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The Twilight Saga: New Moon | 2009 | PG-13 | - 5.7.3
The second installment of Stephanie Meyer's "Twilight" saga has Bella (Kristen Stewart) recovering from a near-fatal vampire bite. After another brush with death, Edward (Robert Pattinson) decides he must leave and a heartbroken Bella comforts herself with her friendship with Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner). Also with Ashley Greene, Elizabeth Reaser and Dakota Fanning. Directed by Chris Weitz. [2:10]
SEX/NUDITY 5 - A teen girl wakes up with a start, finds a vampire teen boy sitting on the edge of her bed watching her lovingly, he caresses her face, they embrace, and kiss passionately. A vampire teen boy approaches a teen girl and grabs her hand; they face one another, staring into one another's eyes lovingly and share a passionate kiss. A teen girl and vampire teen girl embrace warmly. A vampire teen boy warmly embraces a teen girl, picks her up and spins her around. A teen boy grabs a teen girl in a tight embrace, and she tells him that he is looking "buff" for his age.
► A vampire teen boy unbuttons his shirt while standing in a doorway, out of view, he pulls the shirt off exposing his bare chest, a teen girl tackles him, and he embraces the girl, passionately kissing her until they are interrupted. A bare-chested teen boy wraps his arms around a young woman's waist and kisses her lovingly. A shirtless teen boy (bare chest and back visible), leaps through the bedroom window of a teen girl, she touches his bare stomach briefly, he pulls away, sits on her bed, she runs her hand through his hair, she asks if he would go away with her, he declines and leaves.
► A bare-chested teenage boy stands in the middle of a road. A teen girl's lower back is seen when she runs. A vampire teen girl wears a low-cut cleavage exposing dress. We see a momentary flash of the bare chest of a teen boy. Four bare-chested teen boys are shown in the distance. We see a shirtless teen boy walking through the rain. A teen boy pulls off his shirt, exposing his bare chest and back, and hands it to a teen girl; she tells him that he looks "kinda beautiful." A male vampire (wearing an open jacket without a shirt, so a portion of his chest is visible) approaches a teen girl and they talk. We see someone's bare chest, back and abdomen.
► An older male vampire rubs his hand over the face of a teen girl, who recoils from his touch. A teen boy tells a teen girl that she needs a "strong man," he attempts to hold her hand, she brushes his hand away, he asks her if she is interested in him, he places his hand on her knee, and she leans her head on his shoulder. A teen girl pulls away from a teen boy when another teen boy approaches; the teen boy leaps up and shouts threats at the other teen boy.
► A man makes loud cat calls at two teen girls, one girl approaches him, he says "We've got a taker!" and tells her that he'll "be anyone you want me to be"; the girl climbs onto the motorcycle he is sitting on, places her arms around his shoulders and they drive off. A teen girl tells a vampire teen boy to take her soul, and he puts his hand on her face and kisses her forehead. A shirtless teen boy drives a truck with a teen girl in the passenger side and another bare-chested teen boy rides in the bed; one boy jokes with the girl that he will not bite her, and the other says, "Speak for yourself!"
► A teen girl curls up next to a teen boy when he is driving, and she rests her head on his shoulder and snuggles close to him. A teen boy and a teen girl nearly kiss, she hesitates, and he becomes angry and slams his fists against an open car door, slamming it shut. A teen boy turns to embrace a teen girl, placing his hands gently on her face, and their lips almost touch, when they are interrupted.
► We see a photograph with a vampire teen boy with his hands wrapped around the waist of a teen girl, the two looking lovingly into one another's eyes. We see a photograph of a teen girl and vampire teen boy standing with their arms around one another.
► A teen girl jokes that dating a vampire teen boy (who states that he is 100 years older than she, but has the body and appearance of a 17 year old) is like dating an "old man" and it's "gross." A teen girl jokes with a teen boy, saying, "Hello biceps!" and he says that he is simply a "growing boy" and they hug. A teen boy asks a teen girl if she would like to go on a date with him, and she agrees. A vampire teen boy tells a teen girl that she gives him "everything just by breathing" while they hold hands walking down a school hallway. A vampire teen boy jokes with another vampire teen boy, saying that dating an older woman is "hot." When discussing a movie, a teen girl says that she was not interested in a movie that did not have "hot guys kissing anyone." Two teen boys tease another teen boy in front of a teen girl, saying that he had referred to the girl as his "girlfriend." A man jokes to a teen girl that he is a "terminal bachelor" and a "real ladies man." A teen girl jokes with a teen boy that he is agreeing with her because he wants to "get lucky." A teen boy jokes that a person should consider themselves lucky that they did not get "probed" after being abducted by aliens. A vampire teen boy tells a teen girl that there is only one condition to an arrangement they are making and that is that she marries him. A vampire remarks of a teen girl that, "Yes, she will be dessert."
