I'll admit it: I read Twilight and saw the movie. I was intrigued by the whole premise that vampires could be these tortured creatures who needed blood to survive, and who yet could sometimes choose to do good. I found the book to be engaging (but not exceedingly well written) and the movie to be an exciting adventure. To my chagrin, I couldn't get the sequel to matter when I tried reading the book twice, and ended up abandoning the idea. But I figured I'd give the movie a quick (over two hours!) spin just to see if that made it more palatable.

New Moon takes on a love triangle of sorts, forcing Edward's (Robert Pattinson) hand, and causing him to leave Forks, to "protect" Bella (Kristen Stewart). Of course, one has to wonder how stupid a teenager could really be (even if he's thousands of years old) to think that leaving his love will actually protect her. Of course, there is still a miscreant vampire lurking about, hoping to avenge the death of a vampire killed in the first movie, so how does Edward's leaving actually help? It seems a bit contrived to ramp up the suspense, and also opens the door for the third leg of the triangle, Jacob (Taylor Lautner), Bella's childhood werewolf friend.

Of course, we're led through a (slow) romance between Bella and Jacob which gets broken up when Edward attempts to kill himself after he thinks Bella has committed suicide! Of course, that was all foreshadowed in the reading that Bella was doing in the beginning of the flick, reading Romeo & Juliet, but it's still not enough to make me care this time around. It's all thrown in a big mixing bowl with some theology-tinted deal about how vampires are damned, and how Edward wants to keep Bella's soul safe. That all gets discussed pretty early on, and it sort of turned me off before I got bored because I don't believe in a god who would punish people just because they existed. Most of this seems like a pro-homosexual argument that's taking potshots at a god who isn't compassionate, and I found that to be a bit flat.

In the end, this particular chapter in the saga is about Bella making choices and figuring out who she is supposed to be, rather than getting bounced around from guy to guy. She gets her man, and tries to keep a friend on the side, and it felt a bit too much like a bloody soap opera to really make me a fan. Sure, the transformational special effects of the werewolves is tight, but the movie itself seems like a "tweener" without really making it seem worthwhile on its own.