(For the New Moon review contest)

Much anticipated teen thriller romance ‘New Moon’ can only be described by saying it was built on the strong foundations of its predecessor, only to watch those bricks crumble slightly in part two.

In the sequel, we see woe-is-me 17-year-old Bella go through a crazy, depressive stage of her life, due to the fact that young love Edward Cullen (who, in case you missed it, happens to be a vampire...) leaves her because he is scared he may actually lose control and drink her blood. As you do.

The franchise may find itself disappointed in the fact that lead, obsessed-over character Edward is not in as much of the film as many of his crazy adoring teen fans would like. In fact, he disappears by the time you have just settled in comfortably to your seats and, accept for the odd fleeting ghost-like reappearance, doesn’t come back until the climax of the movie, leaving a viewer wondering exactly what 23-year-old Rob Pattinson actually did in the movie, considering he is barely non-existent compared to the camera hungry way he was plastered on film in ‘Twilight’.

But, don’t despair. One teen screen siren will always be replaced with another. And here, we see 17-year-old Taylor Lautner take the screen, playing Jacob Black – the secret werewolf boy who gets too close to Bella during Edwards long absence. Despite being a good actor, there are flaws...believable moments giving way to those patchy moments that make you ever so slightly want to cringe. And as always, Hollywood sees it fit to sell its attractive products. Watch out for the gasps when Jacob oh-so-heroically just has to remove his shirt to patch up Bella’s poor bleeding forehead because she has propelled a rebelling motorbike into a rock, in her bid to become a (not so) hardcore adrenaline junkie.

It is increasingly necessary to criticize odd weak moments in the film against its other mediocre good parts. Strikingly sticks in the mind is a particular scene where Bella stumbles through a forest snorting ‘Edward’ repeatedly in sorrow as though there is something in her nose, and then proceeds to weeping on the muddy forest floor for endless hours (apparently walking 5 minutes down the road to her house was not as dramatic, then), and again, a vision showing Bella and Edward running oh-so-happily in slow-mo motion through the trees, the sun sparkling off their skin, laughing like hyper maniacs...causing the whole audience to laugh at the stupidity of such a dramatic moment. It looked like a spoof scene from a badly-made old movie. Not the intended effect I believe.

However, let’s not be a sceptic. All in all, the acting is believable and in some parts, pretty good...best performances are given by Kristen Stewart (Bella) and in odd cases, Robert Pattinson (Edward). That is of course, if you can stand the way he slurs his words making it hard to process the words pouring like sleek mud from his face with the constantly tortured and pained expression on his face. Edward. You are not meant to look like someone just punched you in the stomach during your love scenes. But then again, perhaps that is the desired effect. You love it or hate it.

The script is functional. It serves a purpose. And the directing seems to have no huge mega flaws either. But, one has to wince at some cheesy lines, and become confused at some slightly random direction choices that leave you going, ‘um...right...’

But, whilst not exceptional, New Moon isn’t bad. It’s worth viewing, but it would be harmless to wait until the DVD comes out. Go in with an open mind, read the book beforehand and have a thirsting desire for vampire/werewolf saga stories...and this is the thing for you. If not, take it with a pinch of harmless money making salt.