I will say some things in this review that some readers might find blasphemous. Stephanie Meyer's book is unread by me and after this film production I have no desire to run out and read it. While TWILIGHT was a passable soap, the sequel is a mopey melodrama that drags through one sulky sequence after another. I know it's a tale of first heartbreak, but none of it rings with any real emotion.
Bella (Kristen Stewart) and Edward (Robert Pattinson) can't be without each other, they say. Bella wants to become a vampire so she can be with her Edward forever, but he is not ready to have her lose her soul over him. After an incident where Bella is hurt, Edward decides that to protect Bella he must leave her. Bella is devastated. Depression takes over.
Whenever she gets an adrenaline rush, she sees misty visions of Edward. The vampire is watching over her from a far. So Bella enlists her friend Jacob (Taylor Lautner) to help her restore a pair of motorcycles. He's always adored her. Around Jacob, Bella begins to feel alive again. He says he'll never leave, but then he disappears. He's got his reasons, he's a werewolf and he can't be around her because he doesn't want to hurt her. Bella's certainly got a thing for dangerous men and soap opera sharp right turns. But that's not all the danger in her life. The evil vampire Victoria (Rachelle Lefevre) is hunting her down, but Jacob and his wolf pack are dedicated to protecting her.
The main problem with the film is tone. Director Chris Weitz (THE GOLDEN COMPASS) knows this is a story of heartbreak, but that depression is the tone presented from frame one. This lies in the performances of Stewart and Pattinson. I liked Stewart in TWILIGHT, but here she seems awkward or over dramatic at times. Pattinson makes Edward a drip. His performance ranges from brooding to boring. As Bella keeps engaging in more and more reckless behavior, his spirit appears to stop her and his delivery is like Willy Wonka's unenthusiastic attempts to stop bratty kids from stealing candy. Where's the love? For the heartbreak to feel real we have to see the passion and bliss of the couple before the break-up. Without this Bella's bellyaching comes off less like epic love lose and more like over-dramatic teen angst.
The second problem is with the plotting in general. Bella's true love Edward takes his Zoolander face a leaves after the first act. Then cute Jacob comes in and shows that he loves Bella. Lautner isn't going to win an Oscar, but he's the best of the leads and creates a character that we care about. Because Lautner's guard wolf is dynamic and Jacob is charming, we begin losing sympathy for Bella, because you just want her to get over Pattinson's 109 year old wet blanket for goodness sakes. Then right when we think Bella's going to make a decision, Edward calls, literally. In a contrivance that makes the film's earlier pokes at ROMEO & JULIET's contrivances seem like a foreshadowed apology for bad writing, Edward goes to the vampire counsel, the Volturi, to have them kill him, because he falsely believes Bella is dead.
After spending the entire film developing the Bella and Jacob story, the third act is like a totally different film. And embarrassing Stewart and Pattinson more is a creepy and simply wonderful performance from Michael Sheen (FROST/NIXON) as Aro, the head of the Volturi. Additionally, Dakota Fanning has a brief role as the Volturi Jane. In one word, pain, she gives more authenticity than Pattinson gives the entire film. And pain is what I felt watching this film.
Many fans will think I don't know what I'm talking about. But when you're in love, you overlook your loved one's faults easily. But let me tell you about a love story of my own. In 1999, I was reunited with a first love and I would defend anything that she did. But 10 years later, through continued heartbreak and disappointments, ask me now what I think of PHANTOM MENACE. So to TWILIGHT fans, if you leave this film with a nagging hollow feeling, it's probably not because this story of woe truly moved you – that's what it feels like when a lover disappoints.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
