Twilight: New Moon
Directed by Chris Weitz
Starring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner
Rated PG-13
Release date: November 20, 2009

So after much anticipation, this weekend I got my first look at The Twilight Saga – New Moon, and it did not disappoint. The opening scene in the meadow is as ethereal and beautiful as it is haunting, as Bella (Kristen Stewart) continues to agonize over aging while her glorious vampire love Edward (Robert Pattinson) stays forever seventeen and refuses to change her, afraid that he will damn her soul for all eternity.

Director Chris Weitz really raised the bar in this film as compared to its predecessor. The vampires are much more realistic, with beautiful pale skin and honey amber eyes — except of course, for the non-vegetarian Volturi and bad vamps, whose red eyes are far superior to the somewhat cartoonish ones in Twilight. The background and scenery in the Forks scenes are much better, filled with lush green forests and bright gray clouded skies.

It is at Forks High School that we see Edward Cullen and Bella Swan on Bella’s 18th birthday, watching Romeo and Juliet. Foreshadowing the events to come, Edward explains to Bella how envious he is of humans’ ability to commit suicide and how he had considered it when James had attacked her in Twilight. The first mention of the Volturi is made here, and we soon learn more about this royal vampire clan.

When we finally see all the Cullens, they are gathered for Bella’s birthday party. Although their roles are small this time around, their personalities and love for Bella come across strongly. Unfortunately, love is not enough to keep the inevitable from happening, and Bella’s birthday party soon turns to disaster. From here, things go from bad to worse for Bella, and she is soon being left in the forest by Edward, who for some reason thinks she’ll be safer and better off without him.

Enter, the wolf pack. Our first glimpse at the wolves comes via a growl and two glowing eyes in the forest, as the search party out to find Bella includes pack alpha, Sam Uley (Chaske Spencer). Once Bella is saved, however, things just get more heartbreaking. As we watch her stare out the window in the rocking chair Edward used to watch her sleep from, three months pass. It was utterly gutwrenching to watch Bella suffer in her sleep, screaming and shaking until her dad Charlie (Billy Burke) came to comfort her.

When Bella discovers that she can “see” Edward if she does something reckless (exactly what he asked her not to do when he left her), Bella begins to take solace in a life of danger. It’s here that Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) makes his entrance, helping her repair motorcycles that will surely give her the next opportunity to see Edward.

The relationship between Bella and Jacob is sweet to watch, giving Bella something to ‘live’ for finally. But Jacob has a deep, dark secret too, as well all know by now — he’s a werewolf. It’s this secret that can benefit Bella, but also harm her, even though she’s not the least bit phased when Jake transforms into a giant chocolate brown wolf in front of her for the first time (we know how comfortable as she is with stray mythical creatures). We get one of the best lines in the movie at this point, spoken by pack member, Embry Call (Kiowa Gordon): “Well, the wolf’s outta the bag now”.

Even while protected by her new lycanthrope friends, Victoria still out for revenge on Edward for killing James and wants Bella dead. Unfortunately, Bella’s dangerous behavior is perilous not only to her, but leads to damaging consequences for the people around her.

Eventually, Edward’s sister Alice (Ashley Greene) makes a reappearance and Jake goes on the defensive, since there’s a long-standing feud between vampires and werewolves, and now, Bella is smack right in the middle of it.

In New Moon we’re finally introduced to the Volturi vampires during a sequence in Volterra, Italy during St. Marcus festival. The entire city is bathed in red, a sharp contrast to the browns and greens of Forks. It’s here that Bella is in the most danger, being a human who knows too much about the world of vampires. Vampires have laws and the Cullens are dangerously close to breaking them, especially by welcoming Bella into their inner circle. Some of the Cullens and Bella soon find themselves at the mercy of the royal clan — diminutive yet vicious Jane (Dakota Fanning), giant Felix, and the somewhat off clan leader Aro (Michael Sheen). It’s here where Edward finally reappears (after being offscreen the better part of the hour — not that I was counting or anything) and has a lot of choices to make, if the Volturi decide to not just kill them all. Can Edward and Bella overcome all that’s happened between them? If so, they still have Victoria to deal with, the werewolves to contend with, and some serious stipulations from the Volturi.

The film incorporates elements from the third Twilight Saga book by Stephenie Meyer, and omits a good portion of the ending of the New Moon novel, which will probably be what leads off the third movie. How this film ends is actually the perfect way to go. I won’t tell you what it is — go see the movie. I already have, three times, and will probably see it four or five more times, cause I can’t get enough New Moon.