Twilight Saga: New Moon

As I waited in the theater for perhaps the most anticipated motion picture of the year to begin, I couldn’t help but notice how quiet the theater actually was. I don’t mean to exaggerate things, but I’m pretty sure I could have heard a pin drop without even straining my ear drums. Needless to say, I was positive I’d avoided the crowd of obsessed, ‘Tween’ girls who would surely gasp and aw at the sight up Taylor Lautner in all his muscular glory. Then, I checked my watch and realized I’d gotten to the theater about an hour early.

Suddenly, the theater became flooded with anxious teenagers sporting their ‘Team Edward’ and ‘Team Jacob’ hoodies and thanking the local radio stations for giving them tickets to the advance screening of “Twilight: New Moon”. At that point, the only thing I could do was kick back and try to enjoy the film over seemingly endless screaming and heavy panting.

First things first, if you go to Summit Entertainment’s second installment in their popular vampire saga merely to see Robert Pattinson brooding for two hours, you’re going to be disappointed. This isn’t Pattinson’s film, but instead it belongs to Taylor Lautner and needless to say, Jacob Black’s story is far more intriguing than anything Edward Cullen previously offered in the original movie.

On Bella’s (Kristen Stewart) 18th birthday, the Cullen’s throw her a party. It’s not only to celebrate her being one year older, but it’s also the Cullen family’s way to congratulate she and Edward (Pattinson) on the success of their relationship. While unwrapping a gift, however, Bella receives a paper cut and the smell of her blood is far too overwhelming for Edward’s adopted brother Jasper (Jackson Rathbone) to bear thus he attempts to attack her. At that point, Edward decides to move as far away from Bella as possible in order to prevent anything from happening to her.

At first, Edward’s absence is too much for Bella to cope with. She loses her concentration in school, she loses interest in her friends and feels she’d be better off dead than to live without Edward. Of course, that’s only until Jacob comes along. He makes Bella forget about her relationship with Bella, at least for a little while. As their friendship deepens, Bella begins to suspect there’s another part of him that she doesn’t know about and rightfully so. Turns out, Jacob is a werewolf and what’s more? He and his pack of furry friends kill vampires in an attempt to protect the town’s human residents.

“New Moon” is, as promised, more action-packed, yet it’s far from an action movie. It’s still extremely heavy on the romance, but shockingly, the story-telling is so powerful that audiences will be swept away. I was truly engrossed in the relationship between Jacob and Bella. To think Jacob would do anything to protect her even when she refuses to give him her heart is deeply moving.

Taylor Lautner is undoubtedly what makes the film so intriguing. He’s a terrific actor and it’s so relieving to have seen his role extended so much. He’s dedicated and certainly convincing as Jacob. Viewers, particularly the ladies, absolutely fell in love with Robert Pattinson after his performance in the first “Twilight”, but needless to say, after fans see “New Moon”, Lautner is bound to give him a run for the spotlight.

I honestly thought “Twilight: New Moon” was a tremendous improvement over the original film, yet I have a feeling many fans are going to be disappointed due to the lack of screen time Pattinson is given. I’ve never read a single novel from Stephanie Meyer’s series, but from what I’ve heard, “New Moon” follows the book very closely. I would definitely recommend this movie to anyone and I mean anyone. No matter if you’re a male or female, there’s a little bit of everything in “New Moon” thus there’s bound to be something here you’ll find pleasing.