Faithful and likable, despite a flawed treatment

Rating: 8/10 (20 June 2010)

The Twilight Saga- New Moon is the second installment in the Twilight film series. Though I was initially a little put off when the film began, it soon became quite an interesting adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's novel. Let me start with my biggest complaint about the film- it's treatment of the novel. The mood is too dark and sober. While it works when it's supposed to, it often ends up sapping the humor out of the script. The first few minutes, as a result, are rather dull and sluggish.
Then, Edward leaves Bella, and she collapses onto depression. The atmosphere around the film finally begins to make sense. Bella's mood is documented via her letters to Alice, which are also an important plot device in the middle stages of the film. The film really takes off when Bella starts having hallucinations of Edward whenever she does something reckless or stupid. Because of this, she brings some defunct bikes to her friend Jacob Black for repair. It's there that they begin to form a bond that really helps Bella in dealing with her separation from Edward. Sure enough, her plan works, and Edward's hallucinations keep berating Bella even as she takes lessons in bike riding. However, Jacob soon disappears, and when Bella sees him again, he tells her to stay away from him. Soon, we find out that he's become a werewolf, and is part of the wolf-pack which protects the town of Forks from- you guessed it- vampires.
The film scores mainly due to it's decent presentation of Bella and Jacob's romance. By contrast,Kristen and Robert lack the chemistry they shared in Twilight, although there is some of it towards the end. Another high point is the special effects and action scenes, which are a marked improvement over Twilight. Bella's and Charlie's relationship is portrayed just as well as it was in the first film, and the meeting with the Volturi gives the film an opportunity to show off some beautiful set-pieces, as well as a cool fighting sequence between Edward, Felix, and Demitri (which wasn't there in the book).
Overall, though the film has flaws in treatment of the plot, as well as some minor plot inconsistencies, it makes for an entertaining watch for fans of the franchise. Be sure to buy the DVD,if you know what The Twilight Saga is all about.