New Moon Madness: The new Twilight movie is here!
Wow. Whoever would have thought that there would be another global smash-hit book series so soon after the end of the Harry Potter series? Not just that, but what about such a massively popular film franchise too? New Moon, the second chapter in the cinematic version of The Twilight Saga, is out at cinemas now, and has already toppled any number of records.
Despite the lawsuit that hit Stephenie Meyer over alleged plagiarism, the New Moon movie was able to meet its announced release date, and fans have been flocking to screens all over the world for the next instalment of the romance between vampire Edward Cullen and human Bella Swan.
There have been some big changes between the book and the film, in order to get Edward (Robert Pattinson) on the screen more as the character is barely in the second book. Fans have responded very favourably indeed to these changes, and are lapping up every frame of their vampiric heart throb. Fans of Team Jacob may have a better time with this film though, as Taylor Lautner is regularly without his shirt throughout the film.
New Moon merchandise is flying off the shelves at a dizzying rate, and Twilight fans all over the world are in for a Christmas stuffed with official New Moon collectibles.
The question is: Is it actually any good? The werewolf transformations and CG wolves look atrocious, but the production on the rest of the film looks pretty great. But cinematography isn’t what the fans care about- it’s the story and the characters. I guess that’s something to be grateful for in this age of Twilight fandom- fans are more interested in the characters than the set pieces.
But why is the Twilight saga proving to be so popular? Essentially a glorified soap opera with some vampire elements added to it, it has latched onto an immortal (pardon the pun) strain of fiction that is always popular- the doomed love affair.
It appeals to fans of the romantic element as well as fans of the urban fantasy and vampire element of it. It may not be all that great when you actually think about the elements that it consists of, but as an entertainment phenomenon, The Twilight Saga: New Moon has already taken a sizeable bite out of the competition.