite cold in its feeling. I actually personally liked the ton of Twilight better, and the makeup on twilight was better as well. In new moon you can clearly tell that Edward is a vampire. I know that sounds kind of dumb, so let me elaborate, in twilight it always seemed like the Cullen’s were different but you would never in a million years guess that the difference would mean they were vampires. But in new moon; Edward looks so much like a monster, how would none of the kids in the halls freak out when they saw him? I don’t know, maybe its just me, but I wish they would of toned that down a bit. 1.5 out of 5 from me unfortunately. I hope eclipse is better! See this is exactly whey I don’t go to the cinema anymore to see movies, because you literally cant ask for your money back.
Ok, so i have to agree. Now I didnt watch the movie at the cinema but i watched it on dvd inst. Ive read all the books 3 times, and I love them all. I do think that eclipse is the best cause it has so much drama in it.
Now, Twilight had the magic, even though I think Kristen didnt act so well from time to time.
New moon has the worst acting Ive ever seen, and Ive seen many movies. Kristen looks bored and her breathing through the movie really bothers me. I think Taylor did act pretty good sometimes but overall the acting was so bad. I didnt connect with the characters, I was laughing were I wasnt suppose to laugh, and so on. Though there is one actor that needs to be mentioned and that is Michael Sheen, he is really good as Aro. So thank you Michael...
But yes, I am very dissapointed. Maybe some books should be untouched..
I hope that eclipse will be awsome, it needs to, so please dont let us down.
Comment #19 by: Gloworm110 on 13 Apr 2010, 20:12 UTC
Agreed. I was very disappointed with the three leads for Bella, Edward, and Jacob and the movie in general.
Music plays a big part in amping up the drama and there was barely any background music in any of the scenes.
More could have been done with light/shadow and interesting camera angles.
I absolutely agree that these kids don't even TRY to act and it comes across the screen that these -at least Pattinson and Stewart- seem more eager to smoke weed all day than pick up a fiction/fantasy novel. Pattinson's american accent seems swallowed and it doesn't seem like he practices to make it better- it is just generally unpleasing to listen to, sounds forced and i've heard aussies and brits with much better american accents (of course they practice more). Taylor lautner also seems to speak from his throat solely, sounding very gutteral, and not as aesthetic as he could be.
Also, what's with Edward? In the book, sure there are tense moments, but it is set in contrast to lighterhearted moments, and remember that bella (and meyer by connection) both read literature and english literature is wrought with highly witty male characters- in the book, Edward is not all humdrum sadness all the time! In fact I would think that if you want to emphasize the drama of the story you should include the banter and jokes of which they are many in the novel if you please!
I feel the movies were just fine as long as you did not read the books first..
Anyone that watches a movie after reading the books would know the movie is never as detailed as the books.
I noticed the same in the Harry Potter movies, all the books were so on and real descriptive and detialed but he movies kinda jump around.
The same with the twilight saga. The books so more emotional because the author wants to put you in the story so you can feel what the characters are feeling.
Now on the other hand in a movie you don't have to do that because you can see it on the flipping screen, duh.
I do agree with how bad Kristens acting is though, she is lame, no emotion, no feeling. I'm sorry but I could have acted better than her in this role.
I am sure any woman that ever had her heart ripped out because a love had left her they could have acted better than Kristen, she stinks.
I dont even know if I'm saying her name right but then who cares she stinks. oh did I mention she stinks... :P blah
I think Robert Pattinson did better in new moon though, you can tell he is feeling the Edward character more now so Im sure he would.
Robert pattinson is very very tallented, he goes beyond tweeny bopper movies and does some real deep stuff. Though most young bloods would not understand those movies.
Oh and ugh, woo weee jacob, foxy man so nummy. Nuf said right... If he was 10 years older chhhhaaaa...
Er, no. Everywhere people are making excuses for her, based on her age and her experience - but how can these excuses be justified when we have CHILDREN such as Abigail Breslin acting in way that would put KS to shame? And what about Dakota Fanning? No, she was hardly Oscar-worthy in this movie, but in plenty others she's been a heck of a lot more convincing and emotive than Kristen. Face it; Kristen is a bad actress, with zero ability to convey emotion and believability.
Doesn't anyone remember this line from the first Twilight movie:
"What is going on?"
Do you remember that? When they pulled up in front of the police station? It was stilted and awful and completely emotionless. Kristen is talentless, and that's that.
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