► An older male vampire looks a teen girl up and down, and asks a vampire teen boy how he is able to resist the urge to drink the girl's blood.
VIOLENCE/GORE 7 - In a brief glimpse, we see three vampires standing before a man being restrained by two vampire guards: One of the vampires leans forward and places his hands on the man's face and twists his neck as the two guards pull off his arms, and as he is being dismembered, his body turns to stone, and rather than blood pouring from his body, he crumbles into dust. A female vampire hiding in the forest canopy drops down on top of a man, picks him up by the neck and holds him; the vampire is tackled by a giant wolf, she drops the man, and the wolf and four others chase the vampire (the man she was holding crumples to the ground and appears to be dead). In a brief glimpse, we see a vampire teen boy having his neck snapped, with his disembodied head turning to stone and crumbling into dust.
► A vampire rushes toward a teen girl, a vampire teen boy leaps in front of the girl to deflect the blow, the vampire flies across the room, gets up, charges toward the vampire teen boy pushing his arm against his throat and another vampire puts a vampire teen girl in a chokehold.
► A teen girl gets a paper cut on her finger (we see blood trickling down her finger), a drop of blood hits the floor, a vampire teen boy lunges toward her but is stopped by another vampire teen boy, who shoves him into a wall and accidentally knocks the girl against a glass vase and onto the floor; one vampire teen boy charges the other, knocking him on top of a piano which crushes and they continue to fight (we see the girl still on the ground with multiple cuts on her arm, which are bleeding profusely).
► A vampire and a vampire teen boy engage in a violent battle: the teen slams the man into a large marble table, crushing it, the man picks up the teen, holds him over his head, slams him into a set of marble stairs, crushing them, and the force of the blow appears to crack the marble-like flesh of the teen (a crack creeps across his cheek and then heals instantly).
► A vampire teen girl offers to show her powers and murmurs the word "Pain": an instant later a vampire teen boy lifts up onto his toes, his face contorts in obvious pain, his body tenses, and another male vampire shouts for the vampire teen girl to release him; she does and he falls to the ground, gasping.
► Two wolves attack each other: they tear at one another, growling and snarling as they tackle and tumble over one another. A vampire clutches a teen girl's face in his hands, saying that he will kill her quickly, he opens his mouth to expose his fangs, we hear a growl from the tree line, a massive wolf steps forward, followed by four other giant wolves: the wolf bares its teeth and growls, causing the vampire to run, only to be pounced on by a wolf, knocking him to the ground; the vampire stands back up, punches the wolf, it is thrown backward, the vampire sprints away, the wolves chase him, and we later learn (and see a brief flashback) that the wolves caught up with the vampire and killed him. We see a pack of giant wolves lunging onto a vampire and ripping him apart (no blood is seen).
► A vampire pulls pieces of glass from the wounded arm of a teen girl, places the chunks of glass in a bowl of blood-stained water and after stitching up the wounds, places a bloody gauze in the bowl and lights it on fire, destroying the blood.
► A flashback shows a large male vampire biting into the arm of a teen girl, blood pouring from her wrist, and the girl sees a large scar where the bite had been. We see a flash of what appears to be a dead body crumpled in front of a large wolf.
► A group of people are seen being led by a vampire, another vampire sees the group and says, "Save me one" (implying that the group of people are going to be killed) and moments later, blood-curdling screams are heard off-camera.
► A teen girl runs toward a group of teen boys, she shoves one of them, slaps him on the face, he pants angrily, and the other teenagers back away as the teen boy morphs into a massive, growling wolf; the girl turns and runs away.
► A teen girl stands at the edge of a cliff, dives into the ocean below, a massive wave knocks her under twice, she panics and flails, knocking her head against a large rock, and her unconscious body is seen floating to the bottom of the ocean; she is pulled out and brought back to life. Five wolves chase a female vampire, they track her to the edge of a cliff, and she leaps off.
