The Twilight Saga continues with Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) relatively content in a perfect routine with vampire boyfriend Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), school and dad Charlie. But a paper cut at a birthday party Bella reluctantly attends changes everything, when Edward’s brother, Jasper (the newest “vegetarian” in the family) loses control. Edward breaks up with Bella and leaves Forks with his family. Bella of course is devastated and sinks into a four month depression. Thankfully the movie covers this relatively quickly as this period makes New Moon probably the most depressing of the four books.

And so enters Jacob. Once just a childhood friend with a bit of a crush, Jacob has “filled out” to say the least. Jake introduces Bella to motorbikes and his equally buff friends, all of which creates some distraction from Bella’s heartbreak. And so folks, we have a love triangle on our hands fuelling a Team Edward / Team Jacob phenomenon amongst Twi-hard  fans. Bella finds her only chance to see Edward (albeit as a vision) is through any reckless activity she can find. And Jacob has his own dangerous secret to match Edward’s, which gives Director Chris Weitz room to bring some amazing special effects to the saga.

New Moon is well directed, the sets and locations are amazing, and the story moves at a great pace that is pretty true to the book. I was disappointed the filmmakers didn’t stick with composer Carter Burwell from Twilight – I would have liked to see Bella’s Lullaby from the original soundtrack used throughout the series. It’s my only real criticism of a thoroughly enjoyable flick. I found the story on the big screen quite comical, probably as I was surrounded by equally excited fans who squealed with delight every time Jacob had the opportunity to remove his shirt! New Moon seemed to have a lot more sincerity about it on DVD, with some particularly moving performances by Taylor Lautner.

The usual gang are back for this sequel, including Victoria who is hell-bent on avenging James’ death. The Volturi (vampires’ “royal family”) brilliantly headed up by Michael Sheen are introduced. Dakota Fanning is genuinely scary as Jane – is there anything this young actor can’t do?

Bring on Eclipse I say!

Note: While it’s irrelevant to me, I’ve read that faithful fans of the original Dennis Lehane novel (Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone) might be highly disappointed in many of Scorsese’s creative decisions, so I need to temper your expectations a bit.