It’s a bit complicated, as love can be. Bella (Kristen Stewart) is faced with weighing the pros and cons of becoming a vampire. But does she really want to be a vamp? Perhaps she wants to be with Jacob (Taylor Lautner). It’s an emotional ride figuring out whom she will choose as well as foreseeing the consequences of her decision.
In order to make her ultimate choice, Jacob and Edward get taken face to face into an emotional game, where their hearts are on the line with Bella in the middle. Therefore the romance brewing between Bella with Jake and Edward is played up even more so in this film than the previous ones.
With a noble and self-sacrificing demeanor, Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) personifies the tragedy of his circumstance. He’s a vamp after all; he has no soul. But he’s still good, amplifying valiant ancient traditions in the face of cruel, heartbreaking circumstances.
Then there is a question on the other side of the love triangle most female teen fans want to know, namely does Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) take his shirt off or not. The tweens will be satisfied on this front to a large degree. The love tension is cheesy—near unbearable depending on your perspective but has lifted the plot and movie to grand heights for its loyal fans (many of whom are the adolescents that have graduated on from “Harry Potter.”)
Not only does Bella find herself trapped in a love triangle, but also she finds herself the main target of destruction driven by a hate-filled vamp mustering up a strategy and army for revenge. It creates great vamp vs. werewolf fight scenes satisfying that supernormal action fans crave and have come to expect in this saga.
Thickening tension builds as a revenge plot develops. We experience how the vamps and werewolves (sworn enemies) prepare for the grand face-off and how that affects and plays into the love triangle. Within this are vamp and werewolf tribe history. These flashback scenes become an interesting touch that serves to deepen character development and fulfill the satisfaction of the plot. We’re taken back to different time periods such as the 1930s, 1800s, and 1700s. Also, the cast is bigger with a host of new vamps and tribal members introduced.
Net-Net, the target audience will certainly receive what they came for—a shirtless teen hunk, action crazed scenes, noble but heartbreaking love, ultimatums resulting in jealousy, and witty one-liners built upon the cliché of the saga that will burst the audience into laughter.
We laughed, we cried, and our hearts were on edge because at the core of it all is the emotion derived from the love triangle. But in the end, a happy ending, with new beginnings, loose ends, and an open road ahead for Bella.
[etRating value=“ 3”]
