Lines of Twilight fans outside of Century 25 and other theaters around the Bay Area on Nov. 20 were comparable to those you see on Black Friday.  

Needless to say, the wait was worth it for the die-hard Stephanie Meyer fans. But for newcomers, the fanatic squeals of young tweens and even their grandmothers only augmented the pain of having to sit through two long hours of sappy drama and mediocre acting.

 However, from Hollywood’s point of view, New Moon did anything but disappoint. On its first day, it made box-office history with $72 million in revenue, outperforming even Dark Knight in 2008 which grossed $67.2 million.

 The saga, directed by Chris Weitz, picks up right where Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke left off. Only this time Weitz had a lot more money and some better actors to play with. The main actors however, remain as expressionless as ever. Robert Pattinson’s, Edward Cullen sports a constantly pained expression, making it hard for him to speak more than two words without a pause. Whether that was on purpose or just his style of acting is still unknown.

 Bella, played by Kristen Stewart, attempted to live up to her role but failed for the most part. As she falls into her “emo” phase upon Edward’s departure, the movie calls for sympathy from the viewers, only to get laughs. As a fellow movie critic called it, “her suffering is mirrored by the audience’s, a torturous experience where time passes in a dark room while nothing happens.”

Only when her Native American friend Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) appears on screen to coax her out of her apparent depression does Bella show any signs of emotion. Lautner shows much promise as an actor since he is the only main actor to bring his character to life. When he takes his shirt off to wipe Bella’s bleeding, instead of laughing, the audience screams in excitement. As the plot thickens, Jacob develops a high fever that eventually makes him part of a werewolf pack.

To the gratitude of some, Pattinson disappears from the screen for a considerable time and is replaced for the duration of the movie, by a shirtless Lautner, who packed 30 pounds of muscle for his part. At the climax, Bella runs away to Italy to save suicidal Edward from being killed by the Volturi, the vampire ruling class. Then the movie fast-forwards through a well-played role of Aro by British actor Michael Sheen, 20 words spoken by Dakota Fanning, and three short fight scenes against a beautiful setting of intricate architecture and ceiling tiles. Near the end, Pattinson attempts to regain appeal by also doing a shirtless scene. However, the response he gets does not even parallel Lautner’s.

 If this sequel was planning on being the next best romantic chick flick, it failed considerably. Rather, it made for a great comedy with Pattinson’s pained acting and Stewart’s inability to garner depth for her character. All in all, the saga remains a phenomenon, at least for Team Jacob and the few remaining Team Edward fans.

 Rating: B