► A teen girl races off on a motorcycle, as a teen boy cries out from the back seat urging her to slow down; she loses control, flips over the handlebars and slams into a large rock (we see her head bleeding). A teen girl and a vampire teen girl ride in a sports car, zooming in and out of traffic along a country road and then through a large crowd of people (no one is injured). A car whips around a corner and comes to a halt a few feet from hitting a teen. A man races on a motorcycle, with a teen girl riding behind him; the girl shouts when she sees the ghost of a vampire teen boy and the man screeches the motorcycle to an abrupt halt. We see a brief flashback of four men shoving a teen girl between them.
► A vampire teen boy expresses his thanks to a teen boy, then they argue briefly, one shoves the other and the boy morphs into a wolf; the girl yells at them and the wolf runs away.
► A teen boy talks about someone that could change into a wolf and had been mad and without knowing it attacked a young woman, scarring both of them for life -- her with a physical scar and him with the guilt. We hear a teenage girl reading a line from "Romeo and Juliet," which entails "violent delight" and "terrific deaths." A vampire teen girl turns to a teen girl and says, "This might hurt" and stares at her; the teen girl shows no sign of pain. A vampire teen girl tells a teen girl that a vampire teen boy was going to kill himself. A teenage girl listens to a radio broadcast detailing how three people have been found mauled and dead in the forest. A vampire teen boy tells a teen girl that he envies the fact that humans are able to commit suicide so easily and gives examples, saying either a dagger or poison would quickly end a life. A vampire tells a teen girl that he had been instructed to find her and that it would only be fair if he would kill her. A vampire teen boy tells a teenage girl that a certain organization of vampires has no respect for human life. A teen girl accuses a teenage boy of using his powers as a wolf to kill people, saying that he is responsible for a killing spree that is being attributed to wild roaming bears. A teen boy tells a teen girl that he must leave, because there is a vampire that he must kill. A vampire teen boy jokes to a teen girl that it would be nice to not have to want to kill her all the time. An older male vampire looks a teen girl up and down, and asks a vampire teen boy how he is able to resist the urge to drink the girl's blood. A male vampire and teen girl discuss how the vampire's soul is damned. A vampire teen boy tells a teen girl that he was going to have himself killed because he did not want to live in a world where she did not exist. A male vampire tells two other male vampires and two younger male and female vampires that a teenage girl "knows too much" and that she must be dealt with. A vampire teen girl tells a teen girl that a vampire teen boy was going to attempt to kill himself, by putting himself into a compromising situation that would force a group of vampires to kill him as punishment. A teen girl has an internal monologue, saying that she feels as though she had a huge hole punched through her chest, and that her "pain" is a reminder. A teen girl tells a group of teens that she had overheard a man mention that a giant bear had killed five people.
► A man cries silently in front of a classroom of teenagers while watching the death scene of a film adaptation of "Romeo and Juliet." A teen girl wanders through a dense forest, trips, falls to the ground, curls up and weeps. A teen girl screams violently while sleeping on two different occasions, and has to be awakened by a man.
► We see two teen boys and a teen girl watching a movie and hear the audio of someone screaming "Blow their head off!" and the cocking of guns and rapid gunfire; we do not see the violence, and one of the boys looks sick, stands up, says that he feels like he is going to throw up.
► A girl panics when she sees teen boys diving off a cliff (she is told that they are simply cliff-diving and are fine). We see an ancient woodcutting of a devil-figure with a large cross stabbed through its eye.
LANGUAGE 3 - 8 mild obscenities, name-calling (homeboy, psycho, crazy, idiot, adrenaline junkie, loca, marshmallow, filthy bloodsuckers, dog, pack of mutts), 2 religious exclamations.
SUBSTANCE USE - A man holds a beer while watching television with a teen girl, and two men have beers in front of them on a table when a teen girl walks into the room.
DISCUSSION TOPICS - Vampires, werewolves, Native American legends, loneliness, loss of love, regret, love, fear, intolerance, grief, suicide, self-sacrifice, immortality, damnation, souls, marriage.
MESSAGE - The strength of love can, over time, overcome any obstacle.
CAVEATS
Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.
We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.
Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.
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