The Twilight Saga: New Moon

I watched The Twilight Saga:  New Moon with anticipation, as I knew a werewolf would be appearing (remember in my previous post where I disclosed my fascination with Quentin from Dark Shadows). The Native American legend of werewolves vs. vampires that we heard explained in the first movie plays out well here in New Moon.  I have never heard of a Native American belief in vampires, so that part of the legend is rather far fetched, but then this is fiction after all.  Kudos to special effects for making the werewolves both scary and dangerous and yet, you can see the soul in their eyes and expressions.

Kristen Stewart’s Bella bounces from depression to recklessness in an effort to alternately get over or remember Edward who has left her.  Taylor Lautner’s Jacob Black is her sanity for a while until his werewolf transformation and initiation begins.  That part of the film, their interactions and friendship, is quite touching.

Now she has just traded one Not Good for Her/Not Safe to be Around Her young man for another.  This is so true to life.  It just wouldn’t be quite as dramatic without the paranormal element.  How many of you know teens, or have yourself experienced, picking the wrong one, the one who is dangerous?  At least these two young men realize their propensity for anger and attempt to hold it in check to protect the one they have chosen.

But for Bella, it’s really an attachment she has to Edward I think and not real love.  Same for Edward.  Two star-crossed lovers as Shakespeare might say.  Literally can’t live without the other, individual identity seeming to leave when apart.  Further storytelling will see if I am right.  I haven’t read the books, so I’m going in blind to this entire tale, only going by what appears on my Netflix DVD sleeve and little snippets of information fans have shared with me.

I was happy to see that Alice Cullen (Ashley Greene) was still there for Bella and I think she’s an intriguing vampire.  I hope she is featured in the next films.

There was essentially what amounted to cameo roles for Dakota Fanning and Graham Greene in this segment.  I did like some of the cinematography, especially showing the passage of time for Bella as she mourns for Edward, but other than that I did not like the film as much as the previous one.  Since the other two DVDs are sitting on my end table waiting to be watched, I hope they are better. Taylor Lautner as Jacob is, I found, much more of a presence than Robert Pattinson’s vampire Edward.  I just don’t find Edward that interesting; Jacob is much more vulnerable, and I think that’s what comes through and makes him a more sympathetic character.

I wonder:  Will Jacob and Edward work together eventually like Barnabas and Quentin did in Dark Shadows?  Or will their rivalry persist?  We shall find out together as The Twilight Saga continues.

Twilight

Sometimes I get to movies a little after the buzz about them has subsided.  Twilight is one such film.  I decided to give it a watch, all four of them actually, to see what they had to offer.  I’ll be posting each of my reviews in turn and move on to a few other classic vampire movies, all before Halloween.

I’ve been fascinated with the “Dracula” story for ages.  I probably first read the story in high school. It was the time of Dark Shadows, that eerie soap opera airing in the late afternoons.  I would rush home from high school and turn on the TV to watch Barnabas Collins, not the sexiest vampire (I liked Quentin the werewolf better), but the story fascinated me nonetheless.  (Recently I saw Johnny Depp in the Tim Burton movie Dark Shadows and I would recommend it if you too were a Dark Shadows fan.  Tim Burton does not disappoint, nor does Johnny who makes an intriguing vampire.  It was cleverly set in 1972 New England, just after the time the popular soap opera ended its successful run.)

I enjoy all of the various forms of art the vampire tale has spawned.  Gracing my wall in my home is a poster of Dracula, Ballet with a Bite, as staged by the Eugene Ballet, a performance I remember fondly:  the flowing robes of Dracula as he danced his way across the stage, his red mouth and white face, the crazed ballerinas who were his vampire slaves in their flimsy gowns.  It was a Halloween ballet to be remembered.  Last year in fact, I dressed as a vampire bride for the office annual Halloween party, a costume I had wanted to invent for some time.

Twilight is a very different type of vampire story.  I had heard that it is a romance tale for teens, but I also know that several grown women at work were all gaga over the films as well.   Rated PG-13, I figured it wouldn’t have much sex in it, but that the rating must be for blood-sucking violence.

The story takes place in the Pacific Northwest, present day.  The vampires we meet, as you have probably heard, are attempting to control their insatiable need for human blood.

I found it intriguing and was fascinated by the story, the cinematography, and the idea that vampires are either evil or, much like human beings, attempting to control base instincts or instead allowing them free reign.

The author, Stephenie Meyer, cleverly weaves Native American legend into this story, a brilliant stroke of genius that only adds to the mystique of the whole story.  I felt that the interactions between Bella and Edward were beautifully acted.  It epitomized the young love that teens have for one another when their sexuality has blossomed before their intellect can fully understand the nature of the longings they suddenly have for their beloved.

I’ll be watching The Twilight Saga:  New Moon next.  Stay tuned.