Quick Review: Twilight Saga's New Moon

It's fair to say, that after the monstrosity of an adaptation that was 'Twilight', I was fairly apprehensive about 'New Moon'. While I love 'Twilight' as a standalone film, it misses many of the elements that make the book so appealing. I could rant about the smaller details that were missed that would have truly enhanced the film for fans, but I won't. This review is not about 'Twilight'.

'New Moon' was, in a word, amazing. It had everything it was supposed to, and more. Chris Weitz really did everything that Catherine Hardwick failed to do. It was, simply, the book, on screen.

It's hard to know if it was because of better directing, or just a familiarity with the roles that they didn't have in 'Twilight', but the actors portrayed the characters much better, and it was far easier to see them as the characters we love from the book (in 'Twilight', while the names were the same, the emotions and traits just..weren't there.). They were more comfortable in the roles, and that came across on screen.

I was worried about how the wolf pack, and more specifically, the actual wolves would be created, but I needn't have been. They were exactly as I had pictured..perhaps more frightening. (I'd go on about CGI or whatever you call it...if I knew anything about that type of thing!) There isn't a huge amount of screen time for the wolves in 'New Moon', so I am really excited about 'Eclipse', which should feature them a lot more.

The film also gives us our first glimpse of the Volturi, the royal family and lawkeepers of the vampire world. Being so used to the Cullens, how friendly, and good they are, meeting the Volturi shows us really just how menacing and dangerous their world is. Michael Sheen as Aro was fantastic. He played the role perfectly...I cannot praise him enough.

There's very little I can say without ruining it (though really, as was pointed out to me, all you need to do is read the book to know what the film is like)...it truly was amazing, and I would recommend it to EVERYONE. Go see it. Do it. Do it NOW!