The Twilight Saga: New Moon -- Desperate Love in a Supernatural World

I don't have illusions that this review will make a difference for the people who will see this movie. It's like the Harry Potter phenomena -- a tidal wave. That's why at my preview, fans filled two theaters and more were turned away. Hundreds more attended the midnight showings all over the city on Thursday - a school night for Pete's sake. And, you know what? It was WORTH it! My rating: $7.50 (1.-10.).

Vampire movies fascinate me as much as anyone. After seeing the first 'Twilight' movie, I went out and bought all four books and became hooked, too. I'm on the fourth and have read a third since Wednesday with the little free time I have. The common thought is that all the fans are teen females and their mothers. If so, it's a cash cow.

Isabella Swan or 'Bella' (Kristen Stewart) and Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) met in their Junior year of high school in Forks, Washington. Their attraction was immediate and undeniable. He, a vampire, and she, a complex product of a broken home. When dating a vampire, mortality can be a liability.

Curiously, the writers decided to open with the dream scene where Bella sees an old woman across the clearing in the woods. Thinking it is her grandmother, she shyly walks toward her to introduce Edward. But their movements mirror each other. Suddenly she realizes it's her own future she sees. What is not clear to the audience is what the book explains -- if she remains human, she will age and die while Edward remains 17 years-old. (You must read the books to get the significance of this scene to the story. The book explains Edward's history, how he became a vampire, and that influence on his attitudes in general.)

After that opening, the story sticks more closely and clearly to the story. Many times there was some condensing of the panoramic passages only possible in a book. None of them took away from the movie or book. I was glad I'd read the book because I could understand and remember the intensity of emotion from the book characters not so well delivered by the young actors.

Kristen Stewart is a compelling young woman on screen. Edward, too, has sex-appeal in that he looks young and old at the same time which is the perfect vampire. They have chemistry. While I have seen much clamor about Stewarts's amazing acting ability, I have found her someone confined to attractive but rebellious young girl characters. In none of her roles has she been the bubbly type. It might be awkward if she were. Her skills do well with for the brooding, love-sick Bella.

In the first movie, Jacob, the 15 year-old Indian-friend of the family was introduced along with some of the pertinent characters from the local reservation. He crushes on Bella who sees him as a little brother. Well, in the second movie, Jacob grows up fast -- but doesn't age. Make no sense? It does if you read the book. There you get the whole explanation. Short story - the arrival of the vampires (Cullen family as well as the visitors from the first movie) stimulates an obscure gene in the Indians that turns them into werewolves. Werewolves are the natural enemy of the vampire. Thus, Carlisle Cullen made a civilized pact with Jacob's distant relative ages ago that would allow both factions to live and let live. The whole explanation is in the book.

Jacob becomes a hunk practically overnight. Talyor Lautner is the perfect Jacob. He passes for Indian with very dark hair. His physical trainer did an EXCELLENT job. I recently read where he felt like a 'piece of meat' having to take his clothes off in a movie. Well, I think you and I can agree, he'd better get used to it. He's a hot commodity and even Matthew McConaughey still takes his clothes off because that's what sells movies. If he's patient and becomes the preverbal "star", he can become more selective.

Anyway, Bella is injured at a birthday party at the Cullens' from a paper cut. Edward, ever the emotional one, decides to break things off and leave Bella so she can forget him and have a normal, human life. Does anyone think this will happen? Raise your hand. Yeah, no. She goes into a meltdown depression, the depth of which is only marginally projected in the movie -- at least for me. The cliff diving thing is fairly accurate. in the book, the wolves chasing Victoria scene is more described to Bella after the fact. But, it was a good demonstration of the wolves' prowess and a good action sequence. In addition, I don't for a moment believe the guy on the motorcycle just rode off and let the kooky girl get away after they get on a dark, isolated road. It's another simple deletion from the book.

The Volturi scenes are pretty accurate, thankfully. I loved the casting of Michael Sheen as Aro, the mind-reading Volturi leader and a maturing Dakota Fanning as, Jane, the mind-bending Volturi lieutenant. The fight scene was a little much but, again, good action. The repeated slow-motion end-slams into walls, floors, and stuff was a little over-used, however.

MichaelThe physical attraction between Jacob and Bella, to my recollection, does not happen as much till the third book. It's all good, however. Author Stephanie Meyer wrote the collection for teens. That means youthful hormones can run amuck without doing the nasty stuff. The more experienced can add their own imagination and the naive can stay that way. Sexy vampires are just money in the bank. All in all, 'New Moon' IS all it's cracked up to be and deserves success. After all, there are two more books which every bit as good as this one!!

Melissa Rosenberg wrote this book adaptation for the screen. She's also tasked with writing the next, 'Eclipse'. Rosenberg's resume includes lots of TV projects like 'Dexter' and 'The O.C.'. She also wrote 'Step Up'. All credible work. Chris Weitz directed. Weitz wrote and directed 'The Golden Compass'. Run time is 2 hours and 10 minutes NOT including previews. It's rated 'PG-13'.

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