Before the saga Twilight does not go totally freewheeling, there has been Twilight – Chapter 2: Temptationalmost unquestionably the best opus of the saga for teenagers carried by Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson. Yes yes, the best.
Warning: the writing of Ecran Large dissociates itself from the person who ̶i̶m̶p̶o̶s̶é̶ ̶ wrote this article.
Twilight first of the name was a huge success in 2008. With its budget of 37 million dollars, more than 400 million at the box office and almost as many screams of teenagers, the film created something that no one could have anticipated (or feared): the phenomenon Twilight.
Whether the community Twilight existed before that with the Stephenie Meyer books, the last volume of which was released in August 2008, the film propelled the phenomenon into another dimension. Blogs, fanfictions, merchandising… the enthusiasm was total. After that, it was unthinkable that Temptation (Where New Moon in the original version), the second volume, is not adapted.
The fans were waiting for him like the Messiah, and they were there. Twilight – Chapter 2: Temptation is released a year after the first and grossed over 700 million at the box office. Proof that the fanbase of Twilight was ready to conquer the world.
And it is with this Twilight 2 that the fans (those who managed to come to terms with it and those who had to hide to love) split into two groups: Team Edward and Team Jacob. It is a fact, the young generation of Large Screen assumes at its own risk to love Twilight and is ready to defend body and soul the saga, well rather the beginning of the saga and more precisely that chapter 2 – aka, best of all.
“Twilight sucks… oh no I never watched”
TEAM JACOB
There are several (good) reasons not to like the first one Twilight and that’s good, because Twilight 2 directed by Chris Weitz gets rid of two major and divisive points: blue filters, and the suicidal vampire who always seems to be in pain, Edward (Robert Pattinson). After a first part centered on his budding romance and let’s face it, slightly silly, with Bella (Kristen Stewart), the vampire leaves to have a little depression in Brazil.
To protect his beloved from himself and his bloodthirsty family, he dumps Bella as the worst of cads and promises that he will never return, at least not until the end of the film. While sir broods in Rio, poor Bella finds herself a new occupation, Jacob (Taylor Lautner). After the sad and icy bloodsucker, the teenager approaches her perfect opposite: the muscular, tanned, fun, kinda dumb werewolf and elevated body temperature.
At least he doesn’t shine in the sun
Almost anecdotal character of the first film, the American native Jacob Black becomes a central element of Twilight 2. Thanks to him, Bella can flourish in an environment less cold, serious and depressive than that of the first film. The bluish tint is discarded in favor ofa warmer and more humid colorimetry, as if the werewolf had warmed the frame and gave thanks to Forks’ greenish backdrop.
And as all that is subtle, Jacob also warms Bella’s bruised heart by offering her lighter moments, which allow her to live a real teenage life. Because unlike Bella and Edward, Jacob is a teenager doing teenage stuff, like motorcycling and sleeping in. It is obviously necessary to quote the assembly-sequence of the repair of motorcycle on the music Shooting the Moon, a moment of lightness and simplicity between the two young people which also proves how relevant and impactful the choice of music was. From Bon Iver to Lykke Li via Thom Yorke, the playlist of Twilight 2 is the most successful of all.
wet dog
LOVE AND DEPRESSION
If the first film of the saga focused on the beginnings of the romantic relationship between the vampire and the human, the second part comes to dig into the very nature of their relationship and the difficulties that arise from such a surprising union. Twilight 2 opens again with a voiceover from Bella who, like all high school students her age, is reading for the first time Romeo and Juliet : “These violent pleasures have violent ends. In their excess they die, like the powder and the fire that their kisses consume”.
This second episode of the adventures of Edward and Bella goes all out on the metaphor of thwarted love and the tragic outcome. The (subtle) (and original) Shakespearian reference is assumed from beginning to end. Our two lovers are first separated, then when Edward thinks Bella is dead (a misunderstanding worthy of the greatest tragedies), the vampire wishes to commit suicide and join his beloved in the afterlife. Yes, it’s all very dramatico-dramatic, and that’s partly what makes Twilight 2 as beautiful.
wet dream
Twilight 2 frees itself from the nonsense of the first film to focus on melancholy, lack, fear of aging and above all loneliness. This great subject is announced by Edward Leavesthe theme composed by Alexandre Desplat, which we hear when Bella finds herself in PLS in the forest after being dumped by her vegetarian bloodsucker.
