After Bella recovers from the vampire attack that almost claimed her life, she looks to celebrate her birthday with Edward and his family. However, a minor accident during the festivities results in Bella’s blood being shed, a sight that proves too intense for the Cullens, who decide to leave the town of Forks, Washington for Bella and Edward’s sake.

Cinema Release Date: 20th Nov 2009 Run Time: 130 minutes

Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Billy Burke, Anna Kendrick

So the cast is back and geared up for another instalment in the Twilight saga franchise. If you have read the book then you wouldn’t bother to go and see this film as you know that heart throb Robert Patterson (Edward) is not in this film as much as he was in the last one. Have no fear all of you Twihards, Chris Weitz (Golden Compass) has joined the bandwagon and sets out on course to give the audience an unforgettable entertainer.
Its Bella’s (Kristen Stewart) birthday and she is not happy about it because it means one thing; getting older. She feels very self conscience of herself as she stands next to her frozen in time vampire boyfriend Edward (Robert pattinson) who repeatedly tells her that growing old isn’t a bad thing. Having finally succumbed to Edward’s power of persuasion the Cullen family throw Bella a surprise party which ends in utter disaster after she receives a paper cut. She soon becomes the target of Jasper’s thirst and is pushed back out of harm’s way by Edward who then attempts to stop jasper from nearly killing his girlfriend.

This then leads Edward to consider the pros and cons of his relationship with Bella which ultimately leads him to believe that she is much safer if he and his family move away from Forks taking all of the memories Bella had of him by telling her that she is not worth it any more.

During the 6 month period she leans on her friend Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) for support who readily helps her find herself in the world again. Throughout their time spent together a love triangle forms in which Jacob slowly falls for Bella. Bella is still not able to move on from Edward and realises that the only way to see him is to act and behave dangerously; choosing life threatening decisions in which Edwards’s image comes to her and warns her not to act so recklessly.

Jacob meanwhile stops seeing Bella and feels that her relationship with the Cullen’s is getting in the way of their friendship. Bella demands to know the real reason to which Jacob has no answer. He begs her to remember the story about the Quileute tribe in which he mentioned werewolves and the cold ones. In the midst of all of the confusion Laurent the American nomad vampire returns to visit forks on Victoria’s order. They have both heard that the Cullen’s have left Bella and forks and so want to take revenge by killing Edwards mate and Edward had killed James previously.

Laurent tells Bella that Edward could not have loved her so much if he left her unprotected, he is almost about to attack her when the werewolves appear and defend her. Bella then realises what Jacob has become and realises that her friendship with Jacob just got even more complicated. She decides to go cliff diving to see Edwards reflection in front of her again to which she almost dies. She is pulled out of the ocean by Jacob in time and returns home to meet Alice who has come back to see her.

Alice is confused and later on tells her that due to some miscommunication Edward has decided to visit the Volturi (the vampire royal family) to pass judgement on him. He wishes for them to kill him as he no longer wants to live in a world without Bella. It’s what happens next which keeps viewers at the edge of this seat. With high packed special effects and intense action sequences New moon will not disappoint.

It is by far better than the first and literally offers the audience everything they could want in a film on a plate. Robert, although not present physically in the movie, is not missed as he is present visually in Bella’s thoughts. Taylor Lautner does a fantastic job and has grown as an actor … not to mention the newly refined body. The Volturi on the other hand where a great let down as they did not seem too dark as they were described in the novel by Meyer. Michael Sheen on the other hand portrays Aro’s sense of humour and personality very well. This film is definitely a must watch which gives a fantastic ending which leaves the audience wanting to know more.

This post was submitted by Anum Faisal.