New Moon has its moments but overall this is a disappointing follow-up.

Rating: 5/10 (25 November 2009)

Not since The Dark Knight has so much hype surrounded a movie. Girls have gone crazy. Cinemas have sold out within minutes of making tickets available. Twi-hards have lived up to their name. I loathe to think what next year's Eclipse will bring. In it's opening weekend in the U.S. The Dark Knight made $158 million whilst Transformers 2 made $108 million. New Moon has already broken box office records everywhere. As far as dollars are concerned hype never lies. Shame that doesn't mean this film is any good.
When Twilight was first released on a considerably less euphoria-swept audience it was for a lot of people, including me, a guilty pleasure. Teen angst, first romance, glittery vampires – what's not to like? Actually the glittery part was a bit silly but overall it was easy to sit back and enjoy this tale of forbidden affection between human and vampire. New Moon is a much harder slog. The woozy-from-love atmosphere of the first is replaced with an exhaustively downbeat mood in the this sequel. What was simple has now become forced. And those 'pale-faces' are still glittery.
When Chris Weitz was brought on board to direct everyone was cheering about how the special effects would be vastly improved. Well they are, but at what cost? The CGI werewolves are superb to look at and the action scenes are definitely more seamless, however the drama and tension that was elicited so well from Catherine Hardwicke's direction is now severely lacking. Not a price I would be willing to pay: the strength of the story will have people returning for repeat viewings much more then the action.
Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson are back as the on-again-off-again couple, only this time their chemistry seems to be missing. Stewart is solid as the dejected and melodramatic Bella whilst Pattinson is intolerable as the whiny, wimpy Edward. Hard to tell where the character starts and his acting ends, Edward / Robert may have girls - both young and old - whipped into a frenzy, however anyone who hasn't already sided with Team Edward will want to tear their eyes out when he is on screen. The added third party for this instalment, werewolf Jacob Black, is played well by Lautner; the 17 year old piling on 12kg of muscle and some extra acting talent for his bulked up role.
New Moon has its moments but overall this is a disappointing follow-up.
2.5 out of 5 (1 - Rubbish, 2 - Ordinary, 3 - Good, 4 - Excellent, 5 - Classic)