All the loneliness of the teenager is condensed in an iconic plan: the circular tracking shot around Bella, still as the months pass and the seasons change. This shot is the perfect illustration of his depressive state, a subject rarely shown from the point of view of a teenager. This Twilight 2 totally takes Bella’s side and puts her back in the center of the story, she who had been left out after Edward’s introduction.
The coming winter depression
Edward having packed his things, Bella can finally take her rightful place in this second film which gives something else to see than her clumsy side or her difference from other high school girls. Although the majority of her choices are motivated by her desire to see her vampire in vision again (he appears when she is about to put her life in danger), Bella manages to gain confidence.
After being a spectator in the first film, she finally becomes the main character of her story. In the end, it is she who leads the dance, rebuffs Jacob, affirms her love for Edward and dumps everything to save him. Now it’s up to the vampire to need the human. The roles have reversed.
When you just want to watch a movie at the cinema
shirtless league
In Twilight 2, we are witnessing a real extension of the universe conceived by the novelist and therefore, the creation of a mythology, with its beliefs and its legendary creatures. We deviate from the cutesy love story and we insert new characters, new challenges and new threats to the story.
In addition to allowing Bella to fulfill herself on several levels, the character of Jacob also introduces wolves to the story. If we have the impression of already knowing everything about vampires at the end of the first film, the Quileutes, Native American people with shapeshifting limbs, bring a dose of mystery and folklore that we welcome with open arms. Although the existence of wolves is mentioned in the first film, it is the first time that Bella discovers them. And so, so are we.
Hairless chestcoat
If the appropriation of Quileute legends (true tribe) and the stereotypical characterization of Native Americans have created a controversy (one among many others), the presence of wolves seems quite necessary. Contrary to appearances, these human-wolves, who look more like stuffed animals than lycanthropesare not just men who walk around without a t-shirt to make a profit from their subscription to the sports club.
They act according to a hierarchy and rituals, are socially organized and, since they belong to the same pack, are related and can for example hear the thoughts of other wolves. All these elements add a layer to the universe Twilightwhich gains in depth and can no longer be summed up as “a love story between a boring vampire and a human”.
Eye to eye
VAmPIRE FORCE volturi
In addition to wolves, Twilight 2 also introduces new vampires: the Volturi. And they ain’t got nothing to do with the nice Cullens who feast on rabbit blood. These ancestral bloodsuckers who always dress in black and still wear capes are a bit like the Elon Musks of vampires. Located at the very top of the ladder, they control the world of vampires lurking in the shadows. In truth, they serve mainly to enforce the laws of vampires, the most important of which is “it is forbidden to talk about fight club”.
Revealing the existence of vampires to the world would cause a cataclysm that they want to avoid at all costs, probably to maintain their own privileges as respected, feared and wealthy vampires (have you seen the size of their castle?). Whether Twilight 3 falls into the trap of simplicity by making Victoria the great threat of the film, this second chapter skilfully avoids breakage by introducing this new group, certainly more interesting, but above all more dangerous. The risk of Edward revealing his existence to the world by committing suicide in the public square finally offers a real narrative and dramatic challenge.
In all sobriety
If the installation of the Voturi also allows a very pleasant passage in Italy, their appearance further digs into the mythology of the saga. In addition to Dad Cullen’s explanation of their origins at the start of the film, we finally leave Forks for the festival of Saint Marcus, a celebration created by humans to celebrate the expulsion of the vampires from the city. Yet another proof that the universe is more complex than some would like to admit.
If it seems obvious that Twilight 2 is not an undisputed masterpiece and that it remains a film for teenagers, sometimes funny in spite of itself, you have to give him credit for managing to stray completely from the first movie, which few sequels have managed to do. Whether in its aesthetics or in its story (with the separation of its main character), Twilight 2 brought new life to the saga.
New stakes, new characters, new threats: the saga gains in depth before it is all reduced to a love triangle story afterwards. All these screenplay advances will be spoiled by the third partwhich has everything from the failed blockbuster, and by the other sequels, perfectly generic and without flavor, which demolished the franchise.
Twilight 2: we’re going to prove that it’s the best (or the least bad, your choice)