Twilight New Moon

Sony Pictures (2010)

DVD and Blu-Ray

Various Release

This is the second film in the Twilight Saga series of four books. It is set in what looks like the wild and beautiful northwest coast of North America. Bella has fallen in love with a young local lad, Edward Cullen. Edward has a problem that prevents him from taking the romance any further – he is a vampire. So are all his family. Bella has discovered this and finds she loves Edward anyway, but Edward’s family must move to another area. People have started to notice that they aren’t growing any older. Bella is devastated. She would happily become “changed” herself to stay with Edward, but he insists that she remain mortal and live a real life.

Although she still misses Edward, Bella eventually forms an attachment with Jacob, a youth from the local Indian tribe who is surprisingly strong for his age. The tribe has its own secret. At a particular time in their life the young males turn into werewolves, hated enemies of the vampires. They have a treaty with the vampires that has been honoured so far by both sides, but there is an ominous mention in the film of another monster that the wolves must guard the local people from. This is left to develop in a later film.

There is internal warfare between the vampire families. Edward has killed the wife of one of the other families and they have decided to have Bella killed in retaliation. Both Edward and Jacob are trying to protect her but they will still fight each other over her. Finally all three must make hard choices and accept the results.

Director Chris Weitz (Golden Compass) has made a magnificent film that places vampires and werewolves in a different but quite suitable context. The lonely forests are a perfect backdrop for the great wolves, and the vampires of the Cullen family have none of the stereotype characteristics of past vampire films. By contrast the meeting of the council of vampires in an old church-like building looks rather out-of-place.

The special effects, especially the wolves, are nothing short of brilliant. The fight scenes are lightning-fast and well detailed and as a result are quite believable. The only negative I could see is that Robert Pattinson, playing Edward, looks rather effeminate in his vampire makeup. Nevertheless he is a good actor and plays his part with conviction. Unfortunately he leaves the storyline for most of its length so he doesn’t have much of a part to work with.

It is a really well made, entertaining film full of action and drama and I look forward to the rest of the series.

Reviews appear on the Synergy website with a single cover image. In the digital and print edition, reviews appear with multiple images and with expanded content. We recommend you download the free digital edition (or buy the print edition) to get the most from Synergy Magazine.

This review will appear in Volume 3 No. 3 of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.

If you came to this page directly (and missed our menu), click here to go to the front page of Synergy Magazine Website or use the following link: http://www.synergy-magazine.com