It was just over a year ago that a friend of mine who is an avid reader (as well as an author) highly recommended that I hop aboard the Twilight bandwagon and begin reading Stephanie Meyer's cult favorite book series.
I quickly read Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and finally Breaking Dawn. When I finished Twilight, the first book, the movie was coming out in a just a few days. I was giddy waiting to see how the story would translate onto the screen. As every detail of the book was still fresh in my mind, I found myself incredibly disappointed in the film. I felt characters were miscast, special effects were not as I pictured them and key moments were left out.
Needless to say, although I was excited for New Moon to hit theaters, my expectations were low. Those low expectations were met by equally unflattering reviews in all the major newspapers and magazines. None the less, my girlfriends and I decided to see the movie Saturday morning (it came out Thursday at midnight) and bought our tickets three weeks in advance to ensure we got great seats.
I have to say . . . I LOVED IT! Since I knew what to expect from the characters and where the story line was going, I could simply enjoy how it came to life on camera. This installment was much more action packed and gave some of the supporting cast a chance to shine.
For me, Jessica, Bella's high school classmate, stole the show. Her self centered ways were hilarious and she had the best lines in the film.
I also thoroughly enjoyed the movie theater scene where Mike Newton gets sick and has to excuse himself. A perfect peak to his geeky crush on Bella.
I was also pleased to see Bella's father, Charlie, with more screen time. He was endearing and at times, even funny. In the books, his relationship with Bella is awkward at best, but in the films, their exchanges are heart warming.
Of course I loved the new and improved Jacob Black! After putting on 40 pounds of muscle, young actor Taylor Lautner does not disappoint with his several shirtless scenes. His undying and unwavering devotion to Bella is also swoon worthy.
Throughout the movie I also kept thinking, "Wow, a boy might actually like this!" From the amazing special effects that exploded the werewolves onto the screen, to the action packed fight with the Volturi, there were plenty of man-friendly moments.
I was incredibly impressed by the Italy scenes as well. The amazing power of the sea of red cloaks, the frightening personalities of the Volturi royalty and the screams of the unsuspecting vampire dinner guests were all great contributions to the film and stayed true to the spirit of the book.
New Moon ends on a highly dramatic note that sets the viewer up perfectly to die of anticipation waiting for the next film. Thankfully, Eclipse has already wrapped and is set for a June 2010 release.
This morning's paper reported that New Moon had the third highest grossing weekend of any film in HISTORY only behind the Dark Knight and Spiderman 3. It feels good to know my movie ticket contributed to showing executives in the film industry that women have just as much power at the box office as men.
Until June, GO TEAM JACOB!
