New Moon continues the saga

New Moon, the highly-anticipated new installment of the Twilight Saga, was released on Friday, Nov. 20th. It is the second film in the Twilight Series, adapted from the popular books by Stephanie Meyer. Following the success of Twilight, New Moon made an astonishing $72.7 million in ticket sales on its first day in theaters, topping the $67.2 million opening-day record of The Dark Knight.

In the film, the whirlwind romance of the main characters, Edward and Bella, is put on standby when Edward leaves Forks, Washington, after deciding that he doesn't want Bella to be involved in his vampire lifestyle.

To get over her depression over Edward's absence, she begins spending all of her time with Jacob, a close friend, who soon discovers his latent werewolf gene. Bella begins to put herself in perilous situations to get Edward to come back to her, culminating in one stunt that leads Edward to believe Bella has died, sending the film on an eventful journey to Italy.

This film is definitely much more action-filled than the first movie. Aside from the underlying, imbalanced love triangle that begins to develop between Edward, Bella and Jacob, this film includes big fights, adventures and nightmares.

The werewolf and vampire battles, along with Bella's cliff-jumping escapades and motorcycle adventures, provide more than enough suspense. Meanwhile, Bella's painful nightmares of Edward add a more human element to the story.

Some humorous moments keep the relatively heavy film from being a downer, while the special effects don't stray too far from the first film: slow motion dramatic sequences, fast motion vampire running and quick camera movements during the action scenes.

If you're planning to see New Moon simply for all of the hype surrounding it, it's an entertaining film that is easily enjoyable. However, it would be best to see Twilight beforehand because there are many references to the first installment of the story.

New Moon, more so than Twilight, is a film that has something for everyone — forbidden love, action and drama — keeping both "Twi-fans" and typical movie-goers engaged in this world where humans, vampires and werewolves collide.