The Twilight Saga: New Moon review

The Twilight Saga: New Moon ‘dazzles’ viewers across the globe.

Clutching my prepaid ticket to the midnight screening of the latest instalment of the box-office busting Twilight saga, I stepped out of the taxi at an eager 11.09pm. Apparently not eager enough. Imagine my surprise when I look up onto the third floor of Sunset Mall, Miami and saw a line of five hundred strong excited and apprehensive men, women and children snaking its way around the entire precinct and ending by my feet in the parking garage. Perhaps it was naïve of me to underestimate the popularity of a multi-million dollar franchise that has gripped a generation of fans like that of an unstoppable epidemic.

After pushing my way into the entrance of the movie theatre, I was greeted by an unruly mob consisting of mainly teenage girls frantically trying to find seats in one of the twenty auditoriums that displayed the 12.01am screening. Others took their place at the back of one of two queues. The first being the merchandise stand selling cups, posters and t-shirts bearing the faces of the immortal cast of heartthrobs. The second was unsurprisingly, the women’s bathroom. (Naturally, the men’s was absolutely fine).

After employing very questionable means to secure myself and my friends seats next to each other, I looked around at the buzzing pandemonium and one single thought entered my mind: this mayhem could only be in honour of the agonisingly awaited motion picture monster: New Moon.

After what seemed to the average fan an eternity, the lights dimmed and the opening shot appeared on screen accompanied by ominous music. The much uttered title appeared encircling the figure of a moon at night. This alone caused the audience to let out screams and applause reminiscent of a child when he sees an ice-cream truck.

New Moon continues the story of the forbidden love between Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) and her un-dead paramour Edward Cullen (Rob Pattison). The film begins by chronicling Bella’s trepidation at growing older whilst her vampire boyfriend remains eternally young and beautiful. This is illustrated in a stunning dream sequence the night before her eighteenth birthday. Director Chris Weitz shows an appreciation and understanding for both aesthetic beauty and sensory pleasure in scenes such as this, displaying cinematographic excellence in both composition and photography. This is the first of many scenes to follow that contribute to the splendour and reverence of this cinematic effort.

The bulk of the picture is dedicated to Bella’s attempted recovery after Edward leaves her and plunges her world into darkness. Enter Jacob. Bella slowly finds the key to numbing her emotional pain and filling the void that the Cullens left, is to spend time with her childhood friend and persistent admirer, Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner). Bella’s life undertakes various twists and turns as she discovers that she has visions of Edward when doing something adrenaline-packed and life-threateningly reckless.

While Bella’s heart is slowly, being pieced back together, Jacob starts behaving strangely. It seems Jake has a secret that will return Bella’s life back to the whirlwind anarchy that is once was. Bella’s relationship with Jacob is put at further risk after a impromptu visit from Alice (Ashley Greene). In a race against the clock, Bella must flee to Italy to try and save the love of her life from impending death.

Notwithstanding previous critics reviews, Weitz brings action, comedy and emotion to this big screen adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s second best-selling book, that had the audience laughing and crying respectively.

Lautner gave a great performance as the unfortunate love interest. His newly-buff bod will no doubt catapult him to fame in the hearts of female viewers who sympathise with his character in a series of close-but-no-cigar advances towards our heroine that had the audience elatedly squirming in their seats before being struck down by interrupted frustration.

The special effects deserve a note here. At the risk of looking inauthentic, the CGI wolf pack was surprisingly realistic and did not disappoint nor let down the validity of the action. The sequences shot on location in Italy were a treat for the eyes and served as wonderful juxtaposition to the somewhat scary Volturi scenes that provided suspense and excitement. This sequence, much elongated in print, would have benefitted from a larger fear factor but it seems there will be more to come from them.

The final scene epitomises the tension between the supernatural love triangle and a cliff-hanger ending left us begging for more.

All in all, The Twilight Saga: New Moon rewards its fans for their avid loyalty with a filmic triumph that spawns the beginning of mass impatience at the arrival of the next offering in the bewitching global phenomenon that is the Twilight